Below is a letter published today by Melbourne's Yeshivah Centre. While I'm not in a position to comment specifically on the matters referred to in the letter (though numerous people from the community have raised it with me), my ongoing position is that the signatories to the letter (ie. the Yeshivah-Beth Rivkah Colleges Board) continue to hurt and work against the interests of child sexual abuse victims and survivors at Yeshivah and should not be trusted by anybody with genuine concerns about child safety.
The Board not only includes (Rabbi) Chaim-Tzvi Groner, one of the key people responsible for the behavior towards victims/survivors, which led Yeshivah to the Royal Commission (and its unequivocal findings), but it includes members who work in conjunction with the Board of Chabad Institutions of Victoria Limited (the peak Yeshivah Centre leadership body) or who attend the Yeshivah synagogue where disgraced (Rabbi) Zvi Telsner is employed and allowed to continue to act as a religious leader (effectively in the same position he has held for years). Such people have not understood the issues identified by the Royal Commission, no concern for the welfare of child sex abuse victims/survivors and no interest in reforming the old culture. For these reasons, numerous victims/survivors of child sexual abuse from Yeshivah (myself included) refuse to engage with this Board or this institution, which remains rotten to the core.
The Board not only includes (Rabbi) Chaim-Tzvi Groner, one of the key people responsible for the behavior towards victims/survivors, which led Yeshivah to the Royal Commission (and its unequivocal findings), but it includes members who work in conjunction with the Board of Chabad Institutions of Victoria Limited (the peak Yeshivah Centre leadership body) or who attend the Yeshivah synagogue where disgraced (Rabbi) Zvi Telsner is employed and allowed to continue to act as a religious leader (effectively in the same position he has held for years). Such people have not understood the issues identified by the Royal Commission, no concern for the welfare of child sex abuse victims/survivors and no interest in reforming the old culture. For these reasons, numerous victims/survivors of child sexual abuse from Yeshivah (myself included) refuse to engage with this Board or this institution, which remains rotten to the core.
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