The Jerusalem District Court on Sunday sentenced Rabbi Moshe Yazdi, 63, to 18 years in prison after convicting him of sex offenses and financial crimes involving two of his female students.
The court also imposed a one-year suspended sentence and ordered Yazdi to pay each of the two victims 150,000 shekels in compensation.
Rabbi Moshe Yazdi
(Photo: Gil Yohanan)
Yazdi, a Jerusalem resident, was convicted in March. In their ruling, the judges said they were convinced he had engaged in sexual relationships with women who were his students or members of the Amudei Shalom community he led.
“The defendant exploited his religious and social status, the age gap between himself and the women, and the great respect and admiration they had for him,” the judges wrote. “In many cases, he also exploited the difficult family, financial or emotional backgrounds of the women.”
Yazdi founded and led the Amudei Shalom association in Jerusalem’s Bukharan Quarter, where he served as a rabbi and community leader.
An indictment filed against him in 2022 accused him of numerous sex offenses involving women from the community who attended his lessons. According to the indictment, Yazdi preached that followers should suppress their own views and feelings in deference to “the opinion of Torah” and religious scholars.
He was ultimately convicted of sex offenses and money laundering offenses involving two of the eight complainants in the case.
According to the verdict, Yazdi used his position and the relationships of trust and dependence he had built with the women to commit the offenses.
During sentencing arguments, prosecutors Avihai Dweck and Eyal Lidani described the conduct as exceptionally grave and said it reflected a systematic and prolonged pattern of abuse.
The prosecution said Yazdi exploited the women’s personal and religious distress over a period of years, using the trust and dependence he had cultivated with them.
Prosecutors also said he used manipulation and religious concepts to present some of the acts as “spiritual corrections.”
They described multiple acts of rape and indecent assault carried out over years, saying the offenses caused significant harm that continues to affect the victims.
On the financial charges, prosecutors said Yazdi, who was in the midst of bankruptcy proceedings, used the bank accounts of students to conceal money from creditors.
They also urged the court to consider that Yazdi had not accepted responsibility for his actions and had forced the complainants to endure the full legal process.