Unholy secrets: New docuseries Meshi Zahav reveals the chilling truth behind Zaka's heroic founder

Yehuda Meshi Zahav was once a celebrated figure in Israel, a man who transformed from an anti-Zionist Haredi militant into a national hero, leading ZAKA, an ultra-Orthodox organization dedicated to rescuing, identifying, and tracing Jewish disaster victims worldwide.

But a new four-part documentary series, Meshi Zahav, reveals his chilling double life. Meshi Zahav was created by Sharon Yaish, Yoav Leshem, and Bat Dor Ojalvo. It could have taken the easy route and packaged everything already revealed about the “monster of kindness” into a polished TV product.

It would have generated buzz, resurfaced the affair that ended before justice was served, and might even have been sold to Netflix, because there aren’t many “rise and fall” stories of this magnitude. Instead, the four-part series justifies its existence with a series of new and resounding revelations.

And contrary to what might be expected, these revelations don’t necessarily come from the victims’ testimonies. Alongside Aharon Rabinowitz and Shira Elek, the Haaretz journalists who first exposed the affair, the myth of Yehuda Meshi Zahav is cracked from every possible angle.

A Fabricated Origin Story

Meshi Zahav doesn’t fall into the predictable trap of constructing the story solely chronologically.

The fall of the former ZAKA chairman, who, according to testimonies, systematically sexually assaulted women, men, and children (including at least one 5-year-old), is present from the very first moment, just as the sexual abuses were part of his life even before he crafted his public persona.

And the word “crafted” is deliberate: the series reveals in its first episode that Meshi Zahav, the man who sold an origin story about the 405 bus attack changing his path at every opportunity, likely fabricated it entirely. The same goes for his claim of being a ZAKA founder, despite the organization not truly being established by his hands. That’s what happens when talk show researchers back then relied on sources as credible as Wikipedia.

The series, backed by previously unheard testimonies, shatters the glorified image Meshi Zahav cultivated over decades, raising questions about complicity and silence within the Haredi community he once represented.

Not just because of the stories presented, but also because, three years after his death, the complainants against Meshi Zahav still fear revealing their identities. There’s hardly a villain or sexual predator whose testimonies against them haven’t reached the “openly named” stage. With him, the terror was so immense, so far-reaching, that it persists even after he’s gone.

Meshi Zahav’s early life was marked by extremism. As the operations officer of the Eida Haredit, a radical Haredi group, he led protests against Shabbat desecration, burned Israeli flags, and disrupted archeological digs, even sneaking mice into pathologists’ rooms to prevent autopsies.

“In those days, Yehuda behaved like the Che Guevara of the Haredi world,” a voice in the documentary recalls, describing how he painted over immodest posters at bus stops while fighting for the sanctity of Shabbat.

His grandfather, Rabbi Yosef Sheinberger, a fanatical opponent of Israel’s founding, cut ties with him over his eventual embrace of Zionism, a shift that began after witnessing the 1989 terrorist attack on the 405 bus route near Telz-Stone yeshiva. “When the dismembered bodies were laid out before my eyes… I realized the quarrels between us were meaningless,” Meshi Zahav later reflected in 2003, just before lighting a torch on Mount Herzl for ZAKA volunteers, proclaiming, “For the glory of the state of Israel.”

This transformation made him a bridge between worlds. ZAKA, under his leadership, grew into a global operation with over 3,000 volunteers, earning unanimous recognition as a UN consultant and observer in 2015 after a four-year struggle.

Even countries like Iran and Pakistan voted in favor, reassured by ZAKA’s policy of treating victims first, regardless of nationality. “We treat the victim first, and then the murderer,” Meshi Zahav told the UN committee.

At 57, he exuded authority, living in Jerusalem’s Sanhedria neighborhood as a father of seven and a grandfather, his white payess (sidecurls) a symbol of his Haredi roots. He led ZAKA with faith-driven resolve, often singing or dancing at disaster scenes to inspire his volunteers, who operated on a modest NIS 18 million annual budget, mostly from donations.

“It’s only from the power of faith. Nothing else can motivate a man to wake up at night, leave his family, see what we are exposed to, do this work, go home and be unable to talk to his wife or laugh with his small children [for days after doing ZAKA work],” he once said, reflecting on the emotional toll of ZAKA’s mission.

But beneath this veneer of heroism lay a dark reality that festered for decades. The documentary reveals that Meshi Zahav systematically assaulted and raped dozens of minors and adults, organizing mass sex parties while exploiting his position of power.

"In the shadows, there’s another Yehuda,” a testimony notes. Rumors of his predatory behavior circulated as early as the 1980s, starting at Lag BaOmer bonfires where he was known to “prey on people from behind.”

These whispers grew louder at the mikvahs, where community members realized he wasn’t there to immerse but to target minors. “He was coming to mess with kids,” a witness recalls, adding that he organized illicit “cruises” for such activities, a detail uncovered by journalists Shira Elek and Aharon Rabinowitz, who also note that they, along with a source named Meshires, exposed these events.

In the earlier periods, “it was mostly boys and kids hanging around him,” particularly in Mea Shearim and other Haredi neighborhoods, where he preyed on the vulnerable.

The community’s response was marked by fear and silence. Parents in Mea Shearim began warning their children: “I remember the Rebbe gathering all the students… explaining, ‘Yehuda Meshi Zahav does bad things with kids. Be careful, don’t go near him, don’t talk to him, don’t laugh at him, don’t respond to him, even if he asks what time it is,’” a former student shares, recalling a Talmud Torah assembly from that era.

Yet, Meshi Zahav’s crimes persisted unchecked. “Everyone knew, and everyone stayed silent out of fear: they feared his violence and the group around him,” the series reveals, describing a loyal cadre of enablers who “exploited their power to control whatever they wanted.” This group, the documentary notes, helped him maintain dominance, committing “terrible things” while ruling through intimidation.

Many things and people come off badly in Meshi Zahav, but one of the most striking is the numerous TV programs from the ‘90s and 2000s that bought the trendy interviewee’s stories hook, line and sinker. With exceptional attention to nuances, like his compulsive kippah adjustments or the mantras he repeated over and over with the same exact story, Meshi Zahav is a showcase of investigative journalism, of people taking far-reaching risks to get answers.

Alongside Rabinowitz and Elek’s groundbreaking investigation, Uvda’s report on Meshi Zahav, which aired a few weeks later, also stands out, not just for its content, but because on the morning of the broadcast, Meshi Zahav attempted to take his own life. He succeeded, entering a coma that lasted until his death the following year.

From now on, when people talk about the man who staged scenes with victims at attack sites (yes, another new revelation), they’ll talk about Yaish and her team’s eye-opening project. Because of those revelations, the deep dive into his corrupt, mafia-like ties with the police, the extensive archival material, from newspapers in the ‘80s that already called him a “scoundrel” to a prophetic interview with Gil Riva, and the fascinating, sometimes colorful interviewees, like the former police officer who even seems to miss him a little.

Until now, people still referred to him as a “complex figure.” That era is over. The four episodes demonstrate that there’s no real tension between the acts of kindness he led and the atrocities he committed in the shadows, because even his better sides were tainted by dark, dubious, possibly even false motives.

Yehuda Meshi Zahav had a cruel yet fascinating personality structure, with shameless self-obsession in an era when we weren’t yet used to it. And despite all this, and the reminder that the world now has one less monster, Meshi Zahav still feels like an opportunity. It wisely highlights the mutual distrust between the Haredi sector and the police, proving for the millionth time that there’s no substitute for good journalism. Justice may no longer be served here, but perhaps some hope can emerge from it.

He was a classic Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde: On the surface, he was a man of kindness and giving, until the violent, manipulative monster hiding within him was exposed to all.

Tragically, his victims will no longer achieve justice. But Meshi Zahav, at the very least, shatters the myth that surrounded the monster.

Watching Meshi Zahav is unsettling. Because of the disturbing acts revealed, but mainly because of the realization of how easy it was for him to manipulate the media. It helped him play a double game by telling us he was Dr. Jekyll. Kan’s excellent documentary essentially says to us, "Oops, we were wrong." Turns out Yehuda Meshi Zahav was the biggest monster we’ve ever known.

As for the media, which reinforced his glowing angelic public image for 30 years, and even helped him whitewash his evil deeds, it's finally trying to make amends.

Israel Hayom and Mako contributed to this article.