AUSTRALIA
The JC
By Danny Ben-Moshe, May 21, 2015
When Manny Waks went public in 2011 with the revelation that he was a victim of child sex abuse in Melbourne’s Chabad Yeshiva, he could not have foreseen the consequences: three court cases and convictions of paedophiles, including one extradition; a Royal Commission hearing into actions of the Yeshiva; the resignation of senior rabbis; and parents in the Chabad community seeking a new governance structure for their school.
Four years on, the tragic Australian experience remains a constantly unfolding story that continues to make the headlines. Rabbis and other Yeshiva stalwarts still cling to their posts, victims of abuse and their families continue to be shunned, and the Yeshiva now faces civil class action and, potentially, criminal prosecution.
As Britain confronts its own Orthodox child sex abuse case, what are the lessons from Australia?
Firstly, deal with the issue from the outset. Waks went to the Yeshiva leadership on several occasions in private, but they declined to deal with this matter. That was the first of their many mistakes – the Yeshiva leadership dug itself into a deep hole as it prioritised the institution over the individual.
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