AUSTRALIA
Herald Sun
Rabbi Yosef Feldman tells royal commission he didn’t know it’s illegal for adults to touch children’s genitals
SHANNON DEERY HERALD SUN FEBRUARY 06, 2015
A HIGH-profile Jewish leader says he didn’t know it was illegal for adults to touch the genitals of children.
Giving evidence to the Royal Commission into Institutional Child Sexual Abuse Rabbi Yosef Feldman said he was unfamiliar with child abuse laws.
He said even while director of the Yeshivah Gedola Rabbinical College he didn’t bother familiarising himself with the laws.
“Obviously I knew I had certain obligations. I didn’t know what they were. I relied on my father,” he said.
Rabbi Feldman’s father, Pinchus Feldman, has been Sydney’s top Rabbi since 1968.
Counsel assisting the commission Maria Gerace asked directly: “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,” he said.
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