16 The Jewish Herald • Friday, March 22, 2013 17 AB US E


Victims advocate complains of being called an “informer”; pressure to cover-up prevalent Sam Sokol


ERUSALEM — A confron- tation between a rabbi’s


wife and the brother-in-law of sexual abuse victims’ advo- cate Manny Waks highlighted a divide between two views within Australian Jewry over the proper role of the media in cases of sexual abuse. Waks, who heads the Tzedek


advocacy organization, claimed on Facebook that Peninah Feld- man, the wife of local Chabad Rabbi Pinchas Feldman, had ver- bally attacked his brother-in-law Dovy Rapoport on March 6 over Waks’ tendency to turn to the media to publicize abuse cases. Feldman allegedly told Rapo-


port that Waks was a moser, a Talmudic term for a “collabora- tor” who informs on Jews to non- Jewish authorities. The word has extremely negative conno- tations within Orthodox Juda- ism and there is a prayer recited daily against such people. “This incident confirms what


so many of us have known for a long time; that this type of atti- tude is fairly prevalent among many within the ultra-Orthodox community,” Waks wrote on his Facebook page. “It also demon- strates, yet again, the ongoing harassment and intimidation many victims and their fami- lies are subjected to, including by those in leadership positions.” Waks thanked Feldman for


“sharing with the public [these] views that are generally kept behind closed doors.” One witness, who spoke on


condition of anonymity, said that it was an “unprovoked attack.” “I was shocked and horrified by


Rebbetzin Feldman’s comments. The rebbetzin referred to Manny Waks as a moser and his family as lacking respect for anyone.” In February, Rabbi Feldman was the subject of accusations


that he was aware of abuse oc- curring at the Yeshiva Centre school in Sydney a quarter of a century ago and did not report it to authorities. The American-born Feldman,


who was sent to Australia by the Lubavitcher Rebbe in 1964, re- plied to the allegations, saying that he “endorse[s] the unequiv- ocal rabbinical rulings encour- aging victims of abuse to report to the police and I will continue to support the efforts of law en- forcement agencies in investigat- ing and taking action against these heinous crimes.” In a statement issued in re-


sponse to queries by members of the local Jewish media, Peni- nah Feldman said she did not “in- tend to publicly explain details of a private conversation that may embarrass or cause pain to certain individuals, including some who may have tragically been the victims of child abuse.” She “unequivocally” stood by


rulings by Jewish scholars en- dorsing the reporting of abuse, she said, adding that “reporting child sexual abuse and in fact any form of physical violence to the relevant government author- ities is not mesira [informing].” She asserted, however, reflect-


ing a split in approaches to abuse within Australian Jewry, that the police “have indicated that media speculation could jeopar- dize their investigations and in- terfere with the course of justice.” In what appeared to be a jab at


Waks, Feldman said that “con- stant leaking to the media in the midst of a sensitive police inves- tigation only hinders the abil- ity of victims to come forward with their deep personal pain, for fear of publicity. In my opin- ion, such publicity runs the risk of protecting the perpetrators more than it does the victims.” Waks, who went public as a vic- tim of abuse in 2011, disagrees.


Australian Jews Debate Role Of Media In Abuse J


“Every time there is a case of


an additional victim who speaks out anonymously and the me- dia covers the story, more vic- tims have gone forward to the police,” he said. “There is no doubt in our minds that this is the correct way to address” the problem of abuse. In a statement that Waks sent


Manny Waks as student in 1988


The Yeshiva Centre, he said, was undergoing a “serious investi- gation” involving “multiple per- petrators, many victims and al- legations of cover-ups as well.” Feldman’s statement, Waks


said, was an attempt to “dimin- ish” his credibility, “because I am the one leading this public campaign, including sharing certain stories and cases with the media — obviously in coop- eration with the victims.” “It was a clear attack on me


and my integrity,” he said. While acknowledging publicity


was not always the best course, Waks said that after he came forward with his own story and began Tzedek’s current media campaign, “all of a sudden doz- ens of people went to the police.”


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to the media, he also claimed that the confrontation with Peninah Feldman “brings into question all other previous positive state- ments made by the Sydney Ye- shiva Centre, especially those made by her husband and yeshiva head, Rabbi Pinchas Feldman.” “Tzedek is currently examining


all of its options,” the statement read, including going to a rabbinic court, should any of the witness- es to the event prove amenable. Waks further called Feldman’s


statements “another crude at- tempt by the rebbetzin to portray the victims, victim groups and many others who have publicly spoken about their experience of abuse in a negative light.” Tzedek announced that it


has cut ties with the Sydney Yeshiva Centre until the mat- ter is resolved and a retraction and apology issued. One person familiar with the


matter, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said that there is an “internal debate [with]in the Jewish community. There is a clear halachic ruling that it is not mesira to go to the police.” “The discussion,” the source said, centers around whether


or not it is “helpful to go to the media every five minutes be- fore investigations have run their course.” Waks, he said, “gives names


to the media” even before the police have completed investi- gations, and this “tips people off that the police are interest- ed in them.” The current set of abuse al-


legations in Australia come af- ter the British Jewish commu- nity was rocked by a hidden microphone recording of lead- ing U.K. Rabbi Ephraim Pad- wa telling a former victim not to go to the police. In January, following the Pad-


wa incident, David Morris, who heads the Israeli victims advo- cacy organization Magen, said that there is “a deep-set cul- ture of non-reporting and cov- er-up” within certain Jewish communities. The Executive Council of Aus-


tralian Jewry sent a letter to the Australian government in De- cember 2012, responding to state- ments made by Waks regarding this alleged culture of cover-up. “Mr. Waks’s allegations both of


child sex-abuse and the covering up by various institutions of that conduct must of course be treat- ed seriously,” the council wrote. However, “caution needs to


be exercised in drawing gener- alized conclusions about entire communities from allegations that concern specific individu- als and specific organizations, and especially from those alle- gations that are yet to be prov- en, or even investigated,” the council said. —Jerusalem Post


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