AUSTRALIA
J-Wire
On reflection – Manny Waks post the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse yeshiva and yeshivah hearings
February 17, 2015 by Manny Waks
Nearly four years ago, when I publicly disclosed the sexual abuse I endured as a child at Melbourne’s Yeshivah Centre, I did not envisage that today so many around the world would know exactly what had happened to myself and so many other children at that institution.
I knew that there were other victims and that someone within the Jewish community had to take a leadership position in the fight for justice. There is no way I could have imagined that those first steps I took in 2011 would lead to multiple convictions, a Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse, public acknowledgements of past wrongs, apologies to the victims, community awareness, and so much more.
The past few weeks have been incredible. The Royal Commission public hearing into the Chabad-run Yeshiva(h) Centres in Melbourne and Sydney allowed the Australian community as well as many overseas who were following events via the internet and live streaming to hear the shocking revelations of child sexual abuse, deliberate cover-ups and intimidation of victims and their families. Adding to the horror, it became clear that not a single Jewish community leader among lay leaders, peak body representatives or rabbis was willing to take clear public stands in support of the victims and against the individuals and institutions who were, at the Royal Commission, shown to have engaged in systematic attacks against those of us fighting these ongoing injustices.
From a personal perspective, as both a victim and a victim advocate, the silence of these leaders was the most hurtful of the various afflictions. As an adult it felt worse than the sexual abuse itself, worse than the knowledge that it was deliberately covered up and worse than the intimidation by those with an interest to conceal these unspeakable crimes. So often I felt alone, deserted by those who could and should have taken a public stand; marginalised until my family and I succumbed to the incredible pressures by making the difficult decision to leave Australia – to leave our home. And I was certainly not alone. There is little doubt that those leaders were all complicit in the ongoing immoral and possibly criminal behaviour against the many victims and their supporters.
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