The Orthodox ‘rabbi’ accused of raping his adopted son grew up as an altar boy in the Roman Catholic Church, DailyMail.com reveals.
And now Hayim Nissim Cohen’s family is rushing to their support as he faces the prospect of spending much of the rest of his life behind bars.
“My father never abused me,” Cohen’s eldest son Avshalom told DailyMail.com. ‘He is a great father who would never hurt any of us. If I saw something out of order by someone, he would have done everything in my power to protect my brothers.
Avshalom, 22, claims that the brother making the accusations suffers from multiple personality disorder, autism and has cognitive problems.
Hayim Nissim Cohen, 38, was charged with sexual assault and continuous sexual abuse of a child for allegedly raping his adopted children. Cohen, here with eight of his nine children, is accused of sexually abusing eight of them.
His family is defending him, with his eldest son Avshalom telling DailyMail.com: ‘My father never abused me. He is a great father who would never hurt any of us’
She said she went to family court in Houston last week in an attempt to win custody of her six younger siblings.
‘Right now they are living in a CPS (Child Protective Service) facility. I haven’t talked to them since they were taken from our house. I hope that in the near future I will have them back at home.
Cohen, 38, who rose to fame on TikTok with posts about his nine adopted children, was arrested last month in Houston after his 17-year-old son claimed on a podcast last month that he had sexually abused him since that he was 11 years old and that his other adoptive brothers were also abused.
Cohen, 38, now faces 12 counts of abuse allegedly committed against six of his nine children.
He now faces 12 counts of abuse allegedly perpetrated against six of his nine children.
With nearly 200,000 followers on his @our_unique_family TikTok account, Cohen and his children regularly posted about their Orthodox Hasidic life, singing, dancing and eating together as a family.
But Harris County Attorney Janna Oswald said behind that happy facade lay “excessive abuse,” masked only by religion and social media.
She said the boys were locked in a room for most of the day, letting them out around 4 p.m., sometimes forcing them to perform sexual acts. If they refused to comply, the son said his father would pepper-spray him.
Court documents detail how the allegations came to light when a boy anonymously called into a podcast called BlindSkinnedBeauty and accused Cohen of sexual assault against him and his siblings.
The podcasters called the police and were able to trace the caller back to an IP address and eventually to his cell phone. The 17-year-old anonymous caller turned out to be one of Cohen’s children. Police interviewed him and said that he has been abused by Cohen since he was a child. He also alleged that his other siblings have also been abused by Cohen.
Cohen grew up in Odessa, Texas as Jeffrey Vejil. His mother, Corina Lujan, 71, told DailyMail.com that the family is Mexican-American.
She said that he was an altar boy at a church in Odessa and later began to explore other Christian faiths. It was after moving to Dallas to work as an office manager that he was drawn to Judaism.
‘He came to us one day and said: ‘I am going to convert to Judaism.’
“I was surprised at first, because at one point in his life he wanted to be a priest. But then I thought that he was beautiful.
In 2010 he requested a name change, citing his faith conversion as the reason.
Cohen grew up in Odessa, Texas as Jeffrey Vejil. He appears in a stock photo from 2006 when he was arrested for writing a bad check.
Cohen’s mother (pictured), Corina Lujan, 71, told DailyMail.com that the family is Mexican American. She said that he was an altar boy at a church in Odessa and later began to explore other Christian faiths. It was after moving to Dallas to work as an office manager that he was drawn to Judaism.
A few years later, Luján said she moved to Houston and around this time began adopting young children.
“I asked her why she wanted to adopt so many children and she said, Mom, I want to help the children that nobody wanted.”
Lujan said her goal was to eventually move to Israel with the children when they grew up.
Avshalom, 22, says the brother making the accusations suffers from multiple personality disorder, autism and has cognitive problems.
She said she has spoken to him several times in jail, but has had a hard time fully understanding him. “I have hearing problems and he can’t speak too loudly because of his medical problems.”
She said she has ‘water in her lungs’ and thinks she may have serious health problems.
“He is not in very good health,” he said.
‘Hayim told me: ‘Don’t worry. Everything will be fine. I did nothing.
Lujan insisted that his son has not done anything wrong. ‘My son is innocent of the charges against him,’ he declared.
He loves his children. He would never hurt them in any way. They were for the most part one big happy family who got along well.
“This is all one big bad dream, I’m still in shock from everything,” he said.
She said the boy who made the claims is now 18 years old and suffers from multiple personality disorder and has cognitive problems.
“He can change his personality in a split second and go from speaking Chinese to high kicking with his legs in the air. She has some problems. And I think she has convinced her younger siblings to believe that her father abused them.
But he added: ‘If this alleged sexual abuse went on for years as the prosecutor claims, why didn’t any therapist notice or know about it? Several of the children see a therapist on a weekly basis, you’d think the therapist would be able to see if there were any signs of abuse. But there weren’t any.
Avshalom said last week that she went to family court in Houston in an attempt to win custody of her six younger siblings.
The family last saw Cohen on Thanksgiving when they went to Houston to see him.
Cohen’s brother, Eric Vejil, 43, agreed. ‘If he sexually assaulted the young children as the prosecutors claim, they should have them examined medically. I’m sure doctors could tell a child whether or not he has been sexually assaulted or harmed.
The family last saw Cohen on Thanksgiving when they went to Houston to see him.
“He was acting like he always does, nothing was different about him,” said Luján. “We all sat down together for Thanksgiving, had a great meal and spent time with my grandkids.”
But Cohen has been in trouble before. He was arrested in 2019 on an ‘indecency with a child’ charge involving a 16-year-old foreign exchange student from Spain.
According to court documents, the boy got in trouble for stealing socks at a Walmart. Cohen told the boy that he needed to make him happy. The boy then touched Cohen’s chest and stomach area and noted that he became aroused as he made noises. Cohen then grabbed the boy’s hand and placed it on his penis.
Cohen was later rescued. Part of his bail conditions prevented him from coming within 1,000 feet of places where the children might be, but he was allowed to be near his own children.
Criminal charges are still pending in this case, as a civil lawsuit was filed against Cohen over the same incident.
And in 2006, according to court records, he was arrested in Midland, Texas, for writing a check for $357 when he didn’t have the funds in his account. The charges were dropped after he paid the full amount.
