"…As late as July 2014, Rabbi Yosef Feldman did not accept there was a halachic obligation for any allegation of child sexual abuse, whenever committed, to be reported to the authorities.… The views articulated by Rabbi Yosef Feldman in his supplementary statement to the Royal Commission dated 6 February 2015 are not a true representation of his views on the issue of child sexual abuse but an attempt to rehabilitate his public reputation.…"
Above and above right: Rabbi Yosef Feldman at the Royal Commission hearing 9-17-2015
The Counsel Assisting's submission of findings to Australia's Royal Commission investigating child sex abuse at Chabad institutions in Australia has just been released.
The Counsel Assisting's findings are very bad for Chabad, and in her submission Chabad rabbis in Melbourne and Sydney come out looking awful – because they were awful. They repeatedly protected child rapists and other pedophiles and harassed victims and when they were caught, they lied to cover it up, as this brief excerpt on Chabad's yeshiva in Sydney, Australia and on its former head, Rabbi Yosef "Yossi" Feldman shows (This excerpt begins on page 120 of the submission, which is posted in full as a PDF file at bottom):
Available findings on Yeshiva Bondi’s response to the conviction and sentencing of Daniel Hayman
F18 On 1 July 2014, just 19 days after the sentencing of Daniel Hayman for an offence of child sexual abuse perpetrated in connection with the activities of Yeshiva Bondi, leaders of Yeshiva Bondi held a function to celebrate the life and work of the Lubavitcher Rebbe and listed Daniel Hayman as a sponsor of the event and thanked him for his patronage. In so doing, Yeshiva Bondi demonstrated an insensitivity to and a disregard for AVB’s experience as a survivor of child sexual abuse perpetrated by Hayman at a camp run by Yeshiva Bondi.
F19 After Daniel Hayman’s conviction, leaders of the Yeshiva Centre did not reach out to AVB as a survivor of abuse perpetrated by Daniel Hayman.
F20 As late as July 2014, Rabbi Yosef Feldman was of the opinion that rabbinical organisations should not encourage people to report all allegations of child sexual abuse to the authorities.
F21 As late as July 2014, Rabbi Yosef Feldman did not accept there was a halachic obligation for any allegation of child sexual abuse, whenever committed, to be reported to the authorities.
Available findings on Rabbi Yosef Feldman’s current attitudes to child sexual abuse
F22 The views articulated by Rabbi Yosef Feldman in his supplementary statement to the Royal Commission dated 6 February 2015 are not a true representation of his views on the issue of child sexual abuse but an attempt to rehabilitate his public reputation.
F23 The views expressed by Rabbi Yosef Feldman in 2011, 2013, 2014, and at the public hearing, demonstrate that he often approaches the issue of child sexual abuse from the perpetrator’s perspective, rather than from the child’s perspective.
Read the Counsel Assisting's whole submission. Please right click to open in a new browser window or tab or left click to download:
Counsel Assisting's Findings Royal Commission On Chabad Child Abuse 9-2015