AUSTRALIA
The Australian
FEBRUARY 12, 2015
Pia Akerman
Reporter
Melbourne
THE RABBI who presided over Melbourne’s Yeshivah College as principal at a time when staff were abusing children says his responsibility to ensure students’ safety existed “in theory” but was never spelt out.
Rabbi Abraham Glick joined Yeshivah College — part of Melbourne’s Orthodox Chabad community — as a teacher in 1970, becoming head of Jewish studies from 1974 and principal from 1988 to 2007.
He was involved in a decision to send teacher and rabbi David Kramer to Israel in 1992 when an abuse allegation was made, and also served as principal while Yeshivah worker David Cyprys was abusing boys in the late 1980s and 1990s.
Rabbi Glick today told the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse that he only knew “in principle, in theory” that as principal he had a responsibility to be aware of issues that might put children at risk of abuse.
“It was never spelt out as such,” he said.
“I suppose at some level one could argue that yes, as principal that was my responsibility. If one understands the way Yeshivah actually operated it’s not so clear,” he said.
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