Daily Podcasts Video Research

Expelled Oberlin Chabad rabbi says he ‘made a mistake’ with explicit social media chats

JL;DR SUMMARY The article discusses the recent expulsion of Rabbi Scott Elkan, a former co-director of Oberlin Chabad, from Oberlin College after online chats surfaced revealing explicit conversations allegedly involving minors. A way out west there was a fella, fella I want to tell you about, fella by the name of Jeff Lebowski. At least, that was the handle his lovin' parents gave him, but he never had much use for it himself. This Lebowski, he called himself the Dude. Now, Dude, that's a name no one would self-apply where I come from. But then, there was a lot about the Dude that didn't make a whole lot of sense to me. And a lot about where he lived, likewise. But then again, maybe that's why I found the place s'durned innarestin'.

JL;DR members get full summaries of all articles in the archive, including this one. Donate & start reading »

Tags

ChabadInvestigationEthicsOberlin CollegeSpiritual CareCampus CommunityRabbi Scott ElkanOnline ConductSexual ConversationsCampus Expulsion

Places mentioned

Oberlin, Ohio, United States
"A police report obtained by the Forward sheds light on the removal of a Chabad rabbi from the campus of Oberlin College last week, after the school administration became aware of a police report that alleged he engaged in sexually explicit conversations online concerning minors."
Washington, Washington DC, United States
"Originally from the Washington, D.C., area, she is a 2023 graduate of Northwestern Universitys Medill School of Journalism."
Burlington, Vermont, United States
"Hannah Feuer joined the Forward as a general assignment reporter in May 2025 after two years as a culture reporter at Seven Days, an independent weekly in Burlington, Vermont."
Evanston, Illinois, United States
"Originally from the Washington, D.C., area, she is a 2023 graduate of Northwestern Universitys Medill School of Journalism."
Cleveland, Ohio, United States
"Rabbi Allison Vann, who had led High Holy Day services on campus with Cleveland Hillel, will work with students for the remainder of the semester."

Support this source

This item was indexed and curated by Cairo, JL;DR's web crawler.
Cairo Item ID 77998
Cairo Source ID 35
Retrieved 2026-03-19 05:30:54 UTC
Curated 2026-03-19 08:31:04 UTC