Rabbi Yosef Feldman Declares Himself a "Sacrificial Lamb" and Will Sue

By Melissa Davey
The Guardian
February 11, 2015

http://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2015/feb/12/rabbi-yosef-feldman-declares-himself-a-sacrificial-lamb-and-will-sue

Rabbi Feldman now says media outlets misrepresented his comments to the royal commission. Photograph: Jeremy Piper/AAP

A senior orthodox Jewish rabbi who was forced to resign as director of a religious centre over remarks about child sex abuse victims says he has been made a “sacrificial lamb”.

On Wednesday Rabbi Yosef Feldman resigned from his position at the Sydney Yeshivah Centre, which runs schools, youth camps and prayer services, because of the backlash after comments he made to the royal commission into institutional responses into child sex abuse.

Giving evidence, he said perpetrators of child sex abuse should be granted leniency if they had stopped offending and had repented to God; massaging a child inappropriately was not a criminal act; it was not necessary to report to the police an alleged sex offender who was about to leave the country.

He also told the commission that despite holding a senior position within a school, he did not know about mandatory reporting laws for child sexual abuse.

But Feldman told ABC radio on Thursday he had resigned not because he regretted his comments but because “perception by the public is unfortunately more important than the truth”.

Media outlets had misrepresented his views, he said, while Jewish organisations were looking for a scapegoat.

“They all got caught up with the hype,” Feldman said. “It’s very easy with this controversial issue to want to make a sacrificial lamb.

“You’d think Jewish leaders would be more professional and proper. It really is outrageous defamation of myself.”

He said he would launch legal action for defamation, against unspecified parties.

On Wednesday Feldman said he apologised to anyone who may have been “embarrassed or ashamed” by his views, words, understandings, recordings or emails about child sexual abuse.

“In the future I will be more careful with my words, so that they are only a source of pride to the Jewish and general community,” Feldman said.

Commenting on Feldman’s interview with the ABC, a Yeshivah Centre spokesman said any comments that hurt or upset victims of child sex abuse and their families were unacceptable.

But he declined to comment directly on Feldman, or to be named. He confirmed the centre had accepted the resignation.