Public statement: Senior community leader Danny Lamm continues to hurt victims of child sexual abuse
21 June 2018
Manny Waks
On 14 June 2018, I issued the following public statement:
As one of dozens of children who was sexually abused at Yeshivah because of (Rabbi) Yitzchok Dovid Groner, the upcoming public commemoration being hosted on Yeshivah premises to mark his 10th Yahrzeit (anniversary of his passing) is yet another slap in the face to his many victims and should be a source of shame to the entire community.
(Rabbi) Groner should be remembered as the man who facilitated and knowingly covered up the sexual abuse of countless children within Yeshivah. Were (Rabbi) Groner alive today, he would likely be facing the prospect of jail time for the horrific crimes which he committed.
The Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse made the following findings about (Rabbi) Groner:
- his ‘response to reported incidents of child sexual abuse, including those involving [David] Cyprys, was wholly inadequate.’
- ‘the nature and frequency of reports to (Rabbi) Groner strongly suggested a pattern of total inaction.'
- '(Rabbi) Groner failed in his obligation to the students of Yeshivah College Melbourne.'
And yet the Yeshivah Centre hosts a public commemoration in his honour.
Imagine being a victim/survivor of child sexual abuse and dealing daily with the trauma of what was done to you, and then having to see the person responsible to a large extent being publicly honoured by others.
Is this the sort of person who should be honoured? Are these traits the sort to which anyone should aspire?
Apparently so, according to Yeshivah.
Shame on Yeshivah, again.
Later that day I published the following Facebook post:
Mizrachi Organisation, Mizrachi Melbourne and other affiliated Mizrachi community members should be enquiring whether it's appropriate for their head rabbi (Danny Mirvis) to speak in honour of (Rabbi) Groner at the Yeshivah Centre, Yeshivah Shule, Yeshivah College, Australia, Young Yeshivah, Yeshivah Shule Melbourne event. It's not as if the Yeshivah Centre is currently doing the right thing. Remember, standing idly by is being complicit. Several Yeshivah victims/survivors have reached out to me as this event is detrimentally impacting them. As a community, we've let them down before. We must now do the right thing.
As one of dozens of children who was sexually abused at Yeshivah because of (Rabbi) Yitzchok Dovid Groner, the upcoming public commemoration being hosted on Yeshivah premises to mark his 10th Yahrzeit (anniversary of his passing) is yet another slap in the face to his many victims and should be a source of shame to the entire community.
(Rabbi) Groner should be remembered as the man who facilitated and knowingly covered up the sexual abuse of countless children within Yeshivah. Were (Rabbi) Groner alive today, he would likely be facing the prospect of jail time for the horrific crimes which he committed.
The Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse made the following findings about (Rabbi) Groner:
- his ‘response to reported incidents of child sexual abuse, including those involving [David] Cyprys, was wholly inadequate.’
- ‘the nature and frequency of reports to (Rabbi) Groner strongly suggested a pattern of total inaction.'
- '(Rabbi) Groner failed in his obligation to the students of Yeshivah College Melbourne.'
And yet the Yeshivah Centre hosts a public commemoration in his honour.
Imagine being a victim/survivor of child sexual abuse and dealing daily with the trauma of what was done to you, and then having to see the person responsible to a large extent being publicly honoured by others.
Is this the sort of person who should be honoured? Are these traits the sort to which anyone should aspire?
Apparently so, according to Yeshivah.
Shame on Yeshivah, again.
Later that day I published the following Facebook post:
Mizrachi Organisation, Mizrachi Melbourne and other affiliated Mizrachi community members should be enquiring whether it's appropriate for their head rabbi (Danny Mirvis) to speak in honour of (Rabbi) Groner at the Yeshivah Centre, Yeshivah Shule, Yeshivah College, Australia, Young Yeshivah, Yeshivah Shule Melbourne event. It's not as if the Yeshivah Centre is currently doing the right thing. Remember, standing idly by is being complicit. Several Yeshivah victims/survivors have reached out to me as this event is detrimentally impacting them. As a community, we've let them down before. We must now do the right thing.
Dr Danny Lamm
In response to this public commemoration, Dr Danny Lamm, President of both the Zionist Federation of Australia and the Mizrachi Organisation (and a past President of the Executive Council of Australian Jewry) issued the following media statement:
I’m Mizrachi President and totally support Rabbi Mirvis’ [Mizrachi Senior Rabbi] participation in the 10th Yahrzeit [commemoration] of the late Rabbi Yitzchak David Groner זצל [of blessed memory]. I myself attended the event honouring the memory of one of Melbourne Jewry’s greatest leaders.
In response, I have issued the following public statement:
Danny Lamm has a history of glossing over Yeshivah's cover-ups of child sexual abuse. In 2012, he went on ABC radio as the President of the Executive Council of Australian Jewry (ECAJ) and endorsed the approach at the time of Yeshivah's then leadership to the handling of child sexual abuse, a view which was comprehensively rebuffed by the findings of the Royal Commission. I was pleased to receive an apology from the ECAJ in 2017 in which they expressed their 'deep regret' for their 'actions and inactions' and acknowledged they 'could have done more to support (me) to address these grave injustices of the past (including the very recent past) and to ensure the safety and wellbeing of our children'.
It is no surprise therefore that Lamm would describe the person ultimately responsible for the rape and sexual abuse of dozens of Jewish children as 'one of Melbourne Jewry's greatest leaders' without acknowledging the Royal Commissions findings that Rabbi Groner's 'response to reported incidents of child sexual abuse...was wholly inadequate' and that he 'failed in his obligation to the students of Yeshivah College Melbourne'.
Lamm has steadfastly refused to personally acknowledge his past mistakes, and to apologise for them. Instead he continues to hurt victims and survivors. Lamm should either take full responsibility for the harm he continues to cause to many within our community or step down from all his leadership roles.
Click here to read the article published in The Jewish Chronicle.
I’m Mizrachi President and totally support Rabbi Mirvis’ [Mizrachi Senior Rabbi] participation in the 10th Yahrzeit [commemoration] of the late Rabbi Yitzchak David Groner זצל [of blessed memory]. I myself attended the event honouring the memory of one of Melbourne Jewry’s greatest leaders.
In response, I have issued the following public statement:
Danny Lamm has a history of glossing over Yeshivah's cover-ups of child sexual abuse. In 2012, he went on ABC radio as the President of the Executive Council of Australian Jewry (ECAJ) and endorsed the approach at the time of Yeshivah's then leadership to the handling of child sexual abuse, a view which was comprehensively rebuffed by the findings of the Royal Commission. I was pleased to receive an apology from the ECAJ in 2017 in which they expressed their 'deep regret' for their 'actions and inactions' and acknowledged they 'could have done more to support (me) to address these grave injustices of the past (including the very recent past) and to ensure the safety and wellbeing of our children'.
It is no surprise therefore that Lamm would describe the person ultimately responsible for the rape and sexual abuse of dozens of Jewish children as 'one of Melbourne Jewry's greatest leaders' without acknowledging the Royal Commissions findings that Rabbi Groner's 'response to reported incidents of child sexual abuse...was wholly inadequate' and that he 'failed in his obligation to the students of Yeshivah College Melbourne'.
Lamm has steadfastly refused to personally acknowledge his past mistakes, and to apologise for them. Instead he continues to hurt victims and survivors. Lamm should either take full responsibility for the harm he continues to cause to many within our community or step down from all his leadership roles.
Click here to read the article published in The Jewish Chronicle.
Anton Block
UPDATE: On 22 June 2018, the Executive Council of Australian Jewry issued the following statement:
The Executive Council of Australian Jewry is concerned that an event to honour the memory of the late Rabbi Yitzchak David Groner has caused unnecessary distress to victims of child sexual abuse.
Rabbi Groner was director of the Melbourne Yeshiva Centre at a time when several students of that centre were being sexually abused.
While the event in memory of Rabbi Groner was characterised as a “night of learning” in recognition of the Rabbi’s intellectual and spiritual standing among his supporters, the evening should have also been an opportunity for our community to further learn what must be done to protect our most vulnerable, bring perpetrators to justice, and ensure that the tragic failings of the past are never repeated.
It would also be expected that in the spirit of the National Redress Scheme for survivors of child sexual Abuse, which all relevant Jewish institutions in Australia are being strongly encouraged to opt into, a heartfelt apology to all survivors should have been highlighted in an Evening of Learning.
We are also disappointed by comments made by representatives of other communal organisations that showed an insensitivity to the concerns of victims of child sexual abuse. The ECAJ will continue to stand with survivors of child sexual abuse.
Anton Block
President
In response, I have issued the following statement:
Thank you so much to the Executive Council of Australian Jewry (ECAJ) for standing with victims/survivors of child sexual abuse and their families. Your support in speaking up about the recent ill-conceived ‘event to honour the memory of the late Rabbi Yitzchak David Groner’ and criticism of those ‘representatives of other communal organisations’ who continue to hurt victims/survivors of child sexual abuse and their families means an enormous amount to many of us.
Our community must not tolerate the continued honouring of people responsible for child sexual abuse or those who have attacked child sexual abuse victims/survivors and their families, while turning a blind eye to the unnecessary distress this causes to victims.
Well done ECAJ. This is what genuine Jewish leadership looks like.
The Executive Council of Australian Jewry is concerned that an event to honour the memory of the late Rabbi Yitzchak David Groner has caused unnecessary distress to victims of child sexual abuse.
Rabbi Groner was director of the Melbourne Yeshiva Centre at a time when several students of that centre were being sexually abused.
While the event in memory of Rabbi Groner was characterised as a “night of learning” in recognition of the Rabbi’s intellectual and spiritual standing among his supporters, the evening should have also been an opportunity for our community to further learn what must be done to protect our most vulnerable, bring perpetrators to justice, and ensure that the tragic failings of the past are never repeated.
It would also be expected that in the spirit of the National Redress Scheme for survivors of child sexual Abuse, which all relevant Jewish institutions in Australia are being strongly encouraged to opt into, a heartfelt apology to all survivors should have been highlighted in an Evening of Learning.
We are also disappointed by comments made by representatives of other communal organisations that showed an insensitivity to the concerns of victims of child sexual abuse. The ECAJ will continue to stand with survivors of child sexual abuse.
Anton Block
President
In response, I have issued the following statement:
Thank you so much to the Executive Council of Australian Jewry (ECAJ) for standing with victims/survivors of child sexual abuse and their families. Your support in speaking up about the recent ill-conceived ‘event to honour the memory of the late Rabbi Yitzchak David Groner’ and criticism of those ‘representatives of other communal organisations’ who continue to hurt victims/survivors of child sexual abuse and their families means an enormous amount to many of us.
Our community must not tolerate the continued honouring of people responsible for child sexual abuse or those who have attacked child sexual abuse victims/survivors and their families, while turning a blind eye to the unnecessary distress this causes to victims.
Well done ECAJ. This is what genuine Jewish leadership looks like.
UPDATE: In response to an article in The Australian Jewish News, on 29 June 2018, I wrote the following on Facebook:
As recently noted, the Executive Council of Australian Jewry - ECAJ issued a statement about the inappropriate tribute to the late Rabbi Groner hosted by Yeshivah and the 'comments made by representatives of other communal organisations that showed an insensitivity to the concerns of victims of child sexual abuse'. On behalf of many Yeshivah victims who were distressed at the honouring of the man responsible for their abuse, I repeat our gratitude.
However, what remains most staggering is the ongoing silence of the rabbis who we approached for support. Members of both the Rabbinical Council of Australia and New Zealand (which was set up due to the failures of rabbis exposed by the Royal Commission) and the Rabbinical Council of Victoria spoke at, attended and/or praised the Groner tribute event. These same bodies made a big fuss about acknowledging the appalling behaviour of rabbis and of their intent to start supporting victims/survivors of abuse and breaking from their history of facilitating our abuse and participating in attacks against us. Yet, when push comes to shove, none of them is prepared to speak up and suggest, as the ECAJ have done, that an apology or opportunity to learn from the mistakes of the past might have been an appropriate accompaniment to a public tribute to Groner. It seems to me that this is, unfortunately, what happens when you have a Rabbinate dominated by Chabad- and Yeshivah-affiliated rabbis.
Apparently, the 'Three Weeks' which are now upon us in the Jewish calendar, involves a story about Kamtza and Bar Kamtza and how the failures of rabbis to speak up upon witnessing a wrong done to another led to the destruction of the Temple. I wonder how many of the rabbis who remain silent now, have the capacity to appreciate their own hypocrisy.
Meanwhile, Mizrachi Organisation's Rabbi Danny Mirvis went as far as telling The Australian Jewish News that “it is possible to both acknowledge the ongoing suffering caused by the failures posthumously identified by the Royal Commission, and mark Rabbi Groner’s contribution to Melbourne Jewry”. Indeed, the distress caused to victims/survivors might have been avoided had the evening in question acknowledged the ongoing suffering caused by Groner. Mirvis also claims his view was shaped by speaking to multiple victims, in one foul swoop dismissing the concerns of the majority of victims/survivors. While not every victim/survivor always feels the same way, Rabbi Mirvis might need a reminder that the vast majority of victims/survivors won't speak to rabbis in relation to their abuse, and for good reason. [And it should be noted that there may be victims/survivors who have remained within the Chabad/Yeshivah community who are unable to acknowledge the unequivocal findings of the Royal Commission that Groner was indeed responsible for their abuse.]
As for Danny Lamm, who now believes "the blowup has been a completely uncalled for reaction”, this is consistent with his history of undermining the efforts of child sexual abuse victims/survivors to seek justice. Lamm is no friend of child sexual abuse victims/survivors and this is merely another example to add to his significant leadership failures in this area. I hope and expect that Lamm will be held to account in some way for his disgraceful past.
As recently noted, the Executive Council of Australian Jewry - ECAJ issued a statement about the inappropriate tribute to the late Rabbi Groner hosted by Yeshivah and the 'comments made by representatives of other communal organisations that showed an insensitivity to the concerns of victims of child sexual abuse'. On behalf of many Yeshivah victims who were distressed at the honouring of the man responsible for their abuse, I repeat our gratitude.
However, what remains most staggering is the ongoing silence of the rabbis who we approached for support. Members of both the Rabbinical Council of Australia and New Zealand (which was set up due to the failures of rabbis exposed by the Royal Commission) and the Rabbinical Council of Victoria spoke at, attended and/or praised the Groner tribute event. These same bodies made a big fuss about acknowledging the appalling behaviour of rabbis and of their intent to start supporting victims/survivors of abuse and breaking from their history of facilitating our abuse and participating in attacks against us. Yet, when push comes to shove, none of them is prepared to speak up and suggest, as the ECAJ have done, that an apology or opportunity to learn from the mistakes of the past might have been an appropriate accompaniment to a public tribute to Groner. It seems to me that this is, unfortunately, what happens when you have a Rabbinate dominated by Chabad- and Yeshivah-affiliated rabbis.
Apparently, the 'Three Weeks' which are now upon us in the Jewish calendar, involves a story about Kamtza and Bar Kamtza and how the failures of rabbis to speak up upon witnessing a wrong done to another led to the destruction of the Temple. I wonder how many of the rabbis who remain silent now, have the capacity to appreciate their own hypocrisy.
Meanwhile, Mizrachi Organisation's Rabbi Danny Mirvis went as far as telling The Australian Jewish News that “it is possible to both acknowledge the ongoing suffering caused by the failures posthumously identified by the Royal Commission, and mark Rabbi Groner’s contribution to Melbourne Jewry”. Indeed, the distress caused to victims/survivors might have been avoided had the evening in question acknowledged the ongoing suffering caused by Groner. Mirvis also claims his view was shaped by speaking to multiple victims, in one foul swoop dismissing the concerns of the majority of victims/survivors. While not every victim/survivor always feels the same way, Rabbi Mirvis might need a reminder that the vast majority of victims/survivors won't speak to rabbis in relation to their abuse, and for good reason. [And it should be noted that there may be victims/survivors who have remained within the Chabad/Yeshivah community who are unable to acknowledge the unequivocal findings of the Royal Commission that Groner was indeed responsible for their abuse.]
As for Danny Lamm, who now believes "the blowup has been a completely uncalled for reaction”, this is consistent with his history of undermining the efforts of child sexual abuse victims/survivors to seek justice. Lamm is no friend of child sexual abuse victims/survivors and this is merely another example to add to his significant leadership failures in this area. I hope and expect that Lamm will be held to account in some way for his disgraceful past.