AUSTRALIA
Manny Waks
6 December 2016
On behalf of myself and other victims/survivors of child sexual abuse, we welcome the news that Rabbi Shimshon Yurkowicz, Rabbi of Chabad Malvern (Melbourne, Australia), has resigned his membership of the Orthodox Rabbinic bodies in Australia.
This follows the release last week of damning findings by the Royal Commission into the response of the Yeshivah Centre in Melbourne (and Yeshiva Bondi, Sydney) to child sexual abuse, which found its leadership responsible for the horrific treatment of victims/survivors and their families.
The Royal Commission found that the Yeshivah leadership ‘did not create an environment conducive to the communication of information about child sexual abuse. If anything, the mixed messages are likely to have produced inaction’.
The Royal Commission was damming of the Yeshivah Cente stating ‘there was an absence of supportive leadership for survivors of child sexual abuse and their families within Yeshivah Melbourne. Halachic [Jewish Law] principles were stridently – even if incorrectly applied. Criticism of those that spoke out was forceful’.
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