Father of Jewish child abuse victim tells Royal Commission school covered up abuse
ABC
Samantha Donovan
3 February 2015
Transcript [press link below to listen to interview]
MARK COLVIN: The father of a child sex abuse victim has told the Royal Commission the ultra-orthodox Jewish Yeshivah community in Melbourne covered up crimes committed by two of its members.
Zephaniah Waks gave evidence that the Yeshivah leadership turned on him and his family when his son went public with his abuse allegations.
And the ostracism has driven him and his wife from Melbourne.
Samantha Donovan reports.
SAMANTHA DONOVAN: Zephaniah Waks told the Royal Commission he was once a "hard-core" orthodox Jew. But he is no longer so devout after dealing with the Chabad community's reaction to revelations his son had been sexually abused by an employee of Melbourne's Yeshivah College in the 1980s.
After being shunned by the community, he and his wife once considered family, they have now moved to Israel.
ZEPHANIAH WAKS: This was a very difficult times for both my wife and I. We felt our world was flipped upside down, every aspect of our lives involved the Yeshivah community. We lived across the road, it felt like we were suddenly reduced to nothing and had lost all our friends.
SAMANTHA DONOVAN: Zephaniah Waks told the Royal Commission that in 1993, he had raised concerns with a Rabbi that children had been abused by Rabbi David Kramer.
But the Yeshivah leadership took no action.
ZEPHANIAH WAKS: The following day on the Monday I noticed that Kramer was still teaching at the school. I confronted Rabbi Glick and said what's going on, how is it possible that he is still here? And Rabbi Glick responded with words to the effect that the physiatrist has concluded that Kramer allowed himself to be caught because he wanted to be stopped. There is danger of self-harm so we can't fire him.
I thought this was absolutely outrageous.
SAMANTHA DONOVAN: Mr Waks explained that at that time his religious beliefs meant there was no question of reporting Kramer's abuse to police because of the Jewish principle of Mesirah - not reporting a fellow Jew to the secular authorities without the permission of a Rabbi.
ZEPHANIAH WAKS: Doing anything about it ourselves was a no-no. What's going to be done is a separate matter, it’ll have to be something that's really agreed to by everybody. Of course I knew that a crime had been committed here, but you just didn't get to that stage. I know it's hard for people to comprehend this but it was a taboo - like incest or anything like that - it was that big a taboo.
SAMANTHA DONOVAN: David Kramer fled Melbourne first for Israel and then the United States, where he was later jailed for the sexual abuse of a child.
He was eventually charged with child sex offences in Victoria and served a jail term.
SAMANTHA DONOVAN: Zephaniah Waks told the Royal Commission that in 1996, his son Manny told him he had been sexually abused by David Cyprys. He was employed as a security guard and locksmith at Yeshivah College and also taught the students martial arts.
Mr Waks gave evidence that he felt he had failed his son, and this time, he was in no doubt that despite the taboo of Mesirah, he had to report the abuse to police.
ZEPHANIAH WAKS: It was a no brainer. The concept of Mes… this was just… no, the taboo had been broken and I didn't think about it a second anymore, I just knew it had to be done.
SAMANTHA DONOVAN: But police did not have enough evidence to charge Cyprys and he kept working at the Yeshivah Centre. In 2011, Manny Waks went public with his allegations.
Zephaniah Waks told the commission that this "sealed" his family's fate and he understood there was a war against him.
Many in the Yeshivah community shunned him and he suffered verbal abuse and even a physical attack in the synagogue.
Mr Waks gave evidence he sent emails exhorting the Yeshivah management to encourage people to report offences committed by Cyprys and others to the police and to stop blaming his son and family for going public.
ZEPHANIAH WAKS: It was putting them on notice and still again begging them to do something to help me, because they could have done it like that (snaps fingers) coming at the right level with the right background saying stop this - everybody would have known if they were really co-operating with the police and everybody would have changed.
If it became that's the thing to do and you're not going to be shunned by going forward and helping - that's what would have been done.
SAMANTHA DONOVAN: Mr Waks told the royal commission he has been shocked by the "viciousness and filth" published about him and his family in online blogs both in Australia and overseas - some accusing him of being a "moser" - an informant in Hebrew.
He says the royal commission hearings are being following by orthodox Jewish communities worldwide.
ZEPHANIAH WAKS: Whatever happens here today is being viewed overseas and it's going to have ramifications overseas. I know that's not your brief but I can assure you that the findings here in relation to this community are going to have hopefully positive ramifications overseas as well.
Because the communities are similar, they're tied together and it will not only be the Chabad communities that will be influenced, it will be the wider ulta-orthodox community in the world, especially the USA but Israel as well.
SAMANTHA DONOVAN: The royal commission hearings continue in Melbourne tomorrow.
Samantha Donovan.
MARK COLVIN: Samantha Donovan.
Originally published at ABC.
MARK COLVIN: The father of a child sex abuse victim has told the Royal Commission the ultra-orthodox Jewish Yeshivah community in Melbourne covered up crimes committed by two of its members.
Zephaniah Waks gave evidence that the Yeshivah leadership turned on him and his family when his son went public with his abuse allegations.
And the ostracism has driven him and his wife from Melbourne.
Samantha Donovan reports.
SAMANTHA DONOVAN: Zephaniah Waks told the Royal Commission he was once a "hard-core" orthodox Jew. But he is no longer so devout after dealing with the Chabad community's reaction to revelations his son had been sexually abused by an employee of Melbourne's Yeshivah College in the 1980s.
After being shunned by the community, he and his wife once considered family, they have now moved to Israel.
ZEPHANIAH WAKS: This was a very difficult times for both my wife and I. We felt our world was flipped upside down, every aspect of our lives involved the Yeshivah community. We lived across the road, it felt like we were suddenly reduced to nothing and had lost all our friends.
SAMANTHA DONOVAN: Zephaniah Waks told the Royal Commission that in 1993, he had raised concerns with a Rabbi that children had been abused by Rabbi David Kramer.
But the Yeshivah leadership took no action.
ZEPHANIAH WAKS: The following day on the Monday I noticed that Kramer was still teaching at the school. I confronted Rabbi Glick and said what's going on, how is it possible that he is still here? And Rabbi Glick responded with words to the effect that the physiatrist has concluded that Kramer allowed himself to be caught because he wanted to be stopped. There is danger of self-harm so we can't fire him.
I thought this was absolutely outrageous.
SAMANTHA DONOVAN: Mr Waks explained that at that time his religious beliefs meant there was no question of reporting Kramer's abuse to police because of the Jewish principle of Mesirah - not reporting a fellow Jew to the secular authorities without the permission of a Rabbi.
ZEPHANIAH WAKS: Doing anything about it ourselves was a no-no. What's going to be done is a separate matter, it’ll have to be something that's really agreed to by everybody. Of course I knew that a crime had been committed here, but you just didn't get to that stage. I know it's hard for people to comprehend this but it was a taboo - like incest or anything like that - it was that big a taboo.
SAMANTHA DONOVAN: David Kramer fled Melbourne first for Israel and then the United States, where he was later jailed for the sexual abuse of a child.
He was eventually charged with child sex offences in Victoria and served a jail term.
SAMANTHA DONOVAN: Zephaniah Waks told the Royal Commission that in 1996, his son Manny told him he had been sexually abused by David Cyprys. He was employed as a security guard and locksmith at Yeshivah College and also taught the students martial arts.
Mr Waks gave evidence that he felt he had failed his son, and this time, he was in no doubt that despite the taboo of Mesirah, he had to report the abuse to police.
ZEPHANIAH WAKS: It was a no brainer. The concept of Mes… this was just… no, the taboo had been broken and I didn't think about it a second anymore, I just knew it had to be done.
SAMANTHA DONOVAN: But police did not have enough evidence to charge Cyprys and he kept working at the Yeshivah Centre. In 2011, Manny Waks went public with his allegations.
Zephaniah Waks told the commission that this "sealed" his family's fate and he understood there was a war against him.
Many in the Yeshivah community shunned him and he suffered verbal abuse and even a physical attack in the synagogue.
Mr Waks gave evidence he sent emails exhorting the Yeshivah management to encourage people to report offences committed by Cyprys and others to the police and to stop blaming his son and family for going public.
ZEPHANIAH WAKS: It was putting them on notice and still again begging them to do something to help me, because they could have done it like that (snaps fingers) coming at the right level with the right background saying stop this - everybody would have known if they were really co-operating with the police and everybody would have changed.
If it became that's the thing to do and you're not going to be shunned by going forward and helping - that's what would have been done.
SAMANTHA DONOVAN: Mr Waks told the royal commission he has been shocked by the "viciousness and filth" published about him and his family in online blogs both in Australia and overseas - some accusing him of being a "moser" - an informant in Hebrew.
He says the royal commission hearings are being following by orthodox Jewish communities worldwide.
ZEPHANIAH WAKS: Whatever happens here today is being viewed overseas and it's going to have ramifications overseas. I know that's not your brief but I can assure you that the findings here in relation to this community are going to have hopefully positive ramifications overseas as well.
Because the communities are similar, they're tied together and it will not only be the Chabad communities that will be influenced, it will be the wider ulta-orthodox community in the world, especially the USA but Israel as well.
SAMANTHA DONOVAN: The royal commission hearings continue in Melbourne tomorrow.
Samantha Donovan.
MARK COLVIN: Samantha Donovan.
Originally published at ABC.