Australia's most senior rabbi resigns after admitting to defending sex abuser-
Australia’s Top Rabbi Resigns After Giving Evidence At Sex Abuse Royal Commission
The most senior rabbi in Australia has resigned, days after
appearing before the royal commission into institutional responses to
child sexual abuse.
Rabbi Meir Shlomo Kluwgant, the president of the Organisation of
Rabbis of Australasia, stepped down on Monday morning, the immediate
past president, Rabbi Moshe Gutnick, confirmed.
Child sexual abuse victims said Kluwgant’s position was untenable
after the commission heard on Friday that he had called the father of
three sons who were sexually abused a “lunatic” who was guilty of
“killing” the Orthodox Jewish Chabad community within which his sons had
been violated.
Zephaniah Waks told the commission how he and his family were
ostracised and bullied by religious leaders after speaking out about the
abuse within Chabad’s Yeshivah centre headquarters in Melbourne.
Manny Waks: I’m the ‘troublemaker’ who blew the whistle on Jewish abuse scandal
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The commission heard that as Waks was giving his evidence, Kluwgant sent
a text message to the editor of the Australian Jewish News that read:
“Zephaniah is killing us.
“He is a lunatic on the fringe, guilty of neglect of his own children,” it said. “Where was he when all this was happening?”
Waks’s son Manny, who was abused within the centre, said Kluwgant’s resignation was welcome.
“I hope this is his first step towards educating himself about child
sexual abuse and that he can contribute towards being a part of the
solution to it from now on,” Waks said.
“But he is unfit to hold any leadership position. As he holds
several high-profile positions within the Yeshivah community, I feel he
should resign from them all.”
Kluwgant’s resignation is the second to result from the hearings.
The director of the Sydney Yeshivah centre, Rabbi Yosef Feldman,
resigned last week, after offending child sex abuse victims and members
of the Jewish community during his evidence.
Since 2013, the commission has been investigating how institutions
such as schools, churches, sports clubs and government organisations
have responded to allegations and instances of child sexual abuse.
The past fortnight of hearings was the first time the orthodox
Yeshivah centres had come under its scrutiny. The Yeshivah centres in
New South Wales and Victoria run schools, religious activities and youth
programs. Failures to address child sexual abuse within the centres
were highlighted before the commission at Melbourne’s county court
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