Reporter
Melbourne
THE peak body for Australia’s Orthodox Jews has called for a senior Yeshiva rabbi to be stripped of all authority after he said there was too much “hype” around child sexual abuse and pedophiles should be shown greater leniency for historical crimes.
Rabbi Yosef Feldman — a rabbinical director at the Bondi Yeshiva centre in eastern Sydney and the son of the ultra-Orthodox Chabad movement’s spiritual head in NSW — has also told the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse that he did not know it was illegal for a man to touch a child’s genitals when he had to deal with an abuse complaint in 2002.
His evidence has provoked a firestorm in the Jewish community, with the Council of Orthodox Synagogues of Australia yesterday adding its voice to those calling for Rabbi Feldman to end his pastoral and community involvement.
“Such statements and opinions that he has expressed have no basis or foundation in Jewish law and are to be condemned unequivocally,” said president Romy Leibler.
“It is clear that having made such statements, Rabbi Feldman can no longer be regarded as fit and proper to serve in any communal capacity and in particular any position that involves any pastoral care and involvement within the Jewish and wider community at large.”
His statement came as a victim of child sexual abuse perpetrated by two members of the Yeshiva community described its leadership culture as “rotten to its core”.
A man known by the pseudonym AVB, who was abused at Yeshiva College in Sydney and by a Yeshivah Melbourne staff member, told the commission that he was stunned to learn this week that Rabbi Feldman had described him as a moser to other rabbis and had met no argument. A moser is a Jew who informs on another Jew to secular authorities, forbidden under the historical Jewish practice of mesirah.
“It only reinforces the way that there is a fundamental, cultural dynamic that hasn’t been addressed,” AVB said.
“It doesn’t matter what the policy might be. It’s the facade — the foundation is rotten to its core.”
He said family ties within the Chabad community created deep-seated conflicts of interest that fostered a “corrupt system”, demonstrated whenever complaints arose against the leadership.
Yeshiva spokesman Rabbi Eli Feldman, brother to Rabbi Yosef Feldman, did not provide a response by deadline.
AVB also called for rabbis Boruch Lesches, Pinchus Feldman — the father of Yosef and Eli Feldman — and Abraham Glick, and other Chabad leaders who were in place at the time of the pedophiles’ offending, to resign their positions at Jewish organisations relating to children.
“There is a lot of hurt from these events and ultimately someone has to stand up and accept responsibility,” he said.
“Either they do it of their own accord or it is imposed upon them.”
Mr Leibler said the Chabad congregations made up 20 to 30 per cent of Australia’s orthodox Jewry and Yeshiva was not a member of the Council of Orthodox Synagogues of Australia as it did not wish to be bound by its decisions.
He said Yeshiva in Sydney and Melbourne needed to take responsibility for the abuse that had occurred under its watch and more needed to be done to “clean up” the community.
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