AUSTRALIA
The Guardian
Melissa Davey
@MelissaLDavey
Monday 2 February 2015
Former students of the Yeshivah centre in Melbourne have told a royal commission how they were groomed for sexual abuse by staff, then bullied and ostracised by religious leaders when they sought help.
Manny Waks told the royal commission into institutional responses to child sexual abuse he had received abusive emails and messages from senior members of the orthodox Jewish community since going public about his abuse in 2011.
One came from Rebbetzin Pnina Feldman, an executive of the Sydney Yeshivah centre, he told the commission at Melbourne’s county court on Monday.
“Just because a security guard molested you, don’t blame Yeshivah,” the email read. “Get over it. I haven’t met a person yet with one nice word to say about you. Most people consider you a low life.”
Waks said his abuse began in 1987, when he was 11, by a man identified only as AVP, who now lives in the US.
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