JTA reported yesterday that in Australia, three leading Orthodox rabbis have resigned from at least some of their positions as a result of an inquiry by Australia’s Royal Commission into how Chabad officials responded to child sex abuse scandals in the 1980's and 90's at two institutions-- Yeshivah College in Melbourne and Sydney’s Yeshivah Centre. Yesterday's Melbourne Herald Sun has additional details.
The Guardian reports that a turning point in the Commission's inquiry came earlier this month when Rabbi Moshe Gutnick, a senior judge of the Sydney Beth Din, told the Commission that a "culture of cover-up, often couched in religious terms" had pervaded the two schools. One of those resigning was the country's most senior rabbi-- Meir Shlomo Kluwgant, president of the Organisation of Rabbis of Australasia. His resignation was prompted by a text message he sent while the father of one of the abuse victims was testifying before the Commission. He labeled the father "a lunatic on the fringe, [who is] guilty of neglect of his own children..." Another of those resigning admitted to the Commission that in 2002 he did not know it was illegal for an adult to touch a child's genitals.
