AUSTRALIA
Sydney Morning Herald
Timna Jacks
Australia’s most powerful coalition of rabbis has for first time called for heads to roll at Yeshivah institutions, after damning findings in the royal commission exposed that child abuse was ignored and enabled by its leaders.
Executives at the Rabbinical Council of Australia and New Zealand, the Rabbinical Council of Victoria and the Rabbinical Council of New South Wales, have joined forces to take the strongest position to date on the need for reform in the community, which has been rocked by wide-ranging child abuse scandals.
The senior rabbinate called on leaders who intimidated victims to vacate their positions, claiming they have “lost their moral right to serve as leaders in our communities”.
“We call on those who have been identified in the report as not fulfilling their legal obligations to protect children to stand down from their public positions,” read the statement, released on Wednesday.
“We believe that those who denigrated or undermined the victims have lost their moral right to serve as leaders in our communities.
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