Rabbi Glick stood down amid Yeshivah abuse claims

YESHIVAH College (Melbourne) educator and spiritual leader Rabbi Avrohom Glick has been stood down by the school amid claims he sexually assaulted a student in the 1970s.

Glick was interviewed by police and released without charge last week, with the school’s principal Rabbi Yehoshua Smukler announcing on Monday that Glick had been “stood down from his position at Yeshivah,” and that the former principal had “not attended the campus or had contact with the students since that time”.

“The College’s action in standing down Rabbi Glick should not be seen as prejudging the outcome of the investigation and the College affirms that Rabbi Glick is fully entitled to the presumption of innocence accorded to him by law,” the statement continued.

In a letter from his lawyers, Rabbi Glick “vehemently denied the allegations” against him. The complainant in the case spoke with The AJN in October. The school claimed it had no knowledge of the allegations at the time and said police had told them, “At present we have no need for concern and that they [police] would be in immediate contact with us should the need arise.”

A spokesperson from police media told The AJN this week: “A 67-year-old Balaclava man has been interviewed by Sano Taskforce detectives regarding allegations of sexual assault of a child in the late 1970s. The man has been released pending further enquiries. No charges have been laid at this time.”

During the trial of paedophile and former Yeshivah College employee David Cyprys, Rabbi Glick said he had only recently learned of the abuses committed against students at his school, but later changed his statement under oath, admitting he was made aware of the crimes in the early 2000s.

During the trial of former Yeshivah College teacher David Kramer for child sexual abuse, it was claimed the convicted child abuser admitted to Rabbi Glick in 1993 that he had abused several boys. It was alleged that Rabbi Glick did not report the matter to police or stand Kramer down because he was concerned for the paedophile’s welfare.

ADAM KAMIEN

Yeshivah College (Melbourne) spiritual leader Rabbi Avrohom Glick.

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