Yeshivah centre denies forcing Rabbi Zvi Telsner to quit

By Katherine Towers
Australian
September 03, 2015

http://www.theaustralian.com.au/national-affairs/in-depth/yeshivah-centre-denies-forcing-rabbi-zvi-telsner-to-quit/story-fngburq5-1227509917174?sv=6680362e49eb6e5ed8a1506e2174d19c

The spiritual head of Melbourne’s Yeshivah centre faced intense pressure from leaders of the ultra-orthodox Jewish community to quit to avoid embarrassment at a sex abuse royal commission hearing scheduled for later this month.

Rabbi Zvi Telsner, who told the commission in February that pedophiles and homosexuals could be “cured”, finally stood down earlier this week and apologised to victims of sexual abuse after it was revealed he bullied and berated an abuse victim last Thursday during a conversation about the centre’s leadership.

Rabbi Telsner allegedly ­kicked the victim out of a meeting and attacked other victims as “crazy” or “garbage” and out to destroy the community.

The Australian has been told Rabbi Telsner was asked to quit, a claim denied by the centre.

The latest allegations appalled some of the new members of the interim management of the Yeshivah Centre, which lies at the heart of the tight-knit community, who were bought in to replace the old board following shocking allegations of sexual abuse and cover-ups at the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse.