Summoned to a beit din (Jewish religious court) over allegations that it has harassed and tried to intimidate the father of the lead abuse victim in the ever-growing child sexual abuse scandal at Chabad's Yeshivah Centre in Melbourne, Australia, Chabad failed to answer the summons – a clear violation of Jewish law.
Originally published at 11:38 pm CDT 3-16-2013
Here are the emails:
From: Zephaniah Waks
Sent: Friday, March 08, 2013 14:06 PM
To: telsner z ; Herbst Family
Cc: Rabbi Kluwgant ; Rabbi Yosef Blau ; Rabbi Moshe Gutnick ; don wolf
Subject: summons to an urgent zablo
You have ignored all my previous correspondence on an urgent matter, the latest being 3/3/2013. I contacted Rabbi M.S. Kluwgant about a Din Torah, & he said Melbourne Beth Din does not handle such matters, & that I should arrange a zablo.
I have therefore requested Rabbi Yosef Blau to take part in a zablo with you, & he has agreed. Please contact him immediately with your selection, so that they may choose a 3rd person. His contact details are below. The matter is very urgent, & I will not accept further delaying tactics.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yosef_Blau [email protected] +1-646-5301482
From: Zephaniah Waks
Sent: Sunday, March 10, 2013 14:30 PM
To: telsner z ; Herbst Herschl
Cc: Rabbi Kluwgant ; Rabbi Yosef Blau ; Rabbi Moshe Gutnick ; don wolf
Subject: clarification re summons to an urgent zablo
I am not issuing a summons but rather Rabbi Blau is issuing the summons and he asked me to write to you on his behalf as my borer.
Rabbi Blau is a very busy man, and during the week had the extra burden of testifying at Hearings of the New York State Assembly, Committee on Sexual Abuse. He is a very important, well-known and well-respected Rabbi, so I was happy to write the summons on his behalf as requested.
Even though it is clear from the email addressing who the people summoned are, and I also smsed them to make sure they read the email, I have included their details again here , which are:
Rabbi Zwi Telsner, rabbi of Yeshivah Centre main shul (inducted several years ago as “Dayan” of the Yeshivah Centre) [email redacted]
Herschl Herbst, president of the Shul Committee, Yeshivah Centre main shul [email redacted]
No-one should be under any illusions about the urgency or importance of this action. Darkei noam letters have been tried for several months, to no avail, or even any response.
My claim is that I am a member of the Yeshivah and entitled to have an aliya , which has been denied till now, and related matters. If I am given a written guarantee that I will be allowed an aliya when I have a simcha or a Chiyuv or return from overseas as is the common practice I will immediately drop this action.
The action using an overseas Rabbi has been initiated after discussions with the Sydney Beth Din, and Rabbi Meir Shlomo Kluwgant who represents the Rabbinical Council of Victoria on the Management Committee of the Melbourne Beth Din. The Sydney Beth Din said they currently have a matter before them involving the Yeshiva and it would therefore be inappropriate for them to take on another matter unless the Yeshiva specifically requested it. Rabbi Kluwgant said on behalf of the MBD that it does not deal in these matters.
I will wait for a response till Wednesday 5pm.
If my claim is denied or the summons is ignored, I will be seeking immediate permission from Rabbi Blau to go to secular authorities, including courts. This will no doubt reflect negatively on those summoned, bring the Yeshivah Centre of Melbourne into further disrepute and create a further Chilul Hashem - which is something none of us want.
Zephaniah Waks
P.S. For Rabbi Blau’s information, Don Wolf who is cced in this email, is the head of the Board of Management of the Yeshivah Centre, the roof body of the shul.
From: Yeshivah Shule
Sent: Monday, March 11, 2013 14:18 PM
To: Zephaniah Waks
Dear Zephaniah,
Thank you for your email dated 3 March 2013.
You have asked for an assurance that you will be treated the same as all others in the Shule with regard to receiving an aliya following the birth of a grandchild.
The policy of Yeshivah Shule is to allocate aliyas to mispallelim who are in a position of a chiyuv. The birth of a grandchild does not fall into that category.
The allocation of other “non-chiyuv” aliyas is at the discretion of the Gabboim and Shule Committee and they take a range of factors into account in exercising that discretion. In this situation, the blatant disrespect that you have shown to Rabbi Telsner including regularly walking out during his Droshos and referring to him on numerous occasions, including most recently in an open letter to the community, as ‘Telsner’ as opposed to Rabbi Telsner, is one of the factors that the Gabboim and Shule Committee will take into account in allocating aliyas that are not chiyuvim.
In these circumstances, the Shule Committee does not propose to provide you with a non- chiyuv aliya. We can assure you that any other mispallel who had shown such disrespect to the Rabbi of the Shule would be treated the same way.
However, if you were to commit to change your behaviour and demonstrate appropriate respect to the Rabbi of the Shule, that would be favourably taken into account by the Gabboim and Shule Committee in exercising their discretion in allocating aliyas that are not chiyuvim.
Please let us know if you are prepared in future to act in a respectful manner towards Rabbi Telsner so that this matter can be resolved in a timely fashion.
Yeshivah Shule Committee
From: Zephaniah Waks
Sent: Monday, March 11, 2013 18:21 PM
To: telsner z ; Herbst Herschl ; Yeshivah Shule
Cc: Rabbi Kluwgant ; Rabbi Yosef Blau ; Rabbi Moshe Gutnick ; don wolf
Subject: reply re zablo
Thank you for the response of Monday, March 11, 2013 14:18 PM.
1. I do not walk out during Rabbi Telsner’s droshas, I walk out before he starts. This is a specific request he made of me before all the current “troubles” started. Since I daven slowly, and often have to stand up during his drosha, he asked me to leave the shul before the drosha, and daven somewhere else during the drosha. In any case, it is very strange that you even raise this as a problem, since about 30 people walk out before the drosha to make kiddush, every Shabbes. I have even seen at least one member of the Shul Committee in this group on occasions. They all receive customary aliyas without problems. That said, should Rabbi Telsner prefer me to stay inside during his drosha, and stand up and down during it, I am prepared to do so.
2. I am prepared to commit to treating Rabbi Telsner with the respect due to him in accordance with Shulchan Aruch, and I will also refer to him publicly as Rabbi Telsner in future (all provided we settle the matter without a zablo as per para.3 below). I would like to place on record that any disrespect shown Rabbi Telsner was in response to me being the object of public abuse in a fiery Shabbes drosho, and my hearing that Rabbi Telsner has called me a "moser". Could I please have in your written response an declaration from, or on behalf of, Rabbi Telsner that I am not a moser. If this undertaking can not be made then I wish to proceed to a Din Torah on this matter.
3. You replied to me about “receiving an aliya following the birth of a grandchild” and a chiyuv, whereas I requested something different. To reiterate from the summons clarification, “If I am given a written guarantee that I will be allowed an aliya when I have a simcha or a Chiyuv or return from overseas as is the common practice I will immediately drop this action.”
I have now made all the undertakings referred to in your email. They are however conditional upon you now giving me the guarantee in writing that I will be allowed an aliya when I have a simcha or a Chiyuv or return from overseas as is the common practice, as well as the declaration from Rabbi Telsner. Please send me the guarantee and declaration by Wednesday 13 March 5pm, or alternatively, by the same date, please give Rabbi Blau the name of your borer so that this matter can progress to a Din Torah. If you fail to do this, I will be seeking a heter erko-ois immediately at that time.
Zephaniah Waks
From: Yosef Blau
Dear Mr. Zephaniah Waks,
After you contacted me and described your dispute with Rabbi Telsner and Mr. Hershl Herbst and asked me to participate on your behalf in an ad hock rabbinical court to resolve the issues I have waited for their response. Normally this type of dispute is resolved by the local rabbinical court (דין בית). Unfortunately you were informed that in this case they could not take the case.
Since the matter is pressing and the other side is not cooperating in setting up a rabbinical court according to the procedures established in the mishna and codified in Jewish law I authorize you to go to the secular court to end this dispute.
Sincerely yours,
Rabbi Yosef Blau Senior Spiritual Advisor Yeshiva University
Sent: Thursday, March 14, 2013 10:05 AM
To: Zephaniah Waks
Subject: Re: heter erko-ois
From: Zephaniah Waks
Sent: Thursday, March 14, 2013 19:19 PM
To: Rabbi Moshe Gutnick ; Rabbi Kluwgant
Cc: telsner z ; Herbst Herschl ; yeshivah shul ; don wolf
Subject: a request for hishtadlus
I am writing to you, Rabbi Moshe Gutnick and Rabbi M.S. Kluwgant, as heads of the Organisation of Rabbis of Australasia (ORA) and the Rabbinical Council of Victoria (RCV) respectively, of both of which I believe Rabbi Telsner is a member.
As you are aware, I now have a heter erko-ois from Rabbi Blau. I have already started discussions with lawyers and other interested parties. However, in the interest of avoiding the likely Chilul Hashem, not caused by me, I would appreciate you both trying to influence Rabbi Telsner to do the right thing and agree to the zablo as set out in Jewish law. I will be proceeding in the meantime as above, but if you are able to prevail on him before the point of no-return, I will be happy to drop the civil action. He would obviously have to give an iron-clad undertaking to abide by the ruling of the Jewish court, as well as compensating me in full for any expenses incurred to that date, before I drop anything. Someone would also have to prevail on the shul committee, chairman Herschl Herbst, to accept the same conditions.
Hopefully, Zephaniah Waks