Dear Rabbi Freilich
I refer to your letter in The Australian Magazine published yesterday. And article in the AJN 7 days or so earlier. [enc below]
Could you please elucidate as to how you were misquoted in view of your last sentence about being tired and emotional?
Kol Tuv
Geoff Seidner
East St Kilda
The Australian Magazine - June 1 - 2, 2013
Firstly let me congratulate you on your article. However, I would like to clarify a statement attributed to me that is misleading. The article gives the impression I am of the view that 95 per cent of the rabbinate believe that child sexual abuse should be dealt with in-house. In fact I believe that the vast majority of rabbis in Australia firmly support the immediate reporting of child abuse to the police. This was always the official stance of the Organisation of Rabbis of Australia. This misinterpretation may have arisen because my abhorrence of child sexual abuse is such that when I am interviewed about it I become emotional, and as a result my expression may not be as clear and precise as it should be.
David Freilich OAMChief Rabbi, Perth Hebrew Congregation
ORIG ARTICLE RE YOURSELF: May 18 -9, 2013
Perth rabbi Dovid Freilich estimates that 95 per cent of Australian rabbis believe these matters should be dealt with internally. He was president of the Organisation of Rabbis of Australasia at the time the Yeshivah scandal erupted and resigned after his call for full co-operation with police drew criticism from the membership. "I was castigated by other rabbis. They don't talk to me anymore. I regard it as a compliment... The law of the land is the law of the land," he says, dismissing the idea that victims should go to a priest or a rabbi rather than use the courts.
Rabbi misquoted on abuse cover-up
THE Australian is expected to apologise this weekend after it claimed that former president of the Organisation of Rabbis of Australasia (ORA) Rabbi Dovid Freilich said that 95 per cent of Australian rabbis believe child sexual abuse charges should be dealt with internally.
Rabbi Freilich praised the article, “The Shunned”, that appeared in Saturday’s edition of The Australian, because he said that whatever can be done to stamp out the scourge of sexual abuse of children in society is to be commended and encouraged, but said that being misquoted was disappointing.
“I believe that the vast majority of rabbis in Australia firmly and categorically support the immediate reporting of child abuse to the police,” Rabbi Freilich said in a letter toThe AJN and The Australian this week.
“This was always the official stance of the ORA.”
Senior writer at The Australian Kate Legge apologised to the rabbi when she was contacted by Rabbi Freilich this week.
“We will clarify the comment on the letter page next week,” the journalist said to Rabbi Freilich.
But in response to the article, which caused concern throughout the community because of the claim, the Rabbinical Council of Victoria (RCV) restated its policy on child sexual abuse to the community.
“The RCV has stated on numerous occasions that all cases of child abuse must be reported immediately to the police. The council’s resolution to this effect was adopted by the rabbis of Victoria unanimously and bears the name of each rabbi,” the statement read.
“The RCV’s widely publicised position that any and all cases of child abuse must be reported immediately to the police and relevant authorities has appeared numerous times in Jewish and wider Australian media,” RCV president Rabbi Meir Shlomo Kluwgant said.
Rabbi Kluwgant said there is no basis to the claim that 95 per cent of Australian rabbis prefer child sexual abuse cases be dealt with internally, and he said he was expecting a full and swift retraction by those responsible.
JOSHUA LEVI
Rabbi Dovid Freilich.