Rabbi Smukler: The community stands with you
The gap between Yeshivah Centre’s Committee of Management (COM) and the Yeshivah Beth Rivkah (YBR) community has grown each and every day since the Royal Commission revealed the abuse that occurred in the 1980s and 90s.
But yesterday it blew out into a hole the size of the Grand Canyon.
When word spread that there was a split between the COM and principal Rabbi Yehoshua Smukler and that mediation had failed and that Rabbi Smukler was on the brink of leaving the Yeshivah community responded in droves.
In the morning people posted on Facebook in support of Rabbi Smukler.
Then teachers and senior employees started contacting The AJN frantically asking what we could do help keep him at the school.
By late-morning classes were cancelled in Yeshivah’s high school as teachers gathered to see how they could take on the COM and back their principal.
In Whattsapp groups, where parents talked, they were in shock and didn’t know how to respond.
One Beth Rivkah teacher said they would be willing to strike if they had to because Rabbi Smukler has their full support.
A principal at another Jewish school told The AJN they hoped he stayed and fought because Rabbi Smukler has “overwhelming support” from the community.
The Yeshivah community was in chaos.
Not because of child abuse, but because they have lost faith in the COM.
They are demanding change and they are demanding that the COM do everything it can to keep Rabbi Smukler as the principal.
They are demanding a parent body take over the board and they are demanding that Rabbi Smukler be given a chance to run the school the way he wants.
And there should be no doubt in the minds of those on the COM – The community is right and you are wrong.
Rabbi Smukler is, without a shadow of a doubt, one of the greatest assets that Yeshivah has.
His testimony at the Royal Commission was heart-felt, honest and he showed why he is the future of the school.
It’s often said in Australia that the two hardest jobs are being Prime Minister and the captain of the Australian cricket team.
But we’re pretty confident neither Tony Abbott or Michael Clarke would have accepted the job of Yeshivah principal over the last few years.
So we, The AJN, stand with the Yeshivah community and urge Rabbi Smukler to stay the course and fight for the students.
We don’t envy your position, but you have the community behind you.
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