Progress at Yeshivah?

EDITORIAL

THIS week could be a turning point for Yeshivah in Melbourne.

It has settled a long-running dispute with a child sexual abuse victims advocate and, after speaking to police and government officials, found allegations of inappropriate contact with children to be baseless.

But, much like the Federal Coalition, there are internal rumblings against the leaders of the organisation.

Rabbi Chaim Tzvi Groner, who is on the board of all Yeshivah institutions, must resign.

We’ve called for his resignation before, and we will call for it again.

He was a pivotal leader in the organisation between 2011 and 2015.

During those five years, victims came forward and were shunned by their own community.

While Groner has support in some sections of the community, it is largely based on his heritage rather than his personal accomplishments or leadership qualities.

Similarly, Rabbi Zvi Hirsch Telsner has been a problem for the organisation for several years.

The Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse singled him out for condemnation over some of the sermons he gave, which made victims of child sexual abuse and their families feel unwelcome in their own community.

The third leader under attack is Yeshivah Beth Rivkah principal Rabbi Yehoshua Smukler, who has been the target of an organised campaign.

Unlike Rabbis Groner and Telsner, Rabbi Smukler is an asset to the organisation who helped lead it out of its darkest days after the Royal Commission.

Yeshivah has taken big steps in the last week, and should be congratulated for doing so.

But to make the final leap they need those two rabbis to relinquish their positions of leadership.

Rabbi Telsner and Rabbi Groner must prioritise the welfare of Yeshivah and Chabad.

Putting the organisation first is difficult, but if we’ve learned anything in the last few years, both in politics and elsewhere, it’s vital if that organisation is to retain its credibility, engender respect and, ultimately, have a future.

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