AUSTRALIA
ABC News
By Danuta Kozaki
Australia’s Jewish community is undergoing a period of renewal following damaging revelations that emerged at the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse.
After the royal commission examined allegations of child sexual abuse and cover-ups at Yeshivah colleges and centres in Melbourne and Sydney, several senior leaders in the ultra-Orthodox community resigned.
“Obviously there has been a problem in the past and I think right up to the present time with some religious leaders who have encouraged their members not to report child abuse and that’s just not on,” said Peter Wertheim of the Executive Council of Australian Jewry.
Mr Wertheim said the community was shocked by the revelations and subsequent comments from some leaders following the commission.
The president of the Organisation of Rabbis of Australasia (ORA), Rabbi Selwyn Franklin, said his organisation aimed to make sure there was renewal within its ranks.
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