When Chabad of Australia’s head rabbi Zvi Telsner saw Chaim Waks at the
end of Shavuot prayer services on May 14, he offered the 24-year-old
Waks holiday greetings. But Chaim Waks did not take those greetings well.
Chabad Rabbi Assaulted By Alleged Abuse Victim’s Brother
Shmarya Rosenberg FailedMessiah.com
When Chabad of Australia’s head rabbi Zvi Telsner saw Chaim Waks at the end of Shavuot prayer services on May 14, the JTA reports that he offered the 24-year-old Waks holiday greetings.
But Chaim Waks did not take those greetings well.
Telsner has been a chief instigator of a sustained campaign of harassment against Waks’ father Zephania, who has backed his older son Manny’s campaign to bring child sexual abusers allegedly protected by Chabad to justice.
Telsner even gave a sermon last year condemning abuse victims who contacted police for help, excoriating them and demanding to know who gave them permission to do so during a sermon about the evils of mesirah, "informing" on a fellow Jew to police or other non-Jewish governmental authority.
Last week after the altercation, Telsner attacked abuse victims again, telling The Australian that his sermon last year hadn't attacked anyone.
“It’s like
calling someone fat. If you think you’re fat that’s up to
you.…," Telsner said.
So when Telsner saw Chaim Waks and wished him a good holiday, Chaim Waks was already enraged.
“How dare you f***ing wish me a good yom tov?” Chaim Waks responded. He then ripped Telsner’s eyeglasses of his face and threw them to the floor.
Manny Waks reportedly confirmed the details of the altercation.
“I have informed Chaim that this type of behavior is completely unacceptable. It makes no difference what an individual has done – in this case the ongoing attacks by Rabbi Telsner and some within his community against my family. The use of violence is never an option and needs to be unequivocally condemned,” Manny Waks reportedly said in a prepared statement.
Manny Waks is the lead alleged victim in the ongoing Chabad child sexual abuse scandal in Melbourne.
Telsner reportedly confirmed the incident happened but declined to comment on it.
Zephaniah Waks told the JTA that he was harassed by another congregant inside the synagogue building’s sanctuary the day after the altercation and has reported that incident to police.