Chabad’s late leader, Rabbi Menachem Mendel Schneerson’s practice appears to have been to have cases of pedophilia dealt with outside of the secular legal system by having the pedophile pay a relatively small amount of money to his victim to used for counseling. In one case FailedMessiah.com was informed of, Schneerson allegedly ordered a victim and his family not to call police and order the pedophile (who maintained unsupervised access to children in Chabad) to pay the victim $30,000 – but only if the victim signed a confidentiality agreement banning him from telling anyone about the deal or the crime.
Top Chabad Rabbi Repeatedly Claims Not To Remember Key Events, Admits Doing Nothing To Help Child Sex Abuse Victims In His School, Took No Concrete Steps To Protect Children From Known Molesters
Shmarya Rosenberg • FailedMessiah.com
Rabbi Abraham Glick, the former principal of Chabad’s Yeshivah College in Melbourne, Australia, told Australia’s Royal Commission investigating child sex abuse at Chabad institutions that he does not remember a child sex abuse victim reporting abuse to him, despite that victim’s testimony that he did so.
Not only that, Glick claims he cannot even remember the student, identified only to the public only as AVR by the Royal Commission, and has no memory of him ever being enrolled in Yeshiva College – even though the facts show AVR was in fact a student there, something Glick does not dispute.
Glick also claims not to remember telling the boy and the boy’s mother after he reported the abuse that his scholarship was being cut off immediately – essentially expelling the boy from school.
In 1990 AVR was repeatedly raped by Samuel David Cyprys, who acted as the Yeshivah Centre’s security guard.
In 1992 Cyprys was prosecuted for child sex abuse, but a guilty verdict was not entered by the court – even though Cyprys was guilty. Instead he was given what amounts to little more than a traffic ticket and told the conviction would stay off the books if Cyprys stayed out of trouble for a brief period of time.
Despite this, Cyprys was allowed free access to children at Chabad by Chabad’s top rabbi, Yitzchok Dovid Groner.
Groner would go on to allegedly ignore several other abuse complaints against Cyprys and offer his victims no hel, no support and no protection.
In 2013, Cyprys was finally convicted and jailed his rapes and abuse of almost a dozen boys – AVR included.
Glick testified that it was a “serious mistake” not to report Rabbi David Kramer to police. Groner and Chabad sent Kramer to Israel after finding out about the abuse allegations against him.
When asked by the commission if that didn’t make prosecution of Kramer harder, Glick said it didn’t. After all, Kramer could be extradited and was.
The commission’s attorney shot back immediately, noting that it took almost two decades get Kramer back in Australia and prosecute him.
After fleeing Australia with the help of Groner and Chabad, Kramer went to Israel and from there to the US, where he was eventually arrested and convicted of sexually abusing a boy in a synagogue bathroom.
The commission earlier heard testimony that a victim told Glick about being sexually abused in 1986, and that Glick responded by sending him to see Groner.
Glick said he did not recall sending a student to Groner over alleged sex abuse, and claimed he regularly sent students to Groner for many reasons.
Glick also claimed that Groner never told him about other child sex abuse complaints, even though Glick was the school’s principal.
The Royal Commission’s attorney told Glick it was “truly extraordinary” that Groner, who died in 2008, did not tell Glick about the students being abused in Glick’s school.
“All I can say is Rabbi Groner dealt with many sensitive issues. He dealt with them in strict confidence. He dealt with them very discreetly,” Glick replied.
Multiple victims have told the Royal Commission they told Groner about the abuse, but that Groner never called police and offered the victims no help.
When asked if this was a “grave failing,” Glick struggled to answer.
“It’s very difficult for me to criticize Rabbi Groner. I just have enormous respect for him. And knowing all the work he did for the community I’m prepared to say if he were alive today he would agree that was a mistake, a big mistake,” Glick said.
Glick repeatedly denied having notes or records wanted by the Royal Commission. He also admitted the Chabad Yeshiva Centre Va’ad HaRuchni (Spiritual Guidance Council) he heads had not really discussed the handling of child sex abuse cases at the center until after the media began reporting on them in 2011. He also admitted it did nothing to help victims and the he had not personally apologized to the victims. He used a a few moments at the end of his testimony to issue a belated but impersonal public apology.
Glick also said he resigned his teaching job at Yeshivah College because the abuse happened under his watch. But he did not resign from the Va'ad HaRuchni or from other positions of authority he might hold.
Victims and their families were harassed, bullied and threatened by leading members of the Chabad community, including senior rabbis like Tzvi Telsner, who delivered a fiery Shabbat sermon against emailers and bloggers, comparing them to the spies whose actions cause the ancient Israelites to have to wander in the desert for 40 years rather than immediately enter the promised land. That sermon was delivered only days after one child sex abuse abuse victim sent a polite email to the Melbourne Chabad community asking members to report child sex abuse to police and cooperate with the ongoing investigation. The sermon was seen by that victim and others as a direct threat from Telsner against them.
Telsner took the stand at the Royal Commission late in the day and angrily responded to several questions. He will resume testifying at 9:00 am Melbourne time.
Despite questions posed to it by Australian media, Chabad’s international leadership based in Brooklyn, New York has refused to comment on the child sex abuse convictions and allegations, or on its Australian centers horrible mishandling of child sex abuse allegations which led to at least fifteen students being raped or molested.
Chabad’s late leader, Rabbi Menachem Mendel Schneerson, opposed sending all but the most violent of Jewish criminals to prison. He also strongly opposed “informing” on Jewish criminals. Schneerson’s practice appears to have been to have cases of pedophilia dealt with outside of the secular legal system by having the pedophile pay a relatively small amount of money to his victim to used for counseling.
In one case FailedMessiah.com was informed of, Schneerson allegedly ordered a victim and his family not to call police and order the pedophile (who maintained unsupervised access to children in Chabad) to pay the victim $30,000 – but only if the victim signed a confidentiality agreement banning him from telling anyone about the deal or the crime.