Chabad Rabbi Blames His School's Abuse Scandal On Homosexuality
After decades of senior Chabad rabbis covering up child sexual abuse at Chabad's flagship school in Australia, a former principal of the school says that an alleged child rapist's homosexuality could have been cured and implies that homosexuality is at the root of the abuse scandal that is rocking Melbourne's Chabad community.
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Rabbi Avrohom Glick, left, with accused child rapist David Cyprys last year
MAGISTRATE Luisa Bazzani will announce on Monday whether the case against alleged rapist David Samuel Cyprys will proceed to trial.
In the Melbourne Magistrates Court last week, Rabbi Avrohom Glick, Yeshivah principal from 1986 to 2007 and presently a teacher and head of Jewish studies and student wellbeing at Yeshivah, gave evidence at a committal hearing for Cyprys, who was charged with 53 offences, including rape, against 12 boys, during his long association with the college and the Chabad community.
Before Rabbi Glick began his testimony on Monday, prosecutor Andrew Grant told the court the rabbi wanted to change a key point in a written statement he made to police late last year, in which he had stated: “Rabbi [Yitzchok Dovid] Groner never divulged to me the names of individuals that brought complaints to him.”
However, asked by Grant to set the record straight, Rabbi Glick said in court that Rabbi Groner had in fact told him Cyprys was the subject of a complaint by a parent regarding molestation.
Rabbi Glick said that in “the early 2000s”, Rabbi Groner told him of a complaint by a parent of one of the alleged victims and, although Cyprys’s name did not come up at that time, he “suspected” he was the individual Rabbi Groner was talking about.
Around that time, Rabbi Glick said he had become aware of rumours in the Yeshivah community that Cyprys was homosexual, which led him to suspect it was he the rabbi had alluded to.
But shortly before his death in 2008, Rabbi Groner had divulged Cyprys’s identity to him, Rabbi Glick told the court. “He called me and said to me that he had been approached by a mother who advised that her child had been molested by David Cyprys. She was agitated, threatening to take police action. He called me to ask if I had knowledge of that. I said I had no knowledge of that.”
Rabbi Glick said Cyprys became a youth leader and teacher and may have been involved with transporting students who attended the Gan Yisrael camps until the 1990s. As a security guard and locksmith who ran a security firm, Cyprys was also “subcontracted” for maintenance jobs on campus, he said. He was also a martial arts enthusiast who ran classes for boys.
Around the time the rumours started, Rabbi Glick was approached by the father of a student, urging him that Cyprys should not be employed at the college because of his sexual orientation. Rabbi Glick recalled responding to the parent that Cyprys did not work for the school and he was not his employer. Rabbi Glick added, “I told him Rabbi Groner would not permit Cyprys to work as a security guard if he was a threat to anyone.”
Asked by Bazzani if the rumours resulted in precautions being taken to protect students, Rabbi Glick said Cyprys was no longer involved with the school at that time.
Rabbi Glick had become Yeshivah principal in 1986, the year after Cyprys ended his studies at Yeshivah College and had “not very much” contact with Cyprys and “very little” contact with Jocelyn Searby, a consulting psychologist at the school, with whom Rabbi Groner had close ties.
Questioned by Cyprys’s barrister Marcus Dempsey about procedures in the 1980s to deal with young teenage students who believed they might be gay, Rabbi Glick said they were told “it was not Jewish practice” but they would not be asked to leave the school unless they were “promoting those practices”.
Rabbi Glick said he knew of no student at Yeshivah in the 1980s and 1990s who was openly gay. Asked by Dempsey: “Was homosexuality something to be cured from?”, he responded: “My understanding is that homosexuality can be cured … my understanding is that in most situations, the answer is yes.”
He said students had recourse to shluchim [mentors] to discuss these problems and could go to a religious studies teacher, to Rabbi Groner or to himself for counselling. Asked if he knew whether Cyprys had been counselled by Rabbi Groner, he said he suspected so, but Rabbi Groner “did not keep meticulous records”.
When questioned by Dempsey on Tuesday, Senior Detective Lisa Metcher said she had found no evidence in her search of Yeshivah records that Cyprys had been counselled.
On Tuesday, the court heard police testimony about two alleged rape incidents involving one of the boys.
Detective Senior Constable Tamara Annette Cornelissen gave evidence about one of the alleged victims, who had mentioned the act of “penetration” in a police interview. Two such incidents were identified in the interview.
Cornelissen confirmed the victim’s claim in his statement that the accused “covered my mouth to stop me screaming”.
Thankfully, the AJN printed a brief opinion piece by the paper's national editor that deals with some of the problems with Glick's comments:
Quote: Further cause for concern
ZEDDY LAWRENCE
COMMENT
OVER the past two weeks, the claims and allegations that have surfaced in the Cyprys hearing have shocked the community. That such abuse may have occurred in the first place is alarming enough; that the school seems to have failed to take appropriate measures when fears were raised is equally disturbing.
But these are not the only concerns that have emerged and that will doubtless be discussed over the coming days.
One is the issue of attitudes towards homosexuality, in particular that it can somehow be “cured” as if it were an illness or abnormality. Such a claim is an affront to the gay and lesbian community, and indeed to all those who believe in equality irrespective of sexual orientation. In this day and age, that a teacher responsible for student welfare at a school could hold such a view will no doubt raise eyebrows and prompt debate about his suitability for the role.
On the subject of homosexuality, it should also be made clear that such a sexual orientation has nothing to do with paedophilia. The two are quite distinct and it would be wrong for anyone to draw the impression from reports of the case that being gay and being a potential child abuser are in any way connected.
What the AJN didn't report is that many people believe Glick is still lying about what he knew and when he knew it. Some of those people claim to have evidence that proves it.
An open letter was sent to the Yeshiva College mailing list this week by a community member who wants the community to stop Glick and other Chabad honchos from using community funds to defend themselves from the criminal and civil charges that will probably be filed against them. Bruce Cooke wrote that:
Quote: I have previously written openly about the absence of transparency and accountability at the Yeshivah Centre and resulting abuse of power. It is now clear that the ramifications of this unchecked power has had a devastating effect on the safety of children under the Yeshivahs' care.
Almost exactly one year ago, I called upon Rabbi Glick and the leadership at Yeshivah to stand down pending the outcome of the Court process in relation to the alleged sexual abuse of students at Yeshivah College. No one has resigned of their own accord. No personal apology or even approach has been made to any of the victims or their families.
Rabbi Glick remains one the Yeshivah Centre’s highest paid employees and most powerful individuals. As well as being, Head of Student Welfare, he is a Trustee of the organisation and a member of its spiritual leadership, the Vaad Ruchni. Over the years, Rabbi Glick has received millions of dollars in salary and benefits from the Yeshivah Centre.
Most of the current Executive remains from that lengthy period of abuse and cover-up.
The matters before the Court, including allegations of rape of students by a former employee or contractor on the premises, underscore the need for change at the Yeshivah Centre. Those who failed the children must be held to account.
Regrettably, with a Mugabe style regime running the Yeshivah Centre, it is highly unlikely that either Rabbi Glick or the Executive will do the morally correct thing and resign from their positions.
Accordingly, Rabbi Glick and the Executive must not be allowed to waste any further community funds defending themselves and the results of their long term failed leadership. Their war on accountability & transparency and refusal to confront their mistakes must not be rewarded with access to communal monies. In compromising the children they have surely forfeited any rights to call upon funds collected from Shule membership fees, school fees, government funds and donations from the wider community.
The costs required to resolve the sexual abuse scandal and ensuing damages claims must be the sole personal responsibility of Rabbi Glick and the Executive, and they must make that public undertaking accordingly.
The Yeshivah Centre exists on donations from the immediate & wider community not to mention very generous government funding...
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