Chabad Rabbi Blames His School's Abuse Scandal On Homosexuality

After decades of senior Chabad rabbis covering up child sexual abuse at Chabad's flagship school in Australia, a former principal of the school says that an alleged child rapist's homosexuality could have been cured and implies that homosexuality is at the root of the abuse scandal that is rocking Melbourne's Chabad community.

Rabbi Avrohom Glick, left, with accused child rapist David Cyprys last year

Principal aware of Cyprys abuse rumours
PETER KOHN AND TIMNA JACKS • Australian Jewish News

MAGISTRATE Luisa Bazzani will announce on Monday whether the case against alleged rapist David Samuel Cyprys will proceed to trial.

In the Melbourne Magistrates Court last week, Rabbi Avrohom Glick, Yeshivah principal from 1986 to 2007 and presently a teacher and head of Jewish studies and student wellbeing at Yeshivah, gave evidence at a committal hearing for Cyprys, who was charged with 53 offences, including rape, against 12 boys, during his long association with the college and the Chabad community.

Before Rabbi Glick began his testimony on Monday, prosecutor Andrew Grant told the court the rabbi wanted to change a key point in a written statement he made to police late last year, in which he had stated: “Rabbi [Yitzchok Dovid] Groner never divulged to me the names of individuals that brought complaints to him.”

However, asked by Grant to set the record straight, Rabbi Glick said in court that Rabbi Groner had in fact told him Cyprys was the subject of a complaint by a parent regarding molestation.

Rabbi Glick said that in “the early 2000s”, Rabbi Groner told him of a complaint by a parent of one of the alleged victims and, although Cyprys’s name did not come up at that time, he “suspected” he was the individual Rabbi Groner was talking about.

Around that time, Rabbi Glick said he had become aware of rumours in the Yeshivah community that Cyprys was homosexual, which led him to suspect it was he the rabbi had alluded to.

But shortly before his death in 2008, Rabbi Groner had divulged Cyprys’s identity to him, Rabbi Glick told the court. “He called me and said to me that he had been approached by a mother who advised that her child had been molested by David Cyprys. She was agitated, threatening to take police action. He called me to ask if I had knowledge of that. I said I had no knowledge of that.”

Rabbi Glick said Cyprys became a youth leader and teacher and may have been involved with transporting students who attended the Gan Yisrael camps until the 1990s. As a security guard and locksmith who ran a security firm, Cyprys was also “subcontracted” for maintenance jobs on campus, he said. He was also a martial arts enthusiast who ran classes for boys.

Around the time the rumours started, Rabbi Glick was approached by the father of a student, urging him that Cyprys should not be employed at the college because of his sexual orientation. Rabbi Glick recalled responding to the parent that Cyprys did not work for the school and he was not his employer. Rabbi Glick added, “I told him Rabbi Groner would not permit Cyprys to work as a security guard if he was a threat to ­anyone.”

Asked by Bazzani if the rumours resulted in precautions being taken to protect students, Rabbi Glick said Cyprys was no longer involved with the school at that time.

Rabbi Glick had become Yeshivah principal in 1986, the year after Cyprys ended his studies at Yeshivah College and had “not very much” contact with Cyprys and “very little” contact with Jocelyn Searby, a consulting psychologist at the school, with whom Rabbi Groner had close ties.

Questioned by Cyprys’s barrister Marcus Dempsey about procedures in the 1980s to deal with young teenage students who believed they might be gay, Rabbi Glick said they were told “it was not Jewish practice” but they would not be asked to leave the school unless they were “promoting those practices”.

Rabbi Glick said he knew of no student at Yeshivah in the 1980s and 1990s who was openly gay. Asked by Dempsey: “Was homosexuality something to be cured from?”, he responded: “My understanding is that homosexuality can be cured … my understanding is that in most situations, the answer is yes.”

He said students had recourse to shluchim [mentors] to discuss these problems and could go to a religious studies teacher, to Rabbi Groner or to himself for counselling. Asked if he knew whether Cyprys had been counselled by Rabbi Groner, he said he ­­suspected so, but Rabbi Groner “did not keep meticulous records”.

When questioned by Dempsey on Tuesday, Senior Detective Lisa Metcher  said she had found no evidence in her search of Yeshivah records that Cyprys had been counselled.

On Tuesday, the court heard police testimony about two alleged rape incidents involving one of the boys.

Detective Senior Constable Tamara Annette Cornelissen gave evidence about one of the alleged victims, who had mentioned the act of “penetration” in a police interview. Two such incidents were identified in the interview.

Cornelissen confirmed the victim’s claim in his statement that the accused “covered my mouth to stop me screaming”.

Thankfully, the AJN printed a brief opinion piece by the paper's national editor that deals with some of the problems with Glick's comments:

Further cause for concern
ZEDDY LAWRENCE

COMMENT

OVER the past two weeks, the claims and allegations that have surfaced in the Cyprys hearing have shocked the community. That such abuse may have occurred in the first place is alarming enough; that the school seems to have failed to take appropriate measures when fears were raised is equally disturbing.

But these are not the only concerns that have emerged and that will doubtless be discussed over the coming days.

One is the issue of attitudes towards homosexuality, in particular that it can somehow be “cured” as if it were an illness or abnormality. Such a claim is an affront to the gay and lesbian community, and indeed to all those who believe in equality irrespective of sexual orientation. In this day and age, that a teacher responsible for student welfare at a school could hold such a view will no doubt raise eyebrows and prompt debate about his suitability for the role.

On the subject of homosexuality, it should also be made clear that such a sexual orientation has nothing to do with paedophilia. The two are quite distinct and it would be wrong for anyone to draw the impression from reports of the case that being gay and being a potential child abuser are in any way connected.

What the AJN didn't report is that many people believe Glick is still lying about what he knew and when he knew it. Some of those people claim to have evidence that proves it.

An open letter was sent to the Yeshiva College mailing list this week by a community member who wants the community to stop Glick and other Chabad honchos from using community funds to defend themselves from the criminal and civil charges that will probably be filed against them. Bruce Cooke wrote that:

I have previously written openly about the absence of transparency and accountability at the Yeshivah Centre and resulting abuse of power. It is now clear that the ramifications of this unchecked power has had a devastating effect on the safety of children under the Yeshivahs' care.

Almost exactly one year ago, I called upon Rabbi Glick and the leadership at Yeshivah to stand down pending the outcome of the Court process in relation to the alleged sexual abuse of students at Yeshivah College. No one has resigned of their own accord. No personal apology or even approach has been made to any of the victims or their families.

Rabbi Glick remains one the Yeshivah Centre’s highest paid employees and most powerful individuals. As well as being, Head of Student Welfare, he is a Trustee of the organisation and a member of its spiritual leadership, the Vaad Ruchni. Over the years, Rabbi Glick has received millions of dollars in salary and benefits from the Yeshivah Centre.

Most of the current Executive remains from that lengthy period of abuse and cover-up.

The matters before the Court, including allegations of rape of students by a former employee or contractor on the premises, underscore the need for change at the Yeshivah Centre. Those who failed the children must be held to account.

Regrettably, with a Mugabe style regime running the Yeshivah Centre, it is highly unlikely that either Rabbi Glick or the Executive will do the morally correct thing and resign from their positions.

Accordingly, Rabbi Glick and the Executive must not be allowed to waste any further community funds defending themselves and the results of their long term failed leadership. Their war on accountability & transparency and refusal to confront their mistakes must not be rewarded with access to communal monies. In compromising the children they have surely forfeited any rights to call upon funds collected from Shule membership fees, school fees, government funds and donations from the wider community.

The costs required to resolve the sexual abuse scandal and ensuing damages claims must be the sole personal responsibility of Rabbi Glick and the Executive, and they must make that public undertaking accordingly.

The Yeshivah Centre exists on donations from the immediate & wider community not to mention very generous government funding. Those funds are supposed to promote Jewish values and the education of Jewish children in a safe and secure environment, not for any other purpose.

Let not the community pay for the failures of Rabbi Glick and the Executive.

Comments

[Litvish]

If women are molested, raped is that because there are heterosexuals wandering around?

When will we find the cure for heterosexuality so we can curb molestation, rape of the opposite sex?

[gezha]

lets have a photo caption competition ... what do you think glick is saying to cyprys ...

[rjb]

Glick is an imbecile.

Will the chnyuks ever realize how hideous and life-altering molestation is?

Each victim has endured his/her own Shoah.

[Aussie]

Glick is an imbecile.

Posted by: rjb | May 17, 2012 at 08:41 PM

Far from it...He is playing this rather smart...He is throwing Groner under the bus....When push comes to shove he will no doubt say that he wished he could have done more but that Groner called the shots...

[thelionroars]

henry and izzy herzog helping bankroll lawyers and defense

chabad central biz district in australia is run by a herzog and if his son want to keep the franchise as he is a single shliach (unheard of anywhere in chabad ) the family must pay for the lawyers
thats the rumor i heard

[Aussie]

lets have a photo caption competition ... what do you think glick is saying to cyprys ...

Posted by: gezha | May 17, 2012 at 08:37 PM

Glick is not talking...If he were then his hand would closed and raised to his mouth as if it were a microfone...(-_-)....

[Porn4All]

Please, keep those sex stories cuming.

[Pirkei Avot]

(Mugabe style regime )
Hyperbole at best! And will you replace them with anyone better? Doubtful! This type of diatribe undermines all credibility of the letter writer.

(their long term failed leadership.) According to who? Failed in everything? By what criteria?
To some people it is all about toppling the executive and all about the money and this letter proves it. These people are thrilled to have their chance to go at them regardless of who is a victim.

[Pirkei Avot]

Bruce Cooke has a bee in his bonnet against yeshiva for some unexplained reason and is using all this as a weapon to wage his own private war. Bruce gets most excited when he is blaming yeshiva and not so much crying for the victims. Funnily enough he hasn't even got any kids. Strange.

[Aussie]

tPosted by: Pirkei Avot | May 17, 2012 at 10:35 PM

And you are a Yeshivah apologist and pedophile sympathiser....

[Bruce J Cooke]

Bruce Cooke has a bee in his bonnet against yeshiva for some unexplained reason and is using all this as a weapon to wage his own private war. Bruce gets most excited when he is blaming yeshiva and not so much crying for the victims. Funnily enough he hasn't even got any kids. Strange.

Posted by: Pirkei Avot | May 17, 2012 at 10:35 PM

Bruce Cooke has always been plain & clear about what the issue is.Bruce Cooke does not hide behind a bogus name.I have the documentation to prove that years before this broke I was pleading with the management to provide accountability & transparency.I had several private meetings with one of the trustees to try & resolve the problem.I predicted(I have the proof in writing) several years ago that the current system would not do the Yeshivah proud.I had not a clue about the matters that are now before the court or that my prediction would prove prophetic.My anxiety was that I no longer felt comfortable supporting the Yeshivah with the tzedakah I was able to muster.As proof that I was not just making excuses to stop giving I gave elsewhere & sent a copy of the receipts to the Yeshivah.I did not want them to worry that I had ceased performing the mitzvah of tzedakah.Very considerate of me.No?I see the current tragedy as just another branch of the same tree.That is the bee in my bonnet.If PA or anyone else has an issue with those calling for change they should discuss it directly with them,face to face preferably with a video recording of the discussion.On two occasions when the management asked to meet & discuss things with me they refused to allow me to record the meeting.I immediately made notes of the meeting after it was over & asked them to confirm or refute the veracity of my notes.The result was a deafening silence.

[Pirkei Avot]

is that anything like being a communist apologist or a terrorist apologist because you think yeshiva is evil don't you? What is a pedophile sympathiser? Someone who thinks pedophilia is ok? Not I.

[Bruce J Cooke]

PS:
As for Funnily enough he hasn't even got any kids. Strange.

The Rebbe was not the only one to have no kids but have empathy for kids.How objectionable to infer that a person with no children should be insensitive to this sort of travesty.

[Pirkei Avot]

oh, I hit a nerve. compare yourself to the Rebbe, or maybe to Moshe or Avraham too. So noble you think you are. Not humble much are you?

[SpeakOutAboutAbuse]

Yeshivah apologist and pedophile sympathiser....

I think there are a whole tribe of you protecting one and other – it’s a pedophile sympathizer RING and it’s here living in Melbourne, pretending to be FRUM and fooling yourself into thinking you are pious Jews !

Glick - spineless crud to say it wasn't my fault - I knew nothing...

Chabad is an embarrassment on the whole community. It’s an idol worshiping sect which will one day be cast away as its own religion. Just like Xianity, with the next coming of their messiah.

Spineless, pathetic Rabbis’ – instead of taking responsibility and dealing with very important issues – none more so, than the care and welfare of our children – you blame a dead man that also showed himself to be a spineless man that was only ever concerned with the good name of Chabad and to make sure the $$$’s kept coming in. Good name – cricky - You reap what you sew – I hope these victims sue you personally for everything you have got.
How do you sleep at night? You should be forced to step down immediately. I hope it brings down Chabad in Melbourne and we no longer have to see you stupid clowns dancing on the street corners again.

Idol worshippers you are!

[Pirkei Avot]

Feels good to rant and let our your antisemitic hate online doesn't it? Keeps you from doing worse perhaps like beating your kids?

[SpeakOutAboutAbuse]

You are really quite stupid - aren't you? If you are EA - I will speak to you personally about your idiocy... I'm no self hating Jew. But I do not tolerate Hypocrisy and people who protect and guard pedophiles and child rapists. Are you one of those people?

...May G-d have mercy on your Soul...

Gut Shabbos to you

[Bruce J Cooke]

I give up.It's no use arguing with PA.
PA once had an argument with an echo & PA had the last word

[SpeakOutAboutAbuse]

Bruce - its been very well know that the organization is rotten from the head down - like a stinking fish

[Ilana Leeds]

@ Pirkei Avot
You are the one with the nerve to to use the name Pirkei Avot and to deride Bruce Cooke for saying that the Rebbe didn't have kids as well. He made a just comparison and he did not give himself other qualities of the Rebbe. Instead of feeling sympathy and empathy for a fellow Jew who does not have children you have created a Hillul Hashem by what you have said to another Jew calculated to hurt him in a most obnoxious manner. Having been childless for many years of my life, I know the pain and despair. Baruch Hashem I now have a child . You hide behind a nickname because you know very well what you have said is totally vile. You call yourself Pirkei Avot - perhaps you need to read Pirkei Avot Ethics of the Fathers in English. Understand what ethic are, do we?
Now back to the point, there are plenty of homosexuals who are decent people who do not molest or force their sexual orientation onto children and the vulnerable. There is a very good talk by a Rav Manis Freidman http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c7m_-9-Nej4
Don't make this issue a homphobic one. It is about the duty of care of a school, adults and responsible people towards vulnerable children.
Pirkei Avot I hope you spend your time well over shabbes and study Pirkei Avot. You need it.
I am no proponent of homosexuality but I do afford any person regardless of their gender and sexuality and religion respect. Gut shabbes

[Lo K'darkah]

Iliana Leeds' post one of the best I have ever read on this sight. Nailed it.

[David]

Funnily enough he hasn't even got any kids. Strange.

Posted by: Pirkei Avot | May 17, 2012 at 10:35 PM

Pirkei Avot, you are an utter disgrace and a walking, talking, Chillul Hashem. It is not up to you to make a judgement as to why someone may or may not have children. That is up to Hashem alone. The Rebbe had no children, either. I bet you have a dozen little monsters that are incapable of nothing useful and will only ever consume the productive labors of others, and never produce, and never be properly educated. It disgusts me that the taxes of people like me will have to pay for them and their progeny. And I bet you have the older ones raising the younger ones and you have very little individual time with them.

[Eli, what me messiah?]

Bruce, it has long been obvious that there are Chabad netbots (only slightly modified from a Russian on-line dating service) that troll this site and are programmed to give the same answers to anyone who criticizes Chabad. Examples:

Comment 1: "Chabad leaves children in the hands of child abusers again!"
bot response: "Feels good to rant and let out your antisemitic hate online doesn't it?"

Comment 2: "Wow, another Chabad rabbi accused of drug trafficking! No wonder they have the funds to keep opening up their recruitment centers. They've got more sources of income than even L. Ron Hubbard could dream of."
bot response: "Feels good to rant and let out your antisemitic hate online doesn't it?"

Comment 3: "Chabad really expects to US goverment to help them get all these documents to Brooklyn from Eastern Europe when they're breaking the law all over the world?"
bot response: "Feels good to rant and let out your antisemitic hate online doesn't it?"

Comment 4: "Anyone know the best place in Jersey to get some Chabad-sponsored cholent?"
bot response: "Feels good to rant and let out your antisemitic hate online doesn't it?"

you get my point. more productive to go bang your head against awall...

[Bangkok]

pirkei avot: who are you protecting? you're just making a total ass of yourself.

[Hotdogs]

Pirkai Avot , I dont know is you are a man or woman or if you like young men but as far as I am concerned all you want to do in your comments is to protect and make excuses for the actions of pedophiles . Please understand child molesters are the lowest form of human life who selfishly destroy innocent lives to satisfy their own urges . Not only do they permanently damage their victims but they destroy the lives and reputations of their families . Unlike you I do not feel sad for SD but I feel sad for his victims ,his parents and his children who have to live with the same he has brought upon them .I am sick of you tring to protect such pedophiles .

[Rebitzman]

Closing the ital tag

[Rebitzman]

What is a pedophile sympathiser?

Someone who finds out it is going on, and tries to:

A) insulate the perp from the authorities
B) attacks the victim instead of the perp
C) screams "anti-semitism", "nazi", "self hating Jew" or other similar invectives at anyone who expresses outrage - bonus points for using "capo in the death camps"
D) express the opinion that the alleged perp was too much of a tdzadik, Talmud Bocher, or gave too much tdzadakah to possibly be guilty (or imply that these off set the crime)
E) blames homosexuality for a crime that has exactly nothing to do with homosexuality.

You still sure "not me" fits?

[Elijah]

Photo Caption competition

Rabbi Glick "It was this big and silky smooth?"

[Elijah]

Photo Caption competition

Rabbi Glick "Look - No hair!"

[BeenThereDoneThat]

If you think logically about it, why would a photo have been taken at that time?

Most likely as proof that Rabbi Glick had spoken to him, and asked him to leave, and stay off the premises.

You can even see the heavy standing behind them - most likely he was being ejected.

This may not actually be the case, but it just shows that out of context, it could mean a multiple of things.

Now, about what Rabbi Glick said about homosexuality: ( a bit of background first, (from experience) and nothing about pedophilia, as that is a separate subject)

It is quite a bit of a problem at the school, as it is not mixed, and there is extreme segregation between the girls and boys schools, which are in close proximity.

So, both the boys, and the girls, (especially in the older years, 9-12) will constantly see each other when leaving school, and there is an extremely high tension, but no mixing is allowed, as they are being watched.

This brings about a high amount of sexual tension in both the boys, and the girls, and they have the biological urge to want to touch and be touched, by the opposite sex, but are unable to do so.

There is a large amount of same-sex sexual experimentation that goes on at both schools, after hours, and on weekends, when the students meet up with each other, mostly one on one. The parents do not suspect a thing, as what can be wrong if you are a girl, and have a girlfriend staying over? (this is FACT, from personal experience, and from discussions with peers in subsequent years, both male, and female)

This also happens at school camps, and Gan Israel camps. (truth or dare games when there are only two students present is usually the starting point).

The management of both schools are in total denial that their schools are the breeding grounds for unorthodox sexual behaviors, and on top of this, the seeds of homosexuality, and lesbianism, are firmly planted, even in those, who were not of that persuasion previously.

Those students who are firmly heterosexual, will start to question their sexuality, and this will affect them for the rest of their lives.

Rabbi Glick knows about this, and probably feels that if such behavior can be produced at the schools, then it is just as easy to cure such behaviors.

On a second point, I have been close to at least two confirmed cases of known, full blown homosexuals, who have gotten married, and the rabbis told the brides that they were only borderline homosexuals, and getting married will cure them - there is nothing to worry about.

Both of these marriages blew up quite strongly, after both had had multiple children, who in many cases have left the derech, and are in various states of physcological torment.

(Wow, had to get that off my chest)

[Tam]

I'm behind u Bruce j Cooke. I don't know who u r but u sound like someone I should meet

[Yosef ben Matitya]

from haaretz
http://www.haaretz.com/jewish-world/jewish-world-news/australian-sex-abuse-scandal-tars-name-of-venerated-chabad-rabbi-1.431373

[Steven]

From Haaretz: "While he did not defend Rabbi Groner's alleged actions, Aron told Haaretz: "It's a great shame his legacy is being besmirched in this way. It was a different era back then. In those days he thought that sending him [the alleged pedophile] to a psychologist was the end of the story."

Kramer and Leifer were not sent to psychologists and I doubt the others were either.

[steven in uk]

It seems to me, that child abuse quite oftern takes place, in single sex insitutions, such as ,sports clubs, and schools, both secular, and religious of evrey faith.

[Yoel Mechanic]

(Wow, had to get that off my chest)

Posted by: BeenThereDoneThat | May 18, 2012 at 06:57 PM
------------------------------------------
Heart felt *personal* experiences are important to share, and hopefully some action can be taken. That's for sharing.

I really don't know what to say. I am surprised the kids cannot be guided to simply just hang on for a couple of years till they get married. With marriage just around the corner doesn't that take pressure off of the kids? I have always thought, and experienced that there is a sexual pressure that comes with being in a situation where marriage is years or a decade away, IF EVER! That is the flip side.

[BeenThereDoneThat]

The kids are not guided because sex is not spoken about.

As well you have to take into account the age of the students, it is when they are at the beginning of their sexual awakenings

[ABC]

Most recent FB update by Manny Wax, the first alleged victim to speak out:

A shocking new development in the Yeshivah sexual abuse scandal....Rabbi Telsner (Yeshivah Rabbi) has just confirmed to my father that he has issued a "Psak" (religious edict) that my father can no longer be called up to the Torah. He has refused to state the reason for this. We are currently in the process of responding to this outrageous development.

I thought it's ironic that on the day of the Psak, the Progressive community's Rabbi Kim Ettlinger published an excellent piece in the AJN. My father should probably consider moving from Chabad to the Progressives....but then there would be one less person fighting the injustices within Yeshivah:-)!

8 Jun 2012
The Australian Jewish News

Rabbi Kim Ettlinger is associate rabbi at Temple Beth Israel, Melbourne.

In the wake of the child abuse allegations that have rocked the Jewish community, Rabbi Kim Ettlinger considers our religious obligation to report such crimes.

By not speaking out against abuse we are protecting a predator.

OVER the last few weeks, our newspapers, both Jewish and secular, have included articles about alleged child sex abuse cases within the Jewish community. Collectively, I think we hang our heads in shame. As we hear and read about these allegations, we ask ourselves many questions. Will they cause an increase in antiSemitism? How can this happen in our community? How can someone who violates our children be protected by some leaders and some rabbis?

As a rabbi, I felt the need to delve into Jewish sources to seek some answers. There are various principles at play within halachah on the issue of reporting child sex abuse. At times they might seem to be in contradiction, but when looked at in greater depth, they do complement each other.

These principles include: dina d’malchuta dina (the law of the land is the law), chillul Hashem (actions that profane God’s name), mesirah (prohibition against reporting to non-Jewish agencies), and lo ta’amod (do not stand by as your neighbour bleeds).

Let me begin with dina d’malchuta dina – the law of the land is the law. Simply put, we Jews are citizens of the land in which we live and therefore must abide by the laws sanctioned by the government of Australia. The principle of dina d’malchuta dina applies as the overarching principle in monetary and criminal cases. However, when we delve more closely into Jewish texts, we find other principles that may prevent some Jews from following dina d’malchuta dina.

Rambam (Moses Maimonides) in his Mishneh Torah – Hilchot Yesodei HaTorah, chapter 5, teaches us that we are obligated to give up our lives rather than profane God’s name – chillul Hashem. Rambam defines profaning God’s name through worshipping idols, committing murder or sexual transgressions. In many cases, chillul Hashem is used incorrectly or it isn’t explained appropriately. Many understand chillul Hashem in the simplest way, which is to bring embarrassment upon the Jewish community, no more and no less. It is unfathomable to me, but some truly believe that by protecting sex offenders they are protecting the Jewish people. On the contrary, I believe it is chillul Hashem to refrain from reporting cases of suspected child sex abuse to government authorities.

The concept of mesirah comes into play when a Jew informs on another to the non-Jewish community. The Rama (Rabbi Moses Isserles) rules that a person being physically abused by another may inform the government about the attacker (Hoshen Mishpat 388:7). Reporting to government authorities to end sex abuse is also supported by Rabbi Eliezer Waldenberg z”l (Tzitz Eliezer) who sat on the Beit Din Hagadol, the Supreme Rabbinical Court, in Jerusalem and who ruled that one certainly may inform the government in cases of child sex abuse. Thus, even without life-threatening conditions, it is deemed meritorious to report a parent who may be abusing his or her child. How much more so is this true for our rabbis and our leaders? Those who disagree and hold mesirah higher than pikuach nefesh (saving a life) need not look further than the Shulchan Aruch (Hoshen Mishpat 388:7), which comments that the original laws of mesirah were instituted to protect Jews from inequitable governments – not governments such as Australia’s.

Another reason that some might put forward for not reporting child abuse is the enticement of silence – that if we keep quiet, and don’t speak about it, then perhaps it will disappear; that if issues are handled quietly and internally, then there is no need to report to government authorities. Sadly, we have seen that too often alleged paedophiles are shipped off to other countries and other religious organisations and that is the way “situations” are handled. Things have been held in confidence for years, if not decades, but eventually, as Chaucer said in his ballad Truth, “in the end truth will out”.

Currently, this is what seems to be unfolding in our media. In the context of a student seeing his teacher erring in judgement, the Babylonian Talmud teaches us that being silent in a situation where you know or witness injustice is sinful (BT Shevuot 31a). Those remaining silent are defying the biblical prohibition of “not joining hands with the guilty to act as a malicious witness” (Exod: 23:1).

Certainly, one may feel that speaking out about child sex abuse is lashon hara, literally “evil tongue”, but generally understood as evil speech or gossip.

We are not permitted to speak about another individual, especially if it is something that may cause them physical or monetary harm should it become public knowledge.

However, the Chofetz Chaim (Rabbi Israel Meir HaCohen Kagan) clearly states that telling about a situation, whether witnessed or not, is permissible if it is to help another and prevent future harm. This is certainly true in the case of child sex abuse.

By not speaking out against abuse we are protecting a predator. We are defying Jewish law.

I believe that the Rambam and the Shulchan Aruch say it best: “One who is able to save another’s life and does not attempt to do so, violates the verse in the Torah: lo ta’amod – do not stand idly over the blood of your neighbour” (Leviticus 19:16) (Maimonides, Hilchot Rotzeah, 1:14; also, Shulchan Aruch, Hoshen Mishpat 426:1).

The answer to the question “Does Jewish law command us to report child sex abuse offenders?” is an absolute “yes!”