AUSTRALIA
Failed Messiah

“…Saturday in the synagogue Australia Chabad’s] senior spiritual leader, Rabbi Zvi Telsner, delivered a stern sermon from the pulpit. “Who gave you permission to talk to anyone? Which rabbi gave you permission?” he thundered, without mentioning any names. Zephaniah and his wife Chaya walked out in a spontaneous protest with six others. Rabbi Telsner insists his remarks were not directed at any individual. “It’s like calling someone fat,” he tells me. “If you think you’re fat that’s up to you.…”

The Australian has a very long article today on the Chabad child sexual abuse scandal and the impact it has had on the Waks family. What follows are excerpts from that article:

Manny Waks pays the price for speaking about sexual abuse in an Orthodox Jewish community
KATE LEGGE • The Australian

…[Zephania Waks] prays on the Sabbath. He walks to the synagogue. He studies…