AUSTRALIA
ABC News
By Jean Edwards
A former director of an Orthodox Jewish school says he did not know it was a crime for an adult to touch a child’s genitals, the royal commission into child abuse has heard.
Rabbi Yosef Feldman was questioned about the way he dealt with abuse claims against a rabbinical student known as AVL at the Yeshivah Gedolah in Sydney in 2002.
Counsel assisting the Commission Maria Gerace asked: “did you understand that it was against the law for an adult to touch the genitals of another child?”
“I didn’t know that as a fact,” Rabbi Feldman answered.
The Commission heard AVL admitted lying down and massaging the child.
The rabbi said he “didn’t have a clue” that could be a criminal matter.
“My role in general is to look at things from a Jewish perspective, from a religious perspective,” Rabbi Feldman said.
“I’m not in the business of thinking about how society would deal with issues.”
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