Leading Chabad Rabbi Admits Chabad Bullies, Intimidates Child Sex Abuse Victims, Calls Other Chabad Rabbis Misusing Halakha To Do So An “Abomination”

“The reality is the people who are saying, ‘go to rabbinical courts’ are not saying to do that out of religious fervor to keep the [Jewish] law. They’re saying it that way to hush it up, to cover it up, to prevent the victim from finding redress. There is no doubt at all: mesirah [the prohibition against informing] has no application whatsoever to instances of child sexual abuse. To use mesirah in this way is an abomination.”

Above: Rabbi Moshe Gutnick

Leading Chabad Rabbi Admits Chabad Bullies, Intimidates Child Sex Abuse Victims, Calls Other Chabad Rabbis Misusing Halakha To Do So An “Abomination”
Shmarya Rosenberg • FailedMessiah.com

It started with admitting his own failings.

Chabad Rabbi Moshe Gutnick, a senior rabbinic judge of the Chabad-controlled Sydney Beth Din rabbinical court in Sydney, Australia, told the ongoing Royal Commission investigating child sex abuse in Chabad institutions Wednesday that he “forgot” a 1987 call from a boy who claimed to have been abused by Daniel “Gug” Hayman at Chabad’s Yeshiva Centre in Sydney, the Guardian reported.

Gutnick claimed he thought the call was a prank. He testified that he reported the call to the Yeshiva Centre and then let it slip from his mind – something he now has come to “profoundly regret,” he said. He also told the Royal Commission that he now works with victims of child sexual abuse and encourages them to go to report the crimes against them to police.

Hayman was eventually convicted of child sex abuse last year.

Then in 2011, Gutnick received a phone call from a man who asked to meet him.

“At my house the man asked me if I remembered receiving a phone call from a young boy in the 1980s, during which the young boy reported Gug for child sexual abuse. He told me that it was him, and that Gug had sexually abused him. I was shocked. It was the first time I had come face-to-face with a victim,” Gutnick said, calling the phone call and meeting a “life-changing experience.”

At this point in his testimony, Gutnick reportedly began to shake. He testified that after that meeting with victim he resolved to do everything in his power to make sure the voices of sex abuse victims were heard, the Guardian reported.

He then testified about his September 11, 2013 Erev Yom Kippur apology to child sex abuse victims.

“It has also become clear that we [i.e., the rabbis; the Chabad community] have not handled this in an appropriate manner,” Gutnick testified.

Gutnick also told the Royal Commission that the halakha (Orthodox Jewish law) prohibiting mesirah (informing) does not apply to cases of sexual abuse. He said his advice to child sex abuse victims is “do it through the courts…It’s the only way you will get justice. A rabbi can’t issue a summons or compel people to give evidence; we have zero ability to investigate these things,” Gutnick testified.

But Gutnick also testified that some Chabad rabbis disagree and instead insist that all cases of child sex abuse must be exclusively handled by a beit din (Orthodox rabbinical court).

The halakha of mesirah is used by some leaders to exert power and control over victims while isolating them from the community, Gutnick reportedly testified, calling this rabbinic behavior a “gross misuse of rabbinic power.”

“The reality is the people who are saying, ‘go to rabbinical courts’ are not saying to do that out of religious fervor to keep the [Jewish] law. They’re saying it that way to hush it up, to cover it up, to prevent the victim from finding redress. There is no doubt at all: mesirah has no application whatsoever to instances of child sexual abuse. To use mesirah in this way is an abomination,” Gutnick testified.

Under halakha, Jews have an obligation to report abuse to police, Gutnick continued, and it is not necessary to receive permission from a rabbi to do so.

Gutnick also testified that Chabad and other rabbinic and lay leaders sacrificed child sex abuse victims in order to protect themselves and their organizations, using bullying and intimidation to do so. Some child sex abuse victims are still too frightened because of that to come forward, Gutnick testified.

“I believe that the victims of child sexual abuse and their families are, and especially the ones that have come forward, the bravest of the brave, and I believe God is with them more than he may ever be with me,” Gutnick said.

Update 1:22 pm CST – Gutnick also testified that a Jewish doctor who discovered injuries on an infant consistent with sexual abuse was threatened by Chabad rabbis and labelled a mosser – an informer under halakha [Orthodox Jewish law], a category of halakha violation punishable by vigilante death – after reporting the suspected child sex abuse to police and child protection services.

“This was only a few years ago, with an infant. It is my belief that the threat of transgressing [the prohibition against] mesirah is used as a means with which to ­retain power and control. I believe it is an absolute ­religious obligation to report any allegation of child sexual abuse as quickly as possible to the appropriate authorities. To suggest that there is some religious obligation not to do so is an abomination,” Gutnick testified. He said he believes rabbis need to be educated about child sex abuse and implied that some of his rabbinic colleagues were unfit.

“There are people with crazy views in the broad community, there are people with crazy views among rabbis. We have to stop all the rubbish that’s been going on,” Gutnick testified.

Related Posts:

All Royal Commission Posts.

Samuel David Cyprys Posts.

Rabbi David Kramer Posts.

Daniel "Gug" Hayman Posts.

Comments

[John]

Thank you Rabbi Gutnick.

[The truth hurts]

Rabbi
It's about time! I hope others will follow suit.

[martin]

I was one of those people that believed we don't go to the police, until my daughter was abused by an alleged very good friend of mine.

Even when we found out about the abuse we went to Rabbonim asking them to help us deal with this, then after a number of year the asking came to pleading with Rabbonim to help, but to no avail.
In fact the victimisation on us had started so after 6 years trying to get Rabbonim to help us, my daughter went to the police.
After that the victimisation got worse
The lies that people in my own community Lubavitch London came out with was so disgusting beyond words.
Then the community said in court the truth will come out, and it did, the abuser was found guilty and sent to prison.
Then it got even worse, a member of Lubavitch reported me to the tax office and to every government department they thought of,to destroy me, I lost my business, and that is Lubavitch, That I now know.
I'm not perfect in any way but my family and myself did not, and do not deserve the punishments that we have had and are still getting.
Not out of choice but we, (the victims) my family have totally left Lubavitch, and the abuser is totally supported by members of Lubavitch London.
I think that say's a lot about the Lubavitch point of view on a abuse

[Sarah D,]

martin - who was the perpetrator?

[Turd Degree]

Jesus...what is it with sexual abuse and Australia?! I mean, those guys just don't seem capable of keeping their hands away from down under....

[Heblew]

I saw Moshe Gutnick speak in person about a year ago when the Royal Commission investigations began. The topic of sex abuse came up and he was noticably nervous and uneasy while talking. I think this guy has been under continual intense fire, probably from both sides (Chabad and victims' groups). It's amazing what a little healthy pressure can do. Hey, the committee got the truth without using a single cattle prod!

[martin]

Sara D
If ur from London I think you know who I'm
Talking about

[Anne O'Nimmus]

Martin, it's so good that your daughter has her family behind her - I hope she's doing well and that your family situation has improved. The persecution by people you considered your own is simply unconscionable. We were "lucky" that our family member wasn't abused in a religious context, was prosecuted when his behavior was discovered by other adults in the organisation - but only served 15 months of a 2 1/2year sentence for his abuse of multiple minors. We had some difficult years with the aftermath though. All seems good now.

[Anne O'Nimmus]

That doesn't quite read right - my family member was a victim, his abuser served time (just in case anyone misreads!).

[Allan]

“… he “forgot” a 1987 call from a boy who claimed to have been abused by Daniel “Gug” Hayman at Chabad’s Yeshiva Centre in Sydney…”

Here we go with claims of amnesia from people who can remember every word Hillel said to Shamai 2,000 years ago, can recite dozens of tehillim from memory and remember the exact minute for Shabbos candle lighting and how long it’s been since their mezuzas were checked. Yet receiving a desperate cry for help from a Jewish child somehow just “slipped his mind.” So much for the Ahavas Yisroel that Chabad is always preaching.

“He also told the Royal Commission that he now works with victims of child sexual abuse”

I hope the Commissioners asked what qualifies a rabbi with no credentials in psychiatry or psychotherapy to be counseling sex abuse victims? Oh, yes, learning mishna and Tanya at Chabad yeshivas makes one an instant authority on everything – from astrophysics to psychotherapy.

“He then testified about his September 11, 2013 Erev Yom Kippur apology to child sex abuse victims.”

Talk is cheap. What kind of financial compensation have you and Chabad offered the victims for the pain and suffering they endured ? I thought the Torah requires an actual financial penalty for causing damages to another person and not just a verbal “apology.”

[Anonymous]

U r totally misconstruing the truth what more can one do with an anonymous phone call.... He is not even accountable for that and did not even know who was calling and like you heard he went straight to the police when he later found out.... This phone call happened over 20 years ago how can you in your right mind say he is blatantly denying of having recollection in fact he gave all information he knew and remembered of the phone call....and compensation for what he is not even required by law to report an anonymous phone call.... What are you saying..... His apology was just and sound and his testimony is commendable not to be put to shame

[Alter Kocker]

Orthodox Jewish communities around the world are lucky at this point that a victim has not turned outward rather than inward. Most victims of sexual abuse turn their hatred inward, resulting in multiple psychoses, suicide attempts, drug addiction etc. etc. However, it does not take a stretch to realize that they are one victim away from someone going postal in a shul, a beth din, a yeshiva or a mikvah. When that happens, and the full truth is revealed, what is to happen next. I recommend a documentary: Frontline-Inside the Vatican. The catholics are now dealing with decades of child sexual abuse. They are paying through the nose and are seriously considering changing the priesthood in order to avoid this. I doubt that many in the ultra-orthodox community would see the parallels, but there they are.

[Chafraud-Depravitch]

"Gutnick testified. He said he believes rabbis need to be educated about child sex abuse and implied that some of his rabbinic colleagues were unfit."

Most Chabad rabbis are unfit for multiple aspects of their job.
But caring about Jewish communities is not in their job description. They only have to put on a show as if they do, so they can bilk the communities they "serve" to provide a healthy income for their ever expanding families.
Chabad are the ultimate people users; parasites with their own Chasidic agenda.

The RebbeHaMelechHaMoshiach™ sent us a bunch of clowns and criminals.

[Aussie]

Would love to believe that Gutnick was genuine in his call for change....in his call for police to be called in and that it's not mesira to report child sex abuse...

But how can Gutnick be trusted when he still lies about the events of him being told about Hayman's abuse of the first 2 victims??.....

[Another Aussie]

Aussie, you live here, do you seriously believe a word that any Gutnick says?.

I dont.

[Aussie]

@ Another Aussie.....

I think is wrong of you to dump anyone with the last name Gutnick into the same basket...
They are all individuals who deserve to each be judged as such....

But to answer your question....
Is why I said I would love to believe.....Reason I struggle is because he sticks to this story of an anonymous phone call....

I was there...saw with my own eyes...heard with my own ears....

Moshe Gutnick needs to come clean....

[noname]

to both aussies:

Regardless of what he has done or is willing to admit he has done in the past, this is a HUGE step forward.

The statements he is making and in PUBLIC no less, have not, to my knowledge, been made by any Hareidi Rabbi either in private or in public, ever.

To admit that mesirah is (as everyone with any ounce of common sense and understanding of halacha) is being used in molestation cases to retain power and control over the community... WOW! kol hakavod to him. This alone will be another reason that other Chareidim/Chassidim will use to show that Lubavitch is not "frum" maybe not even "Jewish".

Wow.just ..wow!
Hopefully he himself will not be victimized for his admission and other Chareidi Rabbis will follow suit so that change can happen.

[Aussie]

I agree noname...this is a huge step forward....None of us were ever going to be able to change the past but at least now there is a clear statement from 2 high level Chabad Rabbi's in Aus that one must report and its not mesira....

This is a huge step towards our kids being safe from now on....

[Yehuda]

The world is getting better

[Rabbi Rabbi III]

I am a rabbi, I know everything, RESPECT ME! I am above guilt and not allowed to be questioned, it is a halocha by Rabbi Abe Abromavitch the 2nd rebbe of the Baglebris rebbes movement of Lithuania. How dare you think about thinking about asking me what I did with the students of the Mesmer yeshiva between 1980 to 1987, "I don't know Im a rabbi, I stick my head in a book, grow a beard, run around like a chook without a head, give talks about other rebbes, look down on tref Jews who are worse than goyim. Im a rabbi. Don't ask questions, HOW DARE YOU doncha know how important I am and how insignificant you are!!!"