Yeshivah Centre Board on Brink of Collapse after Abuse Revelations

By Henrietta Cook and Timna Jacks
The Age
May 22, 2015

http://www.theage.com.au/victoria/yeshivah-centre-board-on-brink-of-collapse-after-abuse-revelations-20150522-gh7nmx.html

Manny Waks was a victim of David Samuel Cyprys who has been sentenced to 8 years in jail for abusing boys at the Yeshivah centre and college between 1990-1991. Photo: Pat Scala

The board of the Yeshivah Centre is on the brink of collapse, following grim revelations at the Royal Commission and a community campaign.

Board member Michael Goldhirsch stepped down this week, bringing the number of members who have resigned in the past three months to five.

The resignation of Mr Goldhirsch, who has been a member for decades, leaves just three board members.

An online petition signed by members of Melbourne's Jewish community has called for the committee of management to resign, saying it does "not have the confidence of the community".

The Parents and Friends Yeshivah Melbourne group, set up in the wake of the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse, is lobbying for positions on the board.

A two-week hearing of the Royal Commission revealed a cover-up at the ultra-Orthodox Yeshivah Centre, which employed convicted sex offenders David Cyprys and David Kramer.

Fairfax Media does not suggest any individual board members were involved in the concealment of any abuse.

Rabbi Abraham Glick?, who was the principal of Yeshivah College when Cyprys and Kramer were abusing students, has resigned from all leadership positions at the Centre.

Now attention has turned to the board, on which many members have sat for decades.

The Parents and Friends Yeshivah Melbourne group want increased transparency, including elections for board positions at the Centre.

Former student at the Yeshivah College and victim advocate Manny Waks, who is backing the community campaign, said Mr Goldhirsch's departure was "an important milestone".