Australia’s Chabad reeling after Royal Commission into sexual abuse
The Orthodox Jewish world this week seemed ready to admit that external agencies were needed to investigate child sex abuse allegations, after a Royal Commission in Australia heard victims were now being “isolated”.
Reaction follows the historic Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse in Australia, which held a public hearing for Chabad institutions after staff members were convicted of sexually abusing students.
Commissioners are looking into the lack of response after abuse allegations against several men were made in the 1980s and 1990s to officials of the Yeshivah Centres in Melbourne and Sydney.
Israel’s Chabad spokesman Menachem Brod said: “In the past the thought was these problems could be handled within the community or family, today it is clear that the professional elements are the only ones who can root out this disease.”
In the past few months former Chabad officials David Kramer and Davis Cyprys have each been jailed while a third man, Aron Kestecher, committed suicide. Kramer’s victims were aged 10-11 while Cyprys abused children as young as seven. Elsewhere Daniel Hayman, a former director of Yeshiva College Bondi, was given a 19-month suspended jail sentence for indecent assault of a 14-year-old student.
Commissioners heard how perpetrators often ran extra-curricular activities such as martial arts classes, religious programmes and overnight youth camps and that victims, many of whom gave tearful evidence, often came up against resistance.
Manny Waks said he told then-yeshiva head Rabbi Dovid Groner of the abuse at the time but “he practically pleaded with me not to pursue the matter”. He said his family had since faced a backlash for “breaking the Chabad code of silence”.
The wife of one of Cyprys’ whistleblower victims, who has remained anonymous, told the hearing that she now felt “hated and isolated”.
She added: “Well beyond the horrible acts of the perpetrators against my husband that had ripped the rug of security, certainty and innocence out from his childhood, we are being screwed once more by the adolescent self-serving and callous response of the community.”
“The entire society is undergoing a welcome process of understanding the extent of the severity of sexual abuse,” said Brod, adding that Chabad’s policy was for allegations of abuse to be reported to the authorities.
Horrific testimony about how a young boy, who was raped, was kicked out of Yeshivah by Rabbis Groner and Glick when he disclosed his abuse.
— Jewish News (@aus_jewishnews) February 9, 2015
Thank you for helping to make Jewish News the leading source of news and opinion for the UK Jewish community. Today we're asking for your invaluable help to continue putting our community first in everything we do.
For as little as £5 a month you can help sustain the vital work we do in celebrating and standing up for Jewish life in Britain.
Jewish News holds our community together and keeps us connected. Like a synagogue, it’s where people turn to feel part of something bigger. It also proudly shows the rest of Britain the vibrancy and rich culture of modern Jewish life.
You can make a quick and easy one-off or monthly contribution of £5, £10, £20 or any other sum you’re comfortable with.
100% of your donation will help us continue celebrating our community, in all its dynamic diversity...
Engaging
Being a community platform means so much more than producing a newspaper and website. One of our proudest roles is media partnering with our invaluable charities to amplify the outstanding work they do to help us all.
Celebrating
There’s no shortage of oys in the world but Jewish News takes every opportunity to celebrate the joys too, through projects like Night of Heroes, 40 Under 40 and other compelling countdowns that make the community kvell with pride.
Pioneering
In the first collaboration between media outlets from different faiths, Jewish News worked with British Muslim TV and Church Times to produce a list of young activists leading the way on interfaith understanding.
Campaigning
Royal Mail issued a stamp honouring Holocaust hero Sir Nicholas Winton after a Jewish News campaign attracted more than 100,000 backers. Jewish Newsalso produces special editions of the paper highlighting pressing issues including mental health and Holocaust remembrance.
Easy access
In an age when news is readily accessible, Jewish News provides high-quality content free online and offline, removing any financial barriers to connecting people.
Voice of our community to wider society
The Jewish News team regularly appears on TV, radio and on the pages of the national press to comment on stories about the Jewish community. Easy access to the paper on the streets of London also means Jewish News provides an invaluable window into the community for the country at large.
We hope you agree all this is worth preserving.
