AUSTRALIA
J-Wire
February 25, 2015 by J-Wire Staff
Rabbi Yossi Friedman is a modern orthodox rabbi, currently spiritual leader of Sydney’s Cremorne Synagogue.
He writes on the outcome of the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse’s investigation of the Sydney Yeshiva and Melbourne Yeshivah.
“The Australian Jewish community has been rocked over the past few weeks.
I firstly wish to apologise that while our community was experiencing the pain and humiliation that came out of the Royal Commission into Sexual Abuse, my wife, Chana Raizel Friedman and I were overseas.
I wish, now, to clarify where we stand.
There must be no tolerance for sexual abuse anywhere in our community. Those who have perpetrated sexual crimes, especially against children, must be brought to the full extent of justice no matter the distance of time. Anyone who is privy to any information of this sort must come forward and report it to the relevant authorities. There is to be no cover-up or ‘making light’ of any report that comes forth. Ignorance or playing ignorant is not an excuse. Those leaders from among us who have come forth and shamed our community must pay the price for their words and actions. They have lost any ounce of authority and credibility that they may have had.
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