Yeshiva rabbi Yosef Feldman resigns after child sex abuse comments

By Pia Akerman
Australian
February 11, 2015

http://www.theaustralian.com.au/national-affairs/in-depth/yeshiva-rabbi-yosef-feldman-resigns-after-child-sex-abuse-comments/story-fngburq5-1227215985294

Rabbi Yosef Feldman has resigned after his comments at the Royal Commission into child sexual abuse.

A RABBI condemned by Jewish leaders for his comments regarding child sex abuse “hype” and the need for pedophiles to receive greater leniency has resigned from the board of Sydney’s Yeshiva Centre.

Rabbi Yosef Feldman, a rabbinical director at the Yeshiva Centre in Bondi and son of the ultra-orthodox Chabad movement’s spiritual head in NSW, also told the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse that he did not know it was illegal for a man to

touch a child’s genitals when he had to deal with an abuse complaint in 2002.

His evidence to the royal commission provoked a firestorm in the Jewish community, with the Council of Orthodox Synagogues of Australia yesterday adding its voice to those calling for Rabbi Feldman to end his pastoral and community involvement.

Call to strip rabbi of all powers

Today the Yeshiva Centre said Rabbi Feldman had resigned his position as a director on its Board of Management, including his administrative responsibilities.

“The Yeshiva Centre thanks Rabbi Yosef Feldman for his years of selfless dedication to the Centre,” it said in a statement. “The Yeshiva Centre reiterates its staunch commitment to protect victims of abuse including full compliance with authorities and legal procedures.”

Yeshiva spokesman Rabbi Eli Feldman, the brother of Rabbi Yosef Feldman, told The Australian that the resignation did not preclude Rabbi Yosef Feldman from any future paid or unpaid role with the Yeshiva Centre and its associated entities, paid or unpaid.

Rabbi Yosef Feldman previously resigned a position as president of the NSW Rabbinical Council amid controversy about some of his email comments relating to child sexual abuse.

He resumed the position a short time later.

In a statement released today, Rabbi Yosef Feldman said he apologised to anyone “who may have been embarrassed or ashamed by my views, words, understandings, recordings or emails about child sexual abuse or any other matter.”

“I have dedicated my life to doing whatever I can to protect and assist all people in need including those who have suffered from any form of abuse, especially children, and it pains me greatly that words that I have expressed have upset victims and their families,” he said.

“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.

“I commit to undertake formal training and education on how to identify, handle and report abuse allegations.”