Case of David Kramer
(AKA: Rabbi David Kramer)
(AKA: Rabbi David Kramer)
 |
| David Kramer - Convicted Sex Offender |
Worcester, NY
Chabad Teacher, "Rabbi" - Yeshivah-Beth Rivkah Colleges - Melbourne, Australia
Emanuel, Israel
Argentina
University City, MO
Olivette, MO
Volunteer Youth Leader - Nusach Hari B'nai Zion Synagogue - St. Louis, MO
_______________________________________________________________________________
_______________________________________________________________________________
The Awareness Center has been informed that David Kramer molested over 30 children in Australia between 1989 - 1992. Instead of reporting the crimes to local law enforcement, Rabbi Yitzchok Dovid Groner (acting head rabbi of Australia and also the Rosh Yeshiva/ Dean of Yeshivah Colleges) allegedly attempted to handle things on his own. Community members have stated that Groner was warned by a psychiatrist that David Kramer would harm himself. After a few days went by with no action, parents of the child victims warned Rabbi Groner that they would go to the police. It was at that point that Rabbi Yitzchok Dovid Groner allegedly purchased a plaine ticket and sent Kramer to Emanuel, Israel. Needless to say, there are rumors that David Kramer molested more children in Israel.
At this time we do not know how long Kramer was in Israel or where he went next.
Back in 2008, David Kramer was arrested in St. Louis after molesting a young boy. Kramer was a volunteer youth leader at a local orthodox synagogue. Rabbi Ze'ev Smason confronted Kramer with the allegations and immediately reported the crime to the police. Kramer was convicted and is currently sitting in Missouri prison.
In September, 2008 someone connected to the Kramer case in Melbourne (from 18 -19 years ago) contacte The Awareness Center after learning that Kramer was arrested in St. Louis. The individual wanted to do what ever they could to help the new child victim and their family. They were outraged to learn that someone like David Kramer would go under the radar for so long and be allowed to sexually violate a child once again.
Knowing David Kramer's profile, it's very unlikely he molested 20 years ago and then stopped until last 2008. Rumors are there are hundreds of children out there he molested.
Background History
1991-92 (Melbourne, Australia) -- Kramer taught Jewish studies to boys ages 5 to 8 at Yeshivah College. Kramer was asked to leave the school, and the country, immediately following an alleged incident, without a police report being made.
1992 - ? (Emanuel, Israel) -- Kramer allegedly was sent to Emanuel, Israel by Rabbi Yitzchok Dovid Groner (Rosh Yeshiva/Dean) at Yeshivah College (Melbourne, Australia)
2008 - (St. Louis, MO) - Plead guilty to 2 counts of sexual molestation of a minor and was sentenced to 7 years in prison.
2012 - Extradited to Australia
2013 - Kramer plead guilty to assaulting 3 boys in Melbourne, Australia 20 years ago.
_______________________________________________________________________________
2012 - Extradited to Australia
2013 - Kramer plead guilty to assaulting 3 boys in Melbourne, Australia 20 years ago.
_______________________________________________________________________________
Disclaimer: Inclusion in this website does not constitute a recommendation or endorsement. Individuals must decide for themselves if the resources meet their own personal needs.
Table of Contents:
2007
Table of Contents:
2007
- Rabbi Ze'ev Smason on the Case of David Kramer
- Temple Youth Leader Arrested (08/04/2007)
- Youth Volunteer Admits To Police He Exposed Himself To Child (08/05/2007)
- U. City Man Nabbed in Child-Sex Case (08/06/2007)
- Child Advocate of The Week: Rabbi Ze'ev Smason - Doing The Right Thing! (08-07-2007)
- "Our Precious Children" - The Jewish Community of St. Louis is A Role Model (08/30/2007)
2008
- Update: Case of David Kramer (University City, MO) (03/13/2008)
- Rabbi Yitzchok Dovid Groner (1925-2008) (07/07/2008)
- A Cry For Help - Update on the Case of David Kramer (07/14/2008)
- Law firm offers free advice on sex-abuse claims (07/28/2008)
- Former Melbourne Jewish school teacher jailed in the United States (10/16/2008)
- Missouri Department of Corrections (10/17/2008)
- Clarification - the Case of David Kramer (10/19/2008)
- Fleeing Jewish school teacher jailed in US (10/19/2008)
- A HERO - Rabbi Ze'ev Smason on the Case of David Kramer (10/20/2008)
- Dear parents of school age and pre-school age children (11/11/2008)
2011
- Secrecy over Victorian sex crime teacher (06/22/2011)
- School's sex abuse secret probed (06/22/2011)
- Jewish leader claims abuse in day school (07/11/2011)
2012
2013
Related Cases:
- Child Sex-Abuse Scandal in Australia's Jewish Community Spills Into U.S.
- Allegations Surface That Child Molesters Were Protected (02/17/2012)
- Police to ask US to hand over ex-teacher (04/03/2012)
- Australia Seeks Extradition of Molester in the US (04/06/2012)
- Rabbi knew of molest rumours (05/15/2012)
- Australia wants to extradite Missouri molester for crimes there (05/18/2012)
- Nowhere left to hide (07/05/2012)
- Jewish boys school gave molester free run (07/16/2012)
- Jewish day school apologizes to child sex abuse victims (08/22/2012)
- U.S. court clears path for extradition to Australia of alleged sex abuser (11/08/2012)
- Principal at Aussie school under fire sees child sex abuse inquiry as 'welcome step' (11/14/2012)
- U.S. extradites alleged Chabad day school abuser to Australia (12/02/2012)
- Former Yeshiva College teacher David Kramer faces court on sex charges (12/03/2012)
- Former Jewish school teacher faces court (12/03/2012)
- Jewish day school sex abuser charged, appears in court (12/04/2012)
- Yeshivah rabbi fronts court (12/04/2012)
2013
- Rabbi pleads guilty to child sex abuse (04/12/2013)
Related Cases:
- Case of Malka Leifer (School Principal)
- Case of Rabbi Hershy Worch
_______________________________________________________________________________
The Awareness Center's Daily Newsletter - October 20, 2008
Rabbi Ze'ev Smason was one of the original board members of The Awareness Center along with being our first halachic advisor.
With his permission it is a great honor that I'm sharing the following comments he made regarding the case of David Kramer.
The
case of David Kramer first broke in his community last year. It's
turning out that David Kramer traveled the world. He not only left
victims in not only St. Louis and Australia, but there are rumors that
he also left victims in Israel, also possibly in Argentina.
The next time you see Rabbi Smason, please stand up and give him a round of applause. He is definitely a friend to every Jewish survivor of childhood sexual abuse and their family members.
Rabbi Ze'ev Smason was one of the original board members of The Awareness Center along with being our first halachic advisor.
With his permission it is a great honor that I'm sharing the following comments he made regarding the case of David Kramer.
 |
| Rabbi Ze'ev Smason |
The next time you see Rabbi Smason, please stand up and give him a round of applause. He is definitely a friend to every Jewish survivor of childhood sexual abuse and their family members.
October 19, 2008 -- The Kramer case provides a great opportunity to trace the failure of segments of the Jewish community to their source. If only the problem had been addressed in Australia (or Israel, or Argentina), the victim in St. Louis and countless others would have been spared suffering. If the process through which the problem was 'punted' to Israel, Argentina and St. Louis can be identified -- not only will those responsible for their dereliction of duty be held accountable, but such an occurrence will be less likely to take place in the future in other parts of the Jewish world. When rabbis and school officials see that there's no 'statute of limitations' on the problems they should have addressed, they may think twice before they pass toxic waste on to the next community.Our tradition teaches that those who are kind to the cruel, are ultimately cruel to those who are kind. The 'kindness' of those who deliberately or negligently refrained from acting when they had the opportunity to put DK away perpetrated a terrible act of cruelty on his later victims. Let's find out what happened with the intention of not letting this happen again
Nusach Hari B'nai Zion
_______________________________________________________________________________
Temple Youth Leader Arrested_______________________________________________________________________________
Fox News (St. Louis) - August 4, 2007
UNIVERSITY CITY, MO (KTVI-myFOXstl.com) -- A St. Louis man conducting a youth program at an orthodox synagogue in Olivette has been charged with sexual misconduct with a child.
 |
| Nusach Hari B'Nai Zion Synagogue |
University City Police say the man exposed himself to a little boy. David Kramer led a youth forum at the Nusach Hari B'Nai Zion Synagogue back in April and was scheduled to have another one in June and one later in August. But he was taken into police custody instead.
University City Police arrested David Kramer, 46, Friday night. According to the warrant, Kramer is charged with one count of sexual misconduct involving a child. The incident allegedly happened between January and March at an apartment complex off Olive Blvd.
"He seems to be a humble man," says Jovana Hutson, who lives in that building. Hutson says Kramer seemed like a religious man, who she often saw walking to his synagogue.
"I'm shocked just on the strength he stays across the hall, so close," says Hutson. "I mean he doesn't look like a monster or someone who could do that, but you never know these days, you never know and it's just like wow. I'm shocked. I'm really and truly shocked."
 |
| David Kramer arrested on sex charges |
The program was geared towards 12-16 year olds. Kramer's alleged victim was reportedly a 12-year-old boy. It's unsettling news for Hutson who has a little boy of her own.
"I don't have any tolerance for it and I think it's pretty disgusting, I do. I mean it just blows me away I'm shocked and I will be informing the other parents around here."
Rabbi Ze'ev Smason said he was aware of Kramer's arrest but declined an on camera interview due to the Jewish Sabbath. However, the rabbi says Kramer was never an employee and was asked to leave the synagogue roughly five weeks ago
He wouldn't elaborate on why Kramer was asked to leave. He just said there was reason for concern.
__________________________________________________________________________________
U. City Man Nabbed in Child-Sex Case
By Harry Levins
St. Louis Post-Dispatch - August 6, 2007
University City — A man who once volunteered for a youth program at a synagogue in University City has been charged with sexual misconduct with a child.
Arrested Friday was David Kramer, 46, of the 1100 block of Briscoe Place in University City.
University City Police Capt. Michael Ransom said today that Kramer had been transferred to the St. Louis County Jail late Friday.
The Missouri Division of Family Services alerted police late last month to a hot-line tip. The tip alleged that sometime last winter, Kramer had committed the misconduct in his apartment with a boy under age 14, Ransom said.
Kramer's apartment sits close by Nusach Hari B'Nai Zion Synagogue on Olive Boulevard. There, Kramer once volunteered for a single program that works with youths ages 12 to 16, said Rabbi Ze'ev Smason. Kramer was neither an employee nor a member of the synagogue, Smason said.
By Harry Levins
St. Louis Post-Dispatch - August 6, 2007
University City — A man who once volunteered for a youth program at a synagogue in University City has been charged with sexual misconduct with a child.
Arrested Friday was David Kramer, 46, of the 1100 block of Briscoe Place in University City.
University City Police Capt. Michael Ransom said today that Kramer had been transferred to the St. Louis County Jail late Friday.
The Missouri Division of Family Services alerted police late last month to a hot-line tip. The tip alleged that sometime last winter, Kramer had committed the misconduct in his apartment with a boy under age 14, Ransom said.
Kramer's apartment sits close by Nusach Hari B'Nai Zion Synagogue on Olive Boulevard. There, Kramer once volunteered for a single program that works with youths ages 12 to 16, said Rabbi Ze'ev Smason. Kramer was neither an employee nor a member of the synagogue, Smason said.
__________________________________________________________________________________
 |
| Rabbi Ze'ev Smason - Advocate of the week |
The Awareness Center - August 7, 2007
Long time friend of The Awareness Center - Rabbi Ze'ev Smason deserves an award for doing the right thing when he learned of an alleged sex offender in his synagogue. As soon as he learned of the allegations made against youth leader, David Kramer -- Rabbi Smason worked with the legal system and did what he could to protect his congregation from any more harm.
For those of you know who know Rabbi Smason, next time you see him stand up and give him a round of applause! He definately deserves it.
__________________________________________________________________________________
Youth Volunteer Admits To Police He Exposed Himself To Child
Fox News (St. Louis) - August 5, 2008
University City, MO -- A youth volunteer with ties to a local orthodox synagogue is charged in a sex crime. David Kramer's arrest warrant says he admitted to police he exposed himself to a child at a University City apartment complex. The synagogue's rabbi is speaking out for the first time.
__________________________________________________________________________________
Fox News (St. Louis) - August 5, 2008
University City, MO -- A youth volunteer with ties to a local orthodox synagogue is charged in a sex crime. David Kramer's arrest warrant says he admitted to police he exposed himself to a child at a University City apartment complex. The synagogue's rabbi is speaking out for the first time.
__________________________________________________________________________________
"Our Precious Children"
The Jewish Community of St. Louis is A Role Model
Sometimes a good thing can come out of a horrendous criminal act. The hope of The Awareness Center is that by reading about "Our Precious Children," other communities will also be inspired create a program like this.
Recently the case of David Kramer broke in the St. Louis Jewish community. He was originally arrested and charged with exposing himself to a little boy in his apartment. At the time Kramer was a volunteer youth leader at Nusach Hari B'Nai Zion Synagogue (St. Louis, MO). Since then another arrest warrant was issued for David Kramer, this time the charges include sodomy.
As in many communities there was a large group who rallied behind the alleged offender, raising money to pay his bond and to help his family. And like in most communities there was very little support for the child survivor or the family. That is until a small group of people got together and started brainstorming. They were outraged and what they saw was happening and wanted to make a difference in the life of the survivor of Kramer and other Jewish children who were in similar situations. The answer was creating "Our Precious Children," a new organization and fund to help local children in the Jewish community.
"Our Precious Children" is sort of like the "Make A Wish Foundation" for sexually abuse children. Their primary goal is to help meet some of the financial needs Jewish sexually abused children and their family members. This includes helping to cover the costs of rape counseling or small things such as purchasing an IPOD for the child.
To learn more about them go to: http://ourpreciouschildren.com
The Jewish Community of St. Louis is A Role Model
Sometimes a good thing can come out of a horrendous criminal act. The hope of The Awareness Center is that by reading about "Our Precious Children," other communities will also be inspired create a program like this.
Recently the case of David Kramer broke in the St. Louis Jewish community. He was originally arrested and charged with exposing himself to a little boy in his apartment. At the time Kramer was a volunteer youth leader at Nusach Hari B'Nai Zion Synagogue (St. Louis, MO). Since then another arrest warrant was issued for David Kramer, this time the charges include sodomy.
As in many communities there was a large group who rallied behind the alleged offender, raising money to pay his bond and to help his family. And like in most communities there was very little support for the child survivor or the family. That is until a small group of people got together and started brainstorming. They were outraged and what they saw was happening and wanted to make a difference in the life of the survivor of Kramer and other Jewish children who were in similar situations. The answer was creating "Our Precious Children," a new organization and fund to help local children in the Jewish community.
"Our Precious Children" is sort of like the "Make A Wish Foundation" for sexually abuse children. Their primary goal is to help meet some of the financial needs Jewish sexually abused children and their family members. This includes helping to cover the costs of rape counseling or small things such as purchasing an IPOD for the child.
To learn more about them go to: http://ourpreciouschildren.com
__________________________________________________________________________________
Update: Case of David Kramer (University City, MO)
The Awareness Center - March
The case of David Kramer was continued until April 7, 2008. There should be some indication as to whether a plea or request for trial will be sought at that time.
At one time Kramer volunteered for a youth program at a synagogue in University City. He was charged with sexual misconduct with a child.
The Awareness Center - March
The case of David Kramer was continued until April 7, 2008. There should be some indication as to whether a plea or request for trial will be sought at that time.
At one time Kramer volunteered for a youth program at a synagogue in University City. He was charged with sexual misconduct with a child.
__________________________________________________________________________________
Obituary
Rabbi Yitzchok Dovid Groner (1925-2008)
Rabbi Yitzchok Dovid Groner (1925-2008)
Senior Australian Rabbi Passes Away
By Dovid Zaklikowski
Chabad - July 7, 2008
Chabad - July 7, 2008
 |
| Rabbi Yizchok Dovid Groner |
Rabbi Yizchok Dovid Groner, who passed away this week, was honored by his adopted Australian Jewish community at a dinner celebrating his 80th birthday three years ago.
Rabbi Yizchok Dovid Groner, who passed away this week, was honored by his adopted Australian Jewish community at a dinner celebrating his 80th birthday three years ago.
Rabbi Yitzchok Dovid Groner, a passionate educator who devoted more than 50 years of his life to Australian Jewry, passed away July 7. He was 83.
A man whom politicians and Jewish community officials credited with shepherding a Jewish population whose numbers swelled after World War II, Groner originally intended his 1958 move to the continent from New York to be temporary. Sent at the behest of the Rebbe, Rabbi Menachem Mendel Schneerson, of righteous memory, for at least three years, Groner ended up calling Melbourne home for five decades. In that time, he built a school system serving some 1,500 students.
"Australian Jewry has lost one of its noblest personalities," said Isi Leibler, who led the Executive Council of Australian Jewry for close to 20 years. "History will record that Rabbi Yitzchok Groner was beyond a doubt, the greatest Australian Jewish leader of the past century."
"Rabbi Groner's work is shown most of all by the institutions he has fostered," echoed Michael Danby, a member of the Australian House of Representatives. "When he arrived in Melbourne, he saw a community increasing in size due to post-war immigration, and he gave very strong support to Jewish education, in order that the community would be able to survive in a secular society such as Australia."
Danby saw Groner's greatest achievement in Melbourne's Yeshiva Centre and the schools he headed, Yeshiva College and Beth Rivkah Ladies College, "two of the most highly regarded Jewish schools in Australia or anywhere," he said.
"His towering achievements and charismatic presence at all communal levels played a major role in transforming Australian Jewry into one of the finest communities in the Diaspora," added Leibler. "The extraordinary expansion of Chabad-Lubavitch educational institutions positively influenced the growth of Torah education and day schools throughout the entire Jewish community."
Learning to Care
Rabbi Yitzchok Dovid Groner, right, presides over a gathering for Australian Jewry in the late 1950s.
Born on April 18, 1925, Groner was the fifth of eight children born to his parents, who immigrated to the United States from what was then the British Mandate of Palestine.
With a lineage traced back to the first Chabad Rebbe, Rabbi Schneur Zalman of Liadi, Groner vividly recalled the New York arrival of the Sixth Rebbe, Rabbi Yosef Yitzchak Schneersohn, of righteous memory, from war-torn Europe in 1941. In a rare newspaper interview shortly before his 80th birthday, Groner described the Chasidic gathering that took place four days later at the Rebbe's hotel over the holiday of Purim.
"Hundreds and hundreds of people came from all walks of life because they wanted to hear what's going on in Europe," he told Dan Goldberg of the Australian Jewish News. "I remember how the Rebbe said gut yom tov," a traditional celebratory greeting.
"And then he said, `How can I say gut yom tov when my brethren are being burnt?' " continued Groner, pointing out that while the Rebbe experienced the greatest joy at coming out of Europe alive, his heart was still with the Jews suffering there. "That talk killed me."
As a student, Groner enrolled in the Tomchei Tmimim Lubavitch yeshiva that was established soon after the Rebbe's arrival. Though he kept strictly to the school's learning schedule, he also immersed himself in the time-consuming outreach activities headed by the Rebbe's son-in-law and future successor, Rabbi Menachem Mendel Schneerson.
Under the future Rebbe's guidance, Groner helped organized a grand children's parade down Brooklyn's Eastern Parkway, then the center of a sprawling secular Jewish community. With hundreds of children singing Jewish songs at the top of their lungs, residents would look back at the parade as a quintessential moment of Jewish pride that served as a catalyst for similar events.
After yeshiva, Groner began traveling to rural communities to assist in the building of Jewish educational institutions. At the age of 22, the Sixth Rebbe sent him and his newly married wife Devorah on a spiritual tour of Australia and New Zealand. The trip to Melbourne, which took 55 hours, was the Groners' first connection to a community that would end up adoring their fearless and unabashed dedication to Jewish activism, and their boundless love for every single Jew.
"I came in there and saw 100 people [in the small synagogue]," Groner said of his first visit to the city. "I went to the corner and I started to cry. The next day I wrote a letter to the Rebbe, `You should know there's Judaism here.' I was so impressed."
He later visited Australia in 1953 as an emissary of the seventh Rebbe.
Education at his Fingertips
Rabbi Yizchok Dovid Groner, who passed away this week, was honored by his adopted Australian Jewish community at a dinner celebrating his 80th birthday three years ago.
Rabbi Yitzchok Dovid Groner, a passionate educator who devoted more than 50 years of his life to Australian Jewry, passed away July 7. He was 83.
A man whom politicians and Jewish community officials credited with shepherding a Jewish population whose numbers swelled after World War II, Groner originally intended his 1958 move to the continent from New York to be temporary. Sent at the behest of the Rebbe, Rabbi Menachem Mendel Schneerson, of righteous memory, for at least three years, Groner ended up calling Melbourne home for five decades. In that time, he built a school system serving some 1,500 students.
"Australian Jewry has lost one of its noblest personalities," said Isi Leibler, who led the Executive Council of Australian Jewry for close to 20 years. "History will record that Rabbi Yitzchok Groner was beyond a doubt, the greatest Australian Jewish leader of the past century."
"Rabbi Groner's work is shown most of all by the institutions he has fostered," echoed Michael Danby, a member of the Australian House of Representatives. "When he arrived in Melbourne, he saw a community increasing in size due to post-war immigration, and he gave very strong support to Jewish education, in order that the community would be able to survive in a secular society such as Australia."
Danby saw Groner's greatest achievement in Melbourne's Yeshiva Centre and the schools he headed, Yeshiva College and Beth Rivkah Ladies College, "two of the most highly regarded Jewish schools in Australia or anywhere," he said.
"His towering achievements and charismatic presence at all communal levels played a major role in transforming Australian Jewry into one of the finest communities in the Diaspora," added Leibler. "The extraordinary expansion of Chabad-Lubavitch educational institutions positively influenced the growth of Torah education and day schools throughout the entire Jewish community."
Learning to Care
Rabbi Yitzchok Dovid Groner, right, presides over a gathering for Australian Jewry in the late 1950s.
Born on April 18, 1925, Groner was the fifth of eight children born to his parents, who immigrated to the United States from what was then the British Mandate of Palestine.
With a lineage traced back to the first Chabad Rebbe, Rabbi Schneur Zalman of Liadi, Groner vividly recalled the New York arrival of the Sixth Rebbe, Rabbi Yosef Yitzchak Schneersohn, of righteous memory, from war-torn Europe in 1941. In a rare newspaper interview shortly before his 80th birthday, Groner described the Chasidic gathering that took place four days later at the Rebbe's hotel over the holiday of Purim.
"Hundreds and hundreds of people came from all walks of life because they wanted to hear what's going on in Europe," he told Dan Goldberg of the Australian Jewish News. "I remember how the Rebbe said gut yom tov," a traditional celebratory greeting.
"And then he said, `How can I say gut yom tov when my brethren are being burnt?' " continued Groner, pointing out that while the Rebbe experienced the greatest joy at coming out of Europe alive, his heart was still with the Jews suffering there. "That talk killed me."
As a student, Groner enrolled in the Tomchei Tmimim Lubavitch yeshiva that was established soon after the Rebbe's arrival. Though he kept strictly to the school's learning schedule, he also immersed himself in the time-consuming outreach activities headed by the Rebbe's son-in-law and future successor, Rabbi Menachem Mendel Schneerson.
Under the future Rebbe's guidance, Groner helped organized a grand children's parade down Brooklyn's Eastern Parkway, then the center of a sprawling secular Jewish community. With hundreds of children singing Jewish songs at the top of their lungs, residents would look back at the parade as a quintessential moment of Jewish pride that served as a catalyst for similar events.
After yeshiva, Groner began traveling to rural communities to assist in the building of Jewish educational institutions. At the age of 22, the Sixth Rebbe sent him and his newly married wife Devorah on a spiritual tour of Australia and New Zealand. The trip to Melbourne, which took 55 hours, was the Groners' first connection to a community that would end up adoring their fearless and unabashed dedication to Jewish activism, and their boundless love for every single Jew.
"I came in there and saw 100 people [in the small synagogue]," Groner said of his first visit to the city. "I went to the corner and I started to cry. The next day I wrote a letter to the Rebbe, `You should know there's Judaism here.' I was so impressed."
He later visited Australia in 1953 as an emissary of the seventh Rebbe.
Education at his Fingertips
 |
| Rabbi Yizchok Groner - Sex Offender Enabler |
Rabbi Yitzchok Dovid Groner, left, met with Sir John Grey Gorton, Australia's 19th prime minister, at Melbourne's Yeshiva Centre in 1968.
In the years following the Groners' 1953 visit, the local Jewish community implored both Groner and the Rebbe to establish a full-time presence there. At the time, Groner refused to relocate, giving the Rebbe a litany of reasons why he couldn't pick up and move. And although he finally acceded to the Rebbe's encouragement, he held open the option to one day move back to New York.
"I was a naughty boy," he said in an interview with Jewish Educational Media.
"You have the freedom to decide whether you wish to continue your work in Australia," the Rebbe wrote to Devorah Groner in 1960. "The important thing is that if the task is to be done successfully, the work must be carried on willingly, without compulsion and without considering it as penal servitude or deportation."
When the Groners arrived, the Melbourne community was debating if it should open a Jewish day school. Groner recalled that at the time, he viewed the school as "the only thing that will preserve any Judaism in the community."
An anecdote relayed at the dinner honoring his 80th birthday captured Groner's focus on education as the foundation of society: One year, the Chabad institutions in Melbourne were facing bankruptcy and the Commonwealth Bank was threatening to foreclose on their headquarters' mortgage.
A number of community officials and business figures scheduled a meeting with David Murray, the head of the Commonwealth Bank. Many of them knew Murray personally, and they trusted that he would be swayed by their argument that their day school was vitally important for the Jewish community.
Murray, however, was accompanied by a man commonly known as John "the Hatchet" Edwards, who was in charge of bad accounts and chaired the meeting. Right at the outset, Edwards made it known that he was an atheist who harbored no sympathy for any religion. On the contrary, he thought that organized religion was the bane of society, and that everyone would be better off if children went only to public schools.
As far as Edwards was concerned, the yeshiva was nothing more than a client, and a particularly bad client at that. If the school couldn't pay, it would face the same fate as any other business in default.
After about a minute, Groner – a very big man – got up to address Edwards, something the businessmen at the table were unable, or unwilling, to do.
"Hello," he said. "Your name is John. My name is Isaac. How do you do?"
With that, Groner placed his hands on Edwards' shoulders.
"I don't think you understand what we do here," he said. "We make mentschen. Do you know what a mentsch is? A mentsch is a person who has respect for all other human beings. A mentsch is a person who cares about others. A mensch is a person who is a good civic citizen. Australia needs mentschen, and we produce them."
Groner and the other officials walked out of that meeting with a compromise deal. Today, a chain of similar schools operates across Australia. Over the years, they have trained a whole generation of Orthodox rabbis who occupy the pulpits of synagogues across the city and the rest of Australia.
Groner's "life was education," said Rabbi Shimshon Yurkowicz, co-director of Chabad-Lubavitch of Malvern with Groner's daughter Rivkah. "Even in the hospital, he was involved in the day-to-day activities of the Yeshiva Centre."
Leibler noted that Groner regularly counseled hundreds of visitors seeking advice and answers to complex questions in Jewish law.
"Although unyielding on halachic principles," said Leibler, "he exemplified the best traditions of Chabad outreach and compassion. Despite his towering presence and erudition, he was a modest man who spurned materialism and inspired a love and respect by all sections of the community, non-observant as well as religious."
"Today the Lubavitchers are the most dynamic influence on Australian Judaism," said Danby, giving the credit to Groner. "He is a great scholar, a great preacher, a great educator and a great inspiration to all who meet him. His influence reaches far beyond the Lubavitcher community into all corners of Australian life, and even an imperfectly observant Jew like me has felt his inspiration."
On the occasion of his 80th birthday, Groner paused for a moment to reflect on the sea change in Australian Jewish life.
"It causes me a certain satisfaction," he remarked. "But by the same token, it causes me a certain feeling that it wasn't accomplished enough, and we have to go ahead.
"The Rebbe was never satisfied to rest on his laurels," he continued. "He always pushed for more and more."
He added that he felt the most satisfaction when he could "help other people, because the whole community comes here."
"If I can help them both in a spiritual way and in an educational way, and in a moral way and in a physical way," he said, "that's my greatest satisfaction."
At his request, Groner will be buried in Israel. He is survived by eight children, as well as dozens of grandchildren and great-grandchildren.
___________________________________________________________________________________
In the years following the Groners' 1953 visit, the local Jewish community implored both Groner and the Rebbe to establish a full-time presence there. At the time, Groner refused to relocate, giving the Rebbe a litany of reasons why he couldn't pick up and move. And although he finally acceded to the Rebbe's encouragement, he held open the option to one day move back to New York.
"I was a naughty boy," he said in an interview with Jewish Educational Media.
"You have the freedom to decide whether you wish to continue your work in Australia," the Rebbe wrote to Devorah Groner in 1960. "The important thing is that if the task is to be done successfully, the work must be carried on willingly, without compulsion and without considering it as penal servitude or deportation."
When the Groners arrived, the Melbourne community was debating if it should open a Jewish day school. Groner recalled that at the time, he viewed the school as "the only thing that will preserve any Judaism in the community."
An anecdote relayed at the dinner honoring his 80th birthday captured Groner's focus on education as the foundation of society: One year, the Chabad institutions in Melbourne were facing bankruptcy and the Commonwealth Bank was threatening to foreclose on their headquarters' mortgage.
A number of community officials and business figures scheduled a meeting with David Murray, the head of the Commonwealth Bank. Many of them knew Murray personally, and they trusted that he would be swayed by their argument that their day school was vitally important for the Jewish community.
Murray, however, was accompanied by a man commonly known as John "the Hatchet" Edwards, who was in charge of bad accounts and chaired the meeting. Right at the outset, Edwards made it known that he was an atheist who harbored no sympathy for any religion. On the contrary, he thought that organized religion was the bane of society, and that everyone would be better off if children went only to public schools.
As far as Edwards was concerned, the yeshiva was nothing more than a client, and a particularly bad client at that. If the school couldn't pay, it would face the same fate as any other business in default.
After about a minute, Groner – a very big man – got up to address Edwards, something the businessmen at the table were unable, or unwilling, to do.
"Hello," he said. "Your name is John. My name is Isaac. How do you do?"
With that, Groner placed his hands on Edwards' shoulders.
"I don't think you understand what we do here," he said. "We make mentschen. Do you know what a mentsch is? A mentsch is a person who has respect for all other human beings. A mentsch is a person who cares about others. A mensch is a person who is a good civic citizen. Australia needs mentschen, and we produce them."
Groner and the other officials walked out of that meeting with a compromise deal. Today, a chain of similar schools operates across Australia. Over the years, they have trained a whole generation of Orthodox rabbis who occupy the pulpits of synagogues across the city and the rest of Australia.
Groner's "life was education," said Rabbi Shimshon Yurkowicz, co-director of Chabad-Lubavitch of Malvern with Groner's daughter Rivkah. "Even in the hospital, he was involved in the day-to-day activities of the Yeshiva Centre."
Leibler noted that Groner regularly counseled hundreds of visitors seeking advice and answers to complex questions in Jewish law.
"Although unyielding on halachic principles," said Leibler, "he exemplified the best traditions of Chabad outreach and compassion. Despite his towering presence and erudition, he was a modest man who spurned materialism and inspired a love and respect by all sections of the community, non-observant as well as religious."
"Today the Lubavitchers are the most dynamic influence on Australian Judaism," said Danby, giving the credit to Groner. "He is a great scholar, a great preacher, a great educator and a great inspiration to all who meet him. His influence reaches far beyond the Lubavitcher community into all corners of Australian life, and even an imperfectly observant Jew like me has felt his inspiration."
On the occasion of his 80th birthday, Groner paused for a moment to reflect on the sea change in Australian Jewish life.
"It causes me a certain satisfaction," he remarked. "But by the same token, it causes me a certain feeling that it wasn't accomplished enough, and we have to go ahead.
"The Rebbe was never satisfied to rest on his laurels," he continued. "He always pushed for more and more."
He added that he felt the most satisfaction when he could "help other people, because the whole community comes here."
"If I can help them both in a spiritual way and in an educational way, and in a moral way and in a physical way," he said, "that's my greatest satisfaction."
At his request, Groner will be buried in Israel. He is survived by eight children, as well as dozens of grandchildren and great-grandchildren.
___________________________________________________________________________________
 |
| David Kramer - Convicted Sex Offender |
The Awareness Center - July 14, 2008
(St. Louis) June 26, 2008 -- David Kramer pled guilty to 2 counts of sexual molestation of a minor and was sentenced to 7 years in prison.
Below is a portion of the remarks made by the victim's father as part of the Impact Statement that was stated before the judge. The father felt that these remarks were worthy for the broader Jewish community to hear.
...this sentence sends an important and much needed message to the Jewish community, and society at large: namely; there shall be zero tolerance of sexual abuse and molestation of children. We the parents, leaders and clergy have to stand up for our children, and put our children first. Certain rabbis can't continue to shield predators. Parents have to report predators who assault their children. People in the Orthodox community must know: molestation is wrong and evil. Instead of the focus being on raising money for high priced attorneys to defend the predators --- let's support our children and put them first.
As a reaction to the case of David Kramer, Rabbi Ze'ev Smason was involved in the creation o of 'Our Precious Children' -- a non-profit organization dedicated to helping Jewish survivors of child sexual abuse in the St. Louis area.
Rabbi Smason shared:
I was stunned both by the community resources and money that were gathered and collected for David Kramer and his defense fund AND the deafening silence when it came to verbal and monetary support for the child survivor, his family, and Our Precious Children. The family told me that every morsel of support that they did receive, though, was greatly appreciated. Now that the sentence has been handed down, we're all hopeful that there's a degree of closure and the child survivor and family can move on.
There are other cases of sexual abuse and sex offenders here in our community. The obstinance of parents and clergy is stunning. For example, I warned one family who often hosts a certain "alleged" sex offender who was kicked out of his home by his wife. The husband of this host family said, 'we'll continue to keep having him over as a guest. I watch him carefully, and he doesn't show any interest in my children.' In another case, a family I know whose daughter was molested didn't report the abuse because ''our rabbi told us not to report it."
The needs of the survivor and family require support both for rape crisis counseling, as well as encouragement from the community to let the survivors know that they are not alone.
The Awareness Center often hears similar stories shared by Rabbi Smason in Jewish communities throughout the world.
Both The Awareness Center and Our Precious Children need your help so that we can continue to do the work we do.
If you would like to show your financial support to either or both organizations go to:
The Awareness Center, Inc.
Our Precious Children (St. Louis, MO)
___________________________________________________________________________________
Former Melbourne Jewish school teacher jailed in the United States
By NAOMI LEVIN
Australian Jewish News - October 16, 2008
A FORMER Yeshivah College teacher pleaded guilty to two counts of child molestation and was sentenced to a seven-year prison term in the United States, The AJN learnt this week.
David Kramer was jailed in St Louis, Missouri, in July, after a local psychologist and the community's rabbi raised concerns about his conduct.
Former Yeshivah College principal Rabbi Avrohom Glick confirmed this week, that for a short time in the early 1990s, Kramer had taught Jewish studies to boys in years 5 to 8. It is understood Kramer was asked to leave the school, and the country, immediately following an alleged incident, which was not formally investigated.
Yeshivah-Beth Rivkah Colleges general manager Nechama Bendet told The AJN this week that the school has since implemented rigorous protocols to prevent inappropriate behaviour.
"Any allegations of misconduct would be taken very seriously by the school and immediately reported to the appropriate authorities," she said.
She added that the school was fully compliant with the Working with Children Check requirements – a government policy that helps protect children from physical and sexual abuse – as well as the mandatory reporting legislation.
There are also policies in place on appropriate communication between teachers and students within and outside of school hours, and classroom doors have been fitted with windows. In addition, students have been taught to understand their rights to be safe and to develop strategies to avoid inappropriate behaviour.
"The Yeshivah-Beth Rivkah Colleges will act without hesitation to ensure the maintenance of a child-safe environment at all times," Bendet said.
Rabbinical Council of Victoria president Rabbi Meir Shlomo Kluwgant also emphasised that schools are better equipped now to deal with complaints about teachers.
"Schools are more vigilant and teachers know what to look for," Rabbi Kluwgant said.
Kramer was working as a volunteer youth leader at the Nusach Hari B'nai Zion Synagogue in St Louis, when Rabbi Ze'ev Smason – who was leading the congregation – developed concerns after discussions with members of the synagogue.
"I met with him to tell him that he would be restricted from any further contact with youngsters within our congregation," Rabbi Smason told The AJN from the United States. "I also contacted the local government abuse hotline to register my concern.
"When my concerns ... intensified, I told him that he would no longer be welcome to attend our synagogue, nor would he be welcome to participate in any of our programs."
Rabbi Smason described Kramer as likeable and personable and said that this made it somewhat difficult to confront him.
"However, it was a no-brainer that I had an obligation to speak with him immediately upon hearing concerns expressed by families in my congregation," he said.
Rabbi Smason added that all rabbis have a legal, moral and religious obligation to protect children at risk.
"To do anything less is a dereliction of the duty we as rabbis have been entrusted with. Our children's safety comes before any other consideration."
The United States-based Awareness Centre, also known as the International Jewish Coalition against Sexual Abuse/Assault, reported details of an impact statement presented in court by the victim's father during Kramer's trial.
"This sentence sends an important and much needed message to the Jewish community and society at large, namely, there shall be zero tolerance of sexual abuse and molestation of children," the statement excerpt reads. "We, the parents, leaders and clergy, have to stand up for our children and put our children first."
___________________________________________________________________________________
A HERO - Rabbi Ze'ev Smason on the Case of David Kramer
The Awareness Center's Daily Newsletter - October 20, 2008
Rabbi Ze'ev Smason is a long time friend of The Awareness Center. Actually he was our first halachic advisor back in 2001. With his permission it is a great honor that I'm sharing the following comments he made regarding the case of David Kramer.
The case of David Kramer first broke in his community last year. It's turning out that David Kramer traveled the world. He not only left victims in not only St. Louis and Australia, but there are rumors that he also left victims in Israel, also possibly in Argentina.
The next time you see Rabbi Smason, please stand up and give him a round of applause. He is definitely a friend to every Jewish survivor of childhood sexual abuse and their family members.
Dear parents of school age and pre-school age children
The Awareness Center's Daily Newsletter - November 11, 2008
The following letter was sent to The Awareness Center
Regarding Yeshvah in Melbourne Australia regarding the case of David Kramer
By NAOMI LEVIN
Australian Jewish News - October 16, 2008
A FORMER Yeshivah College teacher pleaded guilty to two counts of child molestation and was sentenced to a seven-year prison term in the United States, The AJN learnt this week.
David Kramer was jailed in St Louis, Missouri, in July, after a local psychologist and the community's rabbi raised concerns about his conduct.
Former Yeshivah College principal Rabbi Avrohom Glick confirmed this week, that for a short time in the early 1990s, Kramer had taught Jewish studies to boys in years 5 to 8. It is understood Kramer was asked to leave the school, and the country, immediately following an alleged incident, which was not formally investigated.
Yeshivah-Beth Rivkah Colleges general manager Nechama Bendet told The AJN this week that the school has since implemented rigorous protocols to prevent inappropriate behaviour.
"Any allegations of misconduct would be taken very seriously by the school and immediately reported to the appropriate authorities," she said.
She added that the school was fully compliant with the Working with Children Check requirements – a government policy that helps protect children from physical and sexual abuse – as well as the mandatory reporting legislation.
There are also policies in place on appropriate communication between teachers and students within and outside of school hours, and classroom doors have been fitted with windows. In addition, students have been taught to understand their rights to be safe and to develop strategies to avoid inappropriate behaviour.
"The Yeshivah-Beth Rivkah Colleges will act without hesitation to ensure the maintenance of a child-safe environment at all times," Bendet said.
Rabbinical Council of Victoria president Rabbi Meir Shlomo Kluwgant also emphasised that schools are better equipped now to deal with complaints about teachers.
"Schools are more vigilant and teachers know what to look for," Rabbi Kluwgant said.
Kramer was working as a volunteer youth leader at the Nusach Hari B'nai Zion Synagogue in St Louis, when Rabbi Ze'ev Smason – who was leading the congregation – developed concerns after discussions with members of the synagogue.
"I met with him to tell him that he would be restricted from any further contact with youngsters within our congregation," Rabbi Smason told The AJN from the United States. "I also contacted the local government abuse hotline to register my concern.
"When my concerns ... intensified, I told him that he would no longer be welcome to attend our synagogue, nor would he be welcome to participate in any of our programs."
Rabbi Smason described Kramer as likeable and personable and said that this made it somewhat difficult to confront him.
"However, it was a no-brainer that I had an obligation to speak with him immediately upon hearing concerns expressed by families in my congregation," he said.
Rabbi Smason added that all rabbis have a legal, moral and religious obligation to protect children at risk.
"To do anything less is a dereliction of the duty we as rabbis have been entrusted with. Our children's safety comes before any other consideration."
The United States-based Awareness Centre, also known as the International Jewish Coalition against Sexual Abuse/Assault, reported details of an impact statement presented in court by the victim's father during Kramer's trial.
"This sentence sends an important and much needed message to the Jewish community and society at large, namely, there shall be zero tolerance of sexual abuse and molestation of children," the statement excerpt reads. "We, the parents, leaders and clergy, have to stand up for our children and put our children first."
___________________________________________________________________________________
The Awareness Center's Daily Newsletter - October 20, 2008
Rabbi Ze'ev Smason is a long time friend of The Awareness Center. Actually he was our first halachic advisor back in 2001. With his permission it is a great honor that I'm sharing the following comments he made regarding the case of David Kramer.
The case of David Kramer first broke in his community last year. It's turning out that David Kramer traveled the world. He not only left victims in not only St. Louis and Australia, but there are rumors that he also left victims in Israel, also possibly in Argentina.
The next time you see Rabbi Smason, please stand up and give him a round of applause. He is definitely a friend to every Jewish survivor of childhood sexual abuse and their family members.
Rabbi Ze'ev Smason on the Case of David Kramer___________________________________________________________________________________
The Kramer case provides a great opportunity to trace the failure of segments of the Jewish community to their source. If only the problem had been addressed in Australia (or Israel, or Argentina), the victim in St. Louis and countless others would have been spared suffering. If the process through which the problem was 'punted' to Israel, Argentina and St. Louis can be identified -- not only will those responsible for their dereliction of duty be held accountable, but such an occurrence will be less likely to take place in the future in other parts of the Jewish world. When rabbis and school officials see that there's no 'statute of limitations' on the problems they should have addressed, they may think twice before they pass toxic waste on to the next community.
Our tradition teaches that those who are kind to the cruel, are ultimately cruel to those who are kind. The 'kindness' of those who deliberately or negligently refrained from acting when they had the opportunity to put DK away perpetrated a terrible act of cruelty on his later victims. Let's find out what happened with the intention of not letting this happen again
Rabbi Ze'ev Smason
Nusach Hari B'nai Zion
http://www.nhbz.org/
The Awareness Center's Daily Newsletter - November 11, 2008
The following letter was sent to The Awareness Center
Regarding Yeshvah in Melbourne Australia regarding the case of David Kramer
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Dear parents of school age and pre-school age children,
Is your child safe at school and at pre-school?
Recently the story of David Kramer who taught at Yeshvah in the early 1990̢۪s made international headlines. Criticism of Yeshivah was scathing because they did not report allegations of abuse that were made against David Kramer, instead they asked him to leave the school and allegedly arranged for him to go to Israel. He later went to Argentina and the US.
If only the problem had been addressed in Australia (or Israel or Argentina) the victim in St Louis and countless others would have been spared suffering. (Rabbi Ze̢۪ev Smason)
Over the next 18 years (approx) David Kramer continued to abuse children until Rabbi Smason in St Louis, USA reported allegations of assault that took place while David Kramer was working voluntarily in a Youth Program and he was convicted earlier this year. David Kramer is now in jail.
It is a massive tragedy, unimaginable in scale because hundreds of children could have been abused by this type of serial (or fixated) offender. Thirty Australian victims of David Kramer recently came forward for the first time. There are so many children who have lived in silence with the invisible injuries, deep pain and psychological impacts of the abuse.
Surely current decision makers regret past mistakes and are doing all that is possible to prevent, recognize and react responsibly to the abuse. Sadly, they are not!! Yeshivah leaders and a recent AJN Editorial assure us that the chances of it happening again are very remote – not only in Yeshivah but in all Jewish schools except Adass. !!!
The truth is that the chances of it happening again are highly likely
To suggest otherwise sends a message to offenders that our schools are easy targets. Children are abused in environments that deny or minimise the risks.
People who abuse children are drawn to settings where they can gain easy access to children such as schools. Most cases of sexual misconduct in the classroom go undisclosed and unreported.
Victims are silenced by guilt and shame. It remains a huge risk and we have to be conscious of it, we have to implement comprehensive polices to minmise risk and then we need to stay alert. We need to support and educate teachers and parents to respond if they have concerns and for this teachers and parents need education about the abuse.
For those who think it has never been a problem in their school. Who remembers Mt Scopus geography teacher John Kosky? (Aka Jonathan Kaye)? He was convicted of organising child sex tour in Thailand: Sentenced in 2003 to 6years jail/ 3years non parole).
Our schools rely on the Jewish Taskforce (with Jewish Care) for advice about CSA and they are also the voice for our children.
Why didn̢۪t they respond to the recent public discussion about David Kramer and warn the community about the real risks to our children?
We can̢۪t rely on The Jewish Taskforce to lead the response to CSA.
The Jewish Taskforce are largely volunteers and not professionally qualified. They ‘discovered’ the problem of CSA in 2005, yet they are making decisions about a very complex issue that requires specialist knowledge.
There are many concerns with their campaign;
The Jewish Taskforce deliberately stopped the only known cure for CSA - prevention through education and they have effectively prevented Jewish parents from learning about CSA. The Taskforce asked the NCJW to withdraw their support for a community education initiative because they wanted one unified response to CSA in the Jewish community. Our community should not assume that The Jewish Taskforce is delivering the best response just because of the drastic steps they took to ensure that the campaign appears to be unified and appears to represent all members of our Jewish community when it does not.
The focus of their campaign is to respond to victims after abuse has occurred. They do not focus on prevention i.e. avoiding the harm and avoiding the need to respond to victims. The benefits of prevention are obvious and both measures should be implemented.
The current initiative and public debate about CSA is dominated by issues of the Orthodox community, However CSA is a threat to all our children, the majority of whom do not come from Orthodox families.
References: The Australian Jewish News (AJN) Friday October 17, 2008. Former Melbourne Jewish school teacher jailed in the Unites States p. 3. (AJN) Friday October 17, 2008 Editorial A Lesson Learned p.18
Parents you need to take responsibility for your children.
Learn about CSA
So that you know what it is, its prevalence and how it occurs. If you understand the problem you are less likely to be misled.
Make your school accountable. Lobby and insist on change
Don't assume that your school has a child protection policy and code of conduct in place. Ask your school if they do. Ask for a copy. If they don̢۪t have one insist that they develop one. After you have learned about CSA you will know what to look for and how to assess child protection policies.
We are a not-for-profit organisation established for one reason, Primary Prevention of CSA.
COME TO A 2 ? HOUR WORKSHOP TO LEARN HOW TO MAKE SURE YOUR CHILD IS SAFE AT SCHOOL
Please visit www.preventchildabuse.org.au and learn about how you can protect your children
Or contact us on to attend a workshop: preventchildabuseaustralia@gmail.com
___________________________________________________________________________________
Secrecy over Victorian sex crime teacher
AAP - June 22, 2011
VICTORIAN police hope to meet with Jewish community leaders this week seeking their approval for former students of an orthodox religious college to come forward over alleged sexual abuse by a runaway teacher.
The Age says that a wall of secrecy has been put up at the Yeshivah College in East St Kilda over allegations of sex crimes by former teacher David Kramer who is now behind bars in the US.
Kramer, 50, fled Australia in the early 1990s after accusations from parents that he had sexually abused their sons at the orthodox Jewish school.
The school did not report the complaints to police.
Parents who have spoken to the newspaper say they risked being thrown out of the school if they told police.
Kramer was jailed in the US in 2007 for molesting a 12-year-old boy while conducting a youth program at a St Louis synagogue.
The Age says Victoria Police hope to extradite Kramer when he is released from prison, with the earliest parole date April next year.
___________________________________________________________________________________
School's sex abuse secret probed
By Jewel Topsfield
The Age - June 22, 2011
POLICE are trying to breach a wall of secrecy at a private boys school in St Kilda East over allegations of sex crimes by a former teacher who is now in jail in the United States.
David Kramer fled Australia in the early 1990s after accusations from parents that he had sexually abused boys at Yeshivah College, an Orthodox Jewish school. The school did not report the complaints to police.
Former students, who have spoken to The Age on condition of anonymity, said the allegations were covered up by the school. ''Parents were threatened they would be thrown out of the school if they told police,'' one said.
David Kramer fled Australia in the early 1990s after teaching at Yeshivah College.
However, several alleged victims have come forward after Kramer, 50, was jailed for seven years in the US for molesting a 12-year-old boy while conducting a youth program at a synagogue in St Louis in 2007.
Kramer pleaded guilty to one count of sodomy of a child under 14 and one count of sexual misconduct. The Ageunderstands Victoria Police hopes to extradite him when he is released, with the earliest parole date April next year.
Rabbi Ze'ev Smason, who alerted police in Missouri after the boy's family told him something inappropriate had occurred, said: ''The Kramer case provides a great opportunity to trace the failure of segments of the Jewish community to their source.
''If only the problem had been addressed in Australia … the victim in St Louis and countless others would have been spared suffering,'' he wrote in 2008.
Speaking from the US last night, Rabbi Smason said individuals had a religious, ethical and moral obligation to ensure a person who committed a crime could not do so again.
''If there were other victims, any religious authorities who did not step forward enabled him [Kramer] to commit such crimes,'' he said. ''To a degree, an individual who could prevent evil from happening is responsible when it occurs - that's a pretty heavy spiritual burden to carry.''
Police have written to former Yeshivah College students urging them to contact Crime Stoppers if they were assaulted or witnessed an assault between 1989 and 1993. ''Yeshivah College is aware of this request and are assisting Victoria Police in this investigation,'' the letter said.
However, parents said many alleged victims were still reluctant to speak out because they were afraid of being ostracised. ''If you are labelled an informer it gives the family a bad name and makes it hard for children to get married,'' a former Yeshivah College student told The Age. ''The issue is not just about the sexual abuse investigation, it is about the culture that enables it.''
Police officers are expected to meet Jewish community leaders this week and ask them to give their imprimatur for victims to speak to the police.
The Rabbinical Council of Victoria last year issued a statement affirming that the prohibitions of mesirah (reporting crimes to the civil authorities) did not apply in cases of abuse. Mesirah, which means to inform on a Jew to secular authorities, is proscribed under Jewish law.
But the Rabbinical Council of Victoria's immediate past president, Rabbi Meir Shlomo Kluwgant, said the council had said ''time and time again'' there were no prohibitions on reporting domestic violence or sexual abuse to the police.
In an email to members of the Jewish community, Yeshivah College parent Menachem Vorchheimer said many in the community had been aware of the allegations for an extended period. ''It is not time to judge the past errors, rather it is the time to set things right,'' Mr Vorchheimer wrote. ''As a community we must have the courage and dignity to unite and ensure a full, thorough and proper investigation is conducted, and those who took advantage of our community's children are held to account. Ongoing silence is not an option.''
The Age understands teachers at the school were divided at the time over whether to report the accusations. Rabbi Yitzchok Dovid Groner was the head of Yeshivah College at the time.
Yeshivah College general manager Nechama Bendet said the school now ''absolutely'' encouraged victims or witnesses to come forward. She said the school fully complied with ''working with children'' checks and had protocols governing communications between students and teachers.
She said Yeshivah College had also implemented safety measures such as transparent classroom doors and taught resiliency programs where students were informed of their rights and told to report any inappropriate behaviour.
Asked why the claims had not been reported at the time, Ms Bendet said: ''My understanding is that it was prior to mandatory reporting. I can't speak for why the victims didn't step forward at the time.''
___________________________________________________________________________________
Law firm offers free advice on sex-abuse claims
Jewel Topsfield
The Age - July 28, 2011
PROMINENT human rights lawyer George Newhouse has offered to give free legal advice to alleged victims of sexual abuse at Yeshivah College over whether they can sue for damages.
Mr Newhouse and Shine Lawyers - who have acted for dozens of people in high-profile sex abuse cases against the Anglican Church - have assembled an expert team to work with the alleged victims in the Jewish community.
Mr Newhouse said the legal team was separate from any criminal proceedings that might arise.
''The most common avenue is for a civil case to be brought against the perpetrator and the perpetrator's employer for damages for assault, breach of contract, breach of fiduciary duty and negligence,'' he said.
Police are investigating alleged assaults at Yeshivah College in St Kilda East, including claims against former Jewish studies teacher David Kramer, who fled Australia in the early 1990s after parents complained he had sexually abused boys.
Yeshivah College, which did not report the complaints to police, was accused of covering up the scandal.
Mr Newhouse said the most important issue in bringing a civil claim was that strict time limits applied. ''Often well-meaning people do nothing while they await the outcomes of criminal action,'' he said.
''Later when they decide to make a claim, they discover they have a time limitation problem.''
Mr Newhouse represented Australian citizen Vivian Alvarez Solon, who was awarded about $4.5 million in compensation in 2006, after she was unlawfully removed to the Philippines when an immigration officer wrongly presumed she was a sex slave and an illegal immigrant.
He said he asked Shine Lawyers to help with the Yeshivah allegations because they had been involved in prosecuting civil cases for sexual assaults at schools including Brisbane Grammar School, St Paul's School and Brisbane Boys College. In 2001, Shine Lawyers acted for a former schoolgirl at Toowoomba Preparatory School who was abused by a boarding house master.
The case led to a record $834,000 payout and the resignation of former governor-general Peter Hollingworth, who was the Anglican Archbishop of Brisbane at the time.
Shine Lawyers partner Stephen Roche said his experience of sex abuse cases suggested the patterns of behaviour were usually quite similar. ''For example, in many cases there is usually a denial by the institution that it had any knowledge of any impropriety,'' he said.
''Of course, the onus is on the victim to prove that the school or institution knew, or ought to have known, that the abuse was occurring. In some cases they knew and did nothing. In many cases they ought to have known and chose to ignore the obvious signs.''
Jewish community leader Manny Waks, who was allegedly abused while a student at Yeshivah College, said his mind was focused solely on any criminal case that would result in an arrest.
''My primary motives in going public about this is to obtain justice for the victims, including for those who are still hesitating to go to the police,'' Mr Waks said. He welcomed any support that a law firm would be willing to offer victims and their families.
___________________________________________________________________________________
Dear parents of school age and pre-school age children,
Is your child safe at school and at pre-school?
Recently the story of David Kramer who taught at Yeshvah in the early 1990̢۪s made international headlines. Criticism of Yeshivah was scathing because they did not report allegations of abuse that were made against David Kramer, instead they asked him to leave the school and allegedly arranged for him to go to Israel. He later went to Argentina and the US.
If only the problem had been addressed in Australia (or Israel or Argentina) the victim in St Louis and countless others would have been spared suffering. (Rabbi Ze̢۪ev Smason)
Over the next 18 years (approx) David Kramer continued to abuse children until Rabbi Smason in St Louis, USA reported allegations of assault that took place while David Kramer was working voluntarily in a Youth Program and he was convicted earlier this year. David Kramer is now in jail.
It is a massive tragedy, unimaginable in scale because hundreds of children could have been abused by this type of serial (or fixated) offender. Thirty Australian victims of David Kramer recently came forward for the first time. There are so many children who have lived in silence with the invisible injuries, deep pain and psychological impacts of the abuse.
Surely current decision makers regret past mistakes and are doing all that is possible to prevent, recognize and react responsibly to the abuse. Sadly, they are not!! Yeshivah leaders and a recent AJN Editorial assure us that the chances of it happening again are very remote – not only in Yeshivah but in all Jewish schools except Adass. !!!
The truth is that the chances of it happening again are highly likely
To suggest otherwise sends a message to offenders that our schools are easy targets. Children are abused in environments that deny or minimise the risks.
People who abuse children are drawn to settings where they can gain easy access to children such as schools. Most cases of sexual misconduct in the classroom go undisclosed and unreported.
Victims are silenced by guilt and shame. It remains a huge risk and we have to be conscious of it, we have to implement comprehensive polices to minmise risk and then we need to stay alert. We need to support and educate teachers and parents to respond if they have concerns and for this teachers and parents need education about the abuse.
For those who think it has never been a problem in their school. Who remembers Mt Scopus geography teacher John Kosky? (Aka Jonathan Kaye)? He was convicted of organising child sex tour in Thailand: Sentenced in 2003 to 6years jail/ 3years non parole).
Our schools rely on the Jewish Taskforce (with Jewish Care) for advice about CSA and they are also the voice for our children.
Why didn̢۪t they respond to the recent public discussion about David Kramer and warn the community about the real risks to our children?
We can̢۪t rely on The Jewish Taskforce to lead the response to CSA.
The Jewish Taskforce are largely volunteers and not professionally qualified. They ‘discovered’ the problem of CSA in 2005, yet they are making decisions about a very complex issue that requires specialist knowledge.
There are many concerns with their campaign;
The Jewish Taskforce deliberately stopped the only known cure for CSA - prevention through education and they have effectively prevented Jewish parents from learning about CSA. The Taskforce asked the NCJW to withdraw their support for a community education initiative because they wanted one unified response to CSA in the Jewish community. Our community should not assume that The Jewish Taskforce is delivering the best response just because of the drastic steps they took to ensure that the campaign appears to be unified and appears to represent all members of our Jewish community when it does not.
The focus of their campaign is to respond to victims after abuse has occurred. They do not focus on prevention i.e. avoiding the harm and avoiding the need to respond to victims. The benefits of prevention are obvious and both measures should be implemented.
The current initiative and public debate about CSA is dominated by issues of the Orthodox community, However CSA is a threat to all our children, the majority of whom do not come from Orthodox families.
References: The Australian Jewish News (AJN) Friday October 17, 2008. Former Melbourne Jewish school teacher jailed in the Unites States p. 3. (AJN) Friday October 17, 2008 Editorial A Lesson Learned p.18
Parents you need to take responsibility for your children.
Learn about CSA
So that you know what it is, its prevalence and how it occurs. If you understand the problem you are less likely to be misled.
Make your school accountable. Lobby and insist on change
Don't assume that your school has a child protection policy and code of conduct in place. Ask your school if they do. Ask for a copy. If they don̢۪t have one insist that they develop one. After you have learned about CSA you will know what to look for and how to assess child protection policies.
We are a not-for-profit organisation established for one reason, Primary Prevention of CSA.
COME TO A 2 ? HOUR WORKSHOP TO LEARN HOW TO MAKE SURE YOUR CHILD IS SAFE AT SCHOOL
Please visit www.preventchildabuse.org.au and learn about how you can protect your children
Or contact us on to attend a workshop: preventchildabuseaustralia@gmail.com
___________________________________________________________________________________
AAP - June 22, 2011
VICTORIAN police hope to meet with Jewish community leaders this week seeking their approval for former students of an orthodox religious college to come forward over alleged sexual abuse by a runaway teacher.
The Age says that a wall of secrecy has been put up at the Yeshivah College in East St Kilda over allegations of sex crimes by former teacher David Kramer who is now behind bars in the US.
Kramer, 50, fled Australia in the early 1990s after accusations from parents that he had sexually abused their sons at the orthodox Jewish school.
The school did not report the complaints to police.
Parents who have spoken to the newspaper say they risked being thrown out of the school if they told police.
Kramer was jailed in the US in 2007 for molesting a 12-year-old boy while conducting a youth program at a St Louis synagogue.
The Age says Victoria Police hope to extradite Kramer when he is released from prison, with the earliest parole date April next year.
___________________________________________________________________________________
By Jewel Topsfield
The Age - June 22, 2011
David Kramer fled Australia in the early 1990s after accusations from parents that he had sexually abused boys at Yeshivah College, an Orthodox Jewish school. The school did not report the complaints to police.
Former students, who have spoken to The Age on condition of anonymity, said the allegations were covered up by the school. ''Parents were threatened they would be thrown out of the school if they told police,'' one said.
David Kramer fled Australia in the early 1990s after teaching at Yeshivah College.
However, several alleged victims have come forward after Kramer, 50, was jailed for seven years in the US for molesting a 12-year-old boy while conducting a youth program at a synagogue in St Louis in 2007.
Kramer pleaded guilty to one count of sodomy of a child under 14 and one count of sexual misconduct. The Ageunderstands Victoria Police hopes to extradite him when he is released, with the earliest parole date April next year.
Rabbi Ze'ev Smason, who alerted police in Missouri after the boy's family told him something inappropriate had occurred, said: ''The Kramer case provides a great opportunity to trace the failure of segments of the Jewish community to their source.
''If only the problem had been addressed in Australia … the victim in St Louis and countless others would have been spared suffering,'' he wrote in 2008.
Speaking from the US last night, Rabbi Smason said individuals had a religious, ethical and moral obligation to ensure a person who committed a crime could not do so again.
''If there were other victims, any religious authorities who did not step forward enabled him [Kramer] to commit such crimes,'' he said. ''To a degree, an individual who could prevent evil from happening is responsible when it occurs - that's a pretty heavy spiritual burden to carry.''
However, parents said many alleged victims were still reluctant to speak out because they were afraid of being ostracised. ''If you are labelled an informer it gives the family a bad name and makes it hard for children to get married,'' a former Yeshivah College student told The Age. ''The issue is not just about the sexual abuse investigation, it is about the culture that enables it.''
Police officers are expected to meet Jewish community leaders this week and ask them to give their imprimatur for victims to speak to the police.
The Rabbinical Council of Victoria last year issued a statement affirming that the prohibitions of mesirah (reporting crimes to the civil authorities) did not apply in cases of abuse. Mesirah, which means to inform on a Jew to secular authorities, is proscribed under Jewish law.
But the Rabbinical Council of Victoria's immediate past president, Rabbi Meir Shlomo Kluwgant, said the council had said ''time and time again'' there were no prohibitions on reporting domestic violence or sexual abuse to the police.
In an email to members of the Jewish community, Yeshivah College parent Menachem Vorchheimer said many in the community had been aware of the allegations for an extended period. ''It is not time to judge the past errors, rather it is the time to set things right,'' Mr Vorchheimer wrote. ''As a community we must have the courage and dignity to unite and ensure a full, thorough and proper investigation is conducted, and those who took advantage of our community's children are held to account. Ongoing silence is not an option.''
The Age understands teachers at the school were divided at the time over whether to report the accusations. Rabbi Yitzchok Dovid Groner was the head of Yeshivah College at the time.
Yeshivah College general manager Nechama Bendet said the school now ''absolutely'' encouraged victims or witnesses to come forward. She said the school fully complied with ''working with children'' checks and had protocols governing communications between students and teachers.
She said Yeshivah College had also implemented safety measures such as transparent classroom doors and taught resiliency programs where students were informed of their rights and told to report any inappropriate behaviour.
Asked why the claims had not been reported at the time, Ms Bendet said: ''My understanding is that it was prior to mandatory reporting. I can't speak for why the victims didn't step forward at the time.''
___________________________________________________________________________________
Jewel Topsfield
The Age - July 28, 2011
PROMINENT human rights lawyer George Newhouse has offered to give free legal advice to alleged victims of sexual abuse at Yeshivah College over whether they can sue for damages.
Mr Newhouse and Shine Lawyers - who have acted for dozens of people in high-profile sex abuse cases against the Anglican Church - have assembled an expert team to work with the alleged victims in the Jewish community.
Mr Newhouse said the legal team was separate from any criminal proceedings that might arise.
''The most common avenue is for a civil case to be brought against the perpetrator and the perpetrator's employer for damages for assault, breach of contract, breach of fiduciary duty and negligence,'' he said.
Police are investigating alleged assaults at Yeshivah College in St Kilda East, including claims against former Jewish studies teacher David Kramer, who fled Australia in the early 1990s after parents complained he had sexually abused boys.
Yeshivah College, which did not report the complaints to police, was accused of covering up the scandal.
Mr Newhouse said the most important issue in bringing a civil claim was that strict time limits applied. ''Often well-meaning people do nothing while they await the outcomes of criminal action,'' he said.
''Later when they decide to make a claim, they discover they have a time limitation problem.''
Mr Newhouse represented Australian citizen Vivian Alvarez Solon, who was awarded about $4.5 million in compensation in 2006, after she was unlawfully removed to the Philippines when an immigration officer wrongly presumed she was a sex slave and an illegal immigrant.
He said he asked Shine Lawyers to help with the Yeshivah allegations because they had been involved in prosecuting civil cases for sexual assaults at schools including Brisbane Grammar School, St Paul's School and Brisbane Boys College. In 2001, Shine Lawyers acted for a former schoolgirl at Toowoomba Preparatory School who was abused by a boarding house master.
The case led to a record $834,000 payout and the resignation of former governor-general Peter Hollingworth, who was the Anglican Archbishop of Brisbane at the time.
Shine Lawyers partner Stephen Roche said his experience of sex abuse cases suggested the patterns of behaviour were usually quite similar. ''For example, in many cases there is usually a denial by the institution that it had any knowledge of any impropriety,'' he said.
''Of course, the onus is on the victim to prove that the school or institution knew, or ought to have known, that the abuse was occurring. In some cases they knew and did nothing. In many cases they ought to have known and chose to ignore the obvious signs.''
Jewish community leader Manny Waks, who was allegedly abused while a student at Yeshivah College, said his mind was focused solely on any criminal case that would result in an arrest.
''My primary motives in going public about this is to obtain justice for the victims, including for those who are still hesitating to go to the police,'' Mr Waks said. He welcomed any support that a law firm would be willing to offer victims and their families.
___________________________________________________________________________________
Clarification - the Case of David Kramer
The Awareness Center's Daily Newsletter - October 19, 2008
The Awareness Center has been informed that David Kramer molested over 30 children in Australia 18-19 years ago. Instead of reporting the crimes to local law enforcement, the head rabbi of Australia sent Kramer to Emanuel, Israel. There are rumors that David Kramer molested more children in Israel.
At this time we do not know how long Kramer was in Israel or where he went next.
Last year David Kramer was arrested in St. Louis after molesting a young boy. Kramer was a volunteer youth leader at a local orthodox synagogue. Rabbi Ze'ev Smason confronted Kramer with the allegations and immedately reported the crime to the police. Kramer was convicted and is currently sitting in Missouri prison.
About a month ago someone connected to the Kramer case in Melbourne (from 18 -19 years ago) found The Awareness Center site on him. They wanted to do what ever they could to help the new child victim and their family. They were outraged to learn that someone like David Kramer would go under the radar for so long and be allowed to sexually violate a child once again.
The Awareness Center is working on putting the whole story together and are looking for survivors of Kramer. We want to make sure they are receiving the help they might need and the opportunity to have their voices heard.
Knowing David Kramer's profile, it's very unlikely he molested 20 years ago and then stopped until last year. Rumors are there are hundreds of children out there he molested.
If you or anyone you know was molested by David Kramer, please contact The Awareness Center at: VickiPolin@aol.com
___________________________________________________________________________________
The Awareness Center's Daily Newsletter - October 19, 2008
The Awareness Center has been informed that David Kramer molested over 30 children in Australia 18-19 years ago. Instead of reporting the crimes to local law enforcement, the head rabbi of Australia sent Kramer to Emanuel, Israel. There are rumors that David Kramer molested more children in Israel.
At this time we do not know how long Kramer was in Israel or where he went next.
Last year David Kramer was arrested in St. Louis after molesting a young boy. Kramer was a volunteer youth leader at a local orthodox synagogue. Rabbi Ze'ev Smason confronted Kramer with the allegations and immedately reported the crime to the police. Kramer was convicted and is currently sitting in Missouri prison.
About a month ago someone connected to the Kramer case in Melbourne (from 18 -19 years ago) found The Awareness Center site on him. They wanted to do what ever they could to help the new child victim and their family. They were outraged to learn that someone like David Kramer would go under the radar for so long and be allowed to sexually violate a child once again.
The Awareness Center is working on putting the whole story together and are looking for survivors of Kramer. We want to make sure they are receiving the help they might need and the opportunity to have their voices heard.
Knowing David Kramer's profile, it's very unlikely he molested 20 years ago and then stopped until last year. Rumors are there are hundreds of children out there he molested.
If you or anyone you know was molested by David Kramer, please contact The Awareness Center at: VickiPolin@aol.com
___________________________________________________________________________________
Fleeing Jewish school teacher jailed in US
By James Campbell
Herald Sun - October 19, 2008
October 17, 2008
By James Campbell
Herald Sun - October 19, 2008
A SECOND case has emerged of a teacher at a Jewish school fleeing Australia after allegations of inappropriate behaviour with students.
David Kramer - a former teacher at Yeshiva College in Caulfield - was jailed in July for seven years in St Louis, Missouri, US, after pleading guilty to two counts of child molestation.
Allegations were made in the 1990s that Kramer, now 47, had abused boys while teaching at Yeshiva.
He is understood to have been dismissed by the school and is claimed to have been asked to leave the country. The alleged incidents were not reported to the police.
Vicki Polin, of the US-based International Jewish Coalition Against Sexual Abuse/Assault, said she had been contacted by several former pupils and parents of the school.
"I have been told that Kramer abused over 30 boys in his time at Yeshiva," Ms Polin said.
She said when parents complained to the school, Yeshiva Centre head, Rabbi Yitzchok Dovid Groner - who died in July - told Kramer to leave.
"He paid for him to leave - he gave him a ticket," Ms Polin said.
Yeshiva College general manager Nechama Bendet confirmed the school employed Kramer in June 1989, but could not find records of when he left.
"We have robust policies in place to deal with these allegations," she said. "We take it very seriously."
In March, Malka Leifer, principal of Adass Israel Girls School in Elsternwick, fled Australia after being sacked over allegations of improper behaviour with girls in her care.
___________________________________________________________________________________
Missouri Department of CorrectionsDavid Kramer - a former teacher at Yeshiva College in Caulfield - was jailed in July for seven years in St Louis, Missouri, US, after pleading guilty to two counts of child molestation.
Allegations were made in the 1990s that Kramer, now 47, had abused boys while teaching at Yeshiva.
He is understood to have been dismissed by the school and is claimed to have been asked to leave the country. The alleged incidents were not reported to the police.
Vicki Polin, of the US-based International Jewish Coalition Against Sexual Abuse/Assault, said she had been contacted by several former pupils and parents of the school.
"I have been told that Kramer abused over 30 boys in his time at Yeshiva," Ms Polin said.
She said when parents complained to the school, Yeshiva Centre head, Rabbi Yitzchok Dovid Groner - who died in July - told Kramer to leave.
"He paid for him to leave - he gave him a ticket," Ms Polin said.
Yeshiva College general manager Nechama Bendet confirmed the school employed Kramer in June 1989, but could not find records of when he left.
"We have robust policies in place to deal with these allegations," she said. "We take it very seriously."
In March, Malka Leifer, principal of Adass Israel Girls School in Elsternwick, fled Australia after being sacked over allegations of improper behaviour with girls in her care.
___________________________________________________________________________________
October 17, 2008
https://web.mo.gov/doc/offSearchWeb/searchOffender.do
Offender data is current as of 10/17/2008 09:00 PM.
DOC Id 1180493
Offender Name David Kramer
Race White
Sex Male
Date of Birth 08/21/1960
Height/Weight 5'6" / 160
Hair/Eyes Brown /Blue
Assigned Location Eastern Reception Diagnostic Corr Center
Address 2727 Highway K, Bonne Terre, MO 63628
Assigned Officer Phone Number (573) 358-5516
Sentence Summary 7 Years (4, 7cc) Registration Required - Current Cycle
Active Offenses STAT SODOMY-1ST DEG-PERS UND 14;SEX MISCD/ATMP INVL CHLD-1ST OFNS
Completed Offenses Completed sentence not found
Aliases David Kramer
___________________________________________________________________________________
Child Sex-Abuse Scandal in Australia's Jewish Community Spills Into U.S.
Allegations Surface That Child Molesters Were Protected
By Paul Berger
Forward - February 17, 2012
A child sex abuse scandal in Australia’s Jewish community has spilled into America, as a pending extradition, arrests in Australia and a slew of cover-up allegations put that community’s response to molestation under scrutiny.
Australian police are seeking to extradite convicted child molester David Kramer, currently in jail in Farmington, Mo., on suspicion of having abused children at a Chabad school in Melbourne during the 1990s.
Kramer, who was reportedly spirited out of Australia by one of Melbourne’s Chabad leaders following abuse allegations, is halfway through a seven-year prison sentence for sodomizing a 12-year-old boy in St. Louis.
According to members of the Australian community, he is not the only molester to end up in the United States after Australian community leaders failed to report them to legal authorities. Other molesters fled the country more recently as suspicion of abuse fell on them, community members say.
The Forward has learned that at least two suspected molesters from the Australian Jewish community are living in the United States while they are under investigation in Australia.
Meanwhile, Manny Waks, a former vice president of the Executive Council of Australian Jewry, accused an Australian living in New York of molesting him when he was a boy.
Waks, 35, who has been the catalyst for revelations about the Melbourne abuse scandal, told the Forward he was molested by Velvel Serebryanski, son of a prominent Chabad rabbi, at two Melbourne synagogues during the late 1980s.
Listen to Paul Berger’s interview with Manny Waks about his personal experience of being abused.
Serebryanski, who goes by the name Zev Sero in New York, did not deny the allegations when a Forward reporter asked him about them at his Brooklyn home.
Serebryanski, 47, declined to speak on the record about the allegations. His father, Rabbi Aaron Serebryanski, is one of Chabad’s principal emissaries to Australia.
Waks claims that Serebryanski molested him on several occasions, including when he went to lie down during an all-night Shavuot study session in a synagogue at Melbourne’s Yeshivah Centre, a Chabad institution.
Waks said Serebryanski began to molest him in the synagogue and then said: “This isn’t for a place of worship. Let’s go outside.”
According to Waks, who was about 12 at the time, Serebryanski then led him into a nearby restroom.
The charges are contained in a police report that Waks filed in 1996.
In that same report, Waks details how he was also abused by David Cyprys, a Melbourne karate instructor.
Cyprys is about to stand trial in Australia on dozens of sex charges related to the abuse of 11 boys.
During a magistrates court hearing in Melbourne last year, Detective Senior Constable Lisa Metcher “accused members of the Yeshivah community of lying to police and trying to cover up sex abuse claims,” according to The Age, an Australian newspaper.
”They failed to act in any way to protect children,” the newspaper stated that Metcher told the court.
Waks went public last year with accusations that he was repeatedly molested while attending the Yeshivah Centre’s boys school, Yeshivah College.
His call for other victims to come forward shattered decades of denial. Press reports related how Victoria state police were inundated with testimony from young men who said they were abused.
Australian police are currently investigating more than a dozen Orthodox individuals suspected of child abuse in Australia, according to Joel Berman, a Los Angeles activist who has been in touch with detectives on aspects of the cases in the United States.
Berman said a number of people under investigation are currently in the United States. Police declined to speak to the Forward.
Many of the charges relate to the 1980s and ’90s, a time when rabbis in a number of Orthodox communities appear to have dealt with abuse by either turning a blind eye or throwing molesters out of the community.
At the center of the controversy is Rabbi Yitzchok Dovid Groner, the former head of the Yeshivah Centre.
Waks and other victims and their families claim they alerted Groner about abusers many times, but he failed to act.
In 1991, a child brought allegations of abuse against Cyprys. The following year, Cyprys pleaded guilty to a sexual offense and was fined, but Chabad officials allowed him to remain at the school, where he worked as a security guard until recently.
Waks said he confronted Groner about Cyprys in 1996 and in 2000, but Groner continued to allow him to work for the center. Groner died in 2008.
Even one of Groner’s defenders, Pini Althaus, said the rabbi threatened to report suspected abusers to the authorities — unless they moved elsewhere.
Althaus, a Brooklyn Chabad member whose father is a Yeshivah Centre trustee, stated in a comment posted on the VozIzNeias blog: “In the case of two American citizens who acted inappropriately, Rabbi Groner gave them the choice to leave the country immediately or face criminal action. In retrospect, perhaps the latter would have been more appropriate; however, this was not the ‘culture’ at that time, to masser or turn someone in to the authorities.”
Yaakov Wolf, an Australian who says Cyprys molested him and who now lives in Los Angeles, said of members of the yeshiva community: “They take these people and think they’ve done their job by sending them off to another community that hasn’t heard about them, and that’s what they’ve done for years.
“They end up sending them to another community, so basically they are throwing their problem onto somebody else.”
The identities of the two American citizens to whom Althaus referred are unclear. Kramer came from a Chabad community in the United States, but a spokesman at Farmington Correctional Center declined to confirm his citizenship.
Althaus declined to speak on the record to the Forward.
Meanwhile, a former Yeshivah College teacher told the Forward that the school failed to act on another occasion, too. In this case, the alleged perpetrator, who also subsequently moved to the United States, was a student.
During the early 1980s, the student, then aged 16 or 17, “took advantage” of a boy several years younger, the former faculty member told the Forward. He said the school refused to expel the abusive student.
“The parents of the abused boy were so horrified that the school would not expel him,” the former Yeshivah College teacher said, “that they ended up taking their son, as well as their two other younger boys, who were in the primary school, out of yeshiva and to another, less frum [observant] school.”
That alleged abuser was Mordechai Yomtov, who, almost 20 years later, was arrested in Los Angeles on charges of sexually abusing three boys at Cheder Menachem, a Chabad school.
In 2001, Yomtov pleaded guilty to molesting the boys, aged between 8 and 10. He served one year in prison and was required to register as a sex offender.
Yomtov has been in violation of sex offender registration requirements since March 2003, according to the website of the California Attorney General’s Office. A spokesman for Attorney General Kamala Harris did not respond to requests for clarification on Yomtov’s whereabouts.
The former Yeshivah College teacher, who did not wish to be named, said he also voiced concerns about Kramer to the school, but no one would listen.
Rabbi Avrohom Glick of Yeshivah College, who is a former principal and still teaches at the school, did not return calls for comment. Rabbi Yehoshua Smukler, the current principal of Yeshivah College, did not respond to calls and emails for comment. Rabbi Chaim Tzvi Groner, head of the Yeshivah Centre, did not respond to questions sent via email.
Rabbi Zvi Telsner, leader of the Yeshivah Centre synagogue and son-in-law of Yitzchok Dovid Groner, said he could not answer any questions about past events because they occurred before his time. “I wasn’t here,” Telsner said. “I have no idea what happened.”
Melbourne parents say they do know what happened.
One mother told The Weekend Australian newspaper that when she informed the school that Kramer, a Jewish studies teacher at Yeshivah College, was abusing her child, she was referred for counseling.
The Weekend Australian reported that after the allegations surfaced, Kramer “was flown to Israel at the school’s expense.” Harry Cooper, a former executive at Yeshivah College, told the newspaper: “At the request of the parents, we shipped him off. I remember it vividly.”
Kramer eventually made his way back to the United States and settled in St. Louis.
He became a volunteer youth leader at an Orthodox synagogue, Nusach Hari B’nai Zion.
The congregation’s rabbi, Ze’ev Smason, said Kramer was a “very attractive, dynamic fellow” who won over parents and their children. Then, one day, parents came to Smason with allegations of abuse.
“When the question was one of safety for children who might come in contact with him, he was immediately reported,” Smason said.
In July 2008, Kramer was sentenced to seven years in jail. He is eligible for parole this April. As soon as he is free, police intend to extradite him to Australia to stand trial, Australian media have reported.
Detectives traveled to the United States last year to gather evidence for this and other investigations, the Forward has learned.
Smason said he was glad he had persuaded at least one victim to report Kramer’s abuse in St. Louis. But, he added, there is still a reticence in the Orthodox Jewish community to speak to law enforcement.
Smason said he knows of another molester in the city, but he cannot persuade victims to contact police.
Sexual abuse is difficult enough for many victims to report, but Orthodox Jewish survivors and their families often find it much harder, because of the tight-knit nature of their communities and because of concerns that they are violating religious laws such as mesirah, which prohibits reporting on a fellow Jew to secular authorities. Many are also worried about committing a chilul Hashem, a desecration of God’s name.
Some Haredi, or ultra-Orthodox, organizations, such as Agudath Israel of America, still instruct people that unless one has direct knowledge of abuse, such as being a victim himself or herself or personally witnessing such an incident, that person must consult a rabbi before reporting suspicions to the authorities.
Chabad institutions have taken a more liberal approach. A beit din, or religious court, in the Crown Heights section of Brooklyn issued a ruling around the time that the Melbourne scandal broke, telling followers who suspect abuse that they are not violating religious laws by reporting their suspicions to the police.
Nevertheless, many survivors and their families fear being kicked out of synagogues and schools, or ruining marriage opportunities because of the taint of an abuse allegation.
Smason said people are often reticent to report because they don’t want to sully Judaism’s name, “not realizing that the ultimate chilul Hashem is that these things are kept quiet — and in the process, individuals bounce from community to community.”
Rabbi Meir Shlomo Kluwgant, immediate past president of the Rabbinical Council of Victoria, said rabbis’ approach to disclosures of sexual abuse has “definitely changed for the better in recent years.” But Kluwgant added that there has been no attempt to cover up abuse in Australia and that the rabbinate there is committed to addressing the issue.
“A lot [of abuse accusations are] based on rumor and innuendo, unless they’re proven in a court of law,” Kluwgant added. “I could tell you lots of lashon hara [evil talk].”
___________________________________________________________________________________
Australia Seeks Extradition of Molester
Jailed Teacher David Kramer Could Soon Be Eligible for Parole
By Paul Berger
Forward - April 02, 2012
Australia reportedly plans to seek the extradition of an imprisoned former Jewish studies teacher to face charges of child abuse dating back nearly 20 years.
David Kramer, 51, is currently in a Missouri jail after being convicted of sodomizing a 12-year-old boy in 2008. He was sentenced to seven years in prison but is about to become eligible for parole.
Detective Senior Constable Lisa Metcher told a Melbourne Magistrates Court on April 2 that Australian detectives will travel to America later this month to begin proceedings to extradite Kramer, according to The Age. A spokesman for the United States Department of Justice declined to comment.
As the Forward reported earlier this year, Kramer is one of several men formerly associated with Melbourne’s Yeshivah Centre, a Chabad institution, at the center of alleged sex abuse coverup allegations.
Kramer eventually found his way to St Louis, Mo., where he became a volunteer youth leader at Nusach Hari B’nai Zion, an Orthodox synagogue.
The synagogue’s rabbi Ze’ev Smason reported Kramer to authorities after parents came to him with allegations of abuse.
___________________________________________________________________________________
Australia Seeks Extradition of Molester in the US
Jailed Teacher David Kramer Could Soon Be Eligible for Parole
By Paul Berger
Forward - April 02, 2012
Australia reportedly plans to seek the extradition of an imprisoned former Jewish studies teacher to face charges of child abuse dating back nearly 20 years.
David Kramer, 51, is currently in a Missouri jail after being convicted of sodomizing a 12-year-old boy in 2008. He was sentenced to seven years in prison but is about to become eligible for parole.
Detective Senior Constable Lisa Metcher told a Melbourne Magistrates Court on April 2 that Australian detectives will travel to America later this month to begin proceedings to extradite Kramer, according to The Age. A spokesman for the United States Department of Justice declined to comment.
As the Forward reported earlier this year, Kramer is one of several men formerly associated with Melbourne’s Yeshivah Centre, a Chabad institution, at the center of alleged sex abuse coverup allegations.
Kramer eventually found his way to St Louis, Mo., where he became a volunteer youth leader at Nusach Hari B’nai Zion, an Orthodox synagogue.
The synagogue’s rabbi Ze’ev Smason reported Kramer to authorities after parents came to him with allegations of abuse.
___________________________________________________________________________________
Rabbi knew of molest rumours
By Jewel Topsfield
The Age - May 15, 2012
THE ex-principal of a Melbourne Jewish school has changed his evidence about his knowledge of alleged paedophilia and conceded he was aware in the early 2000s of rumours that a former security guard had molested children.
The former security guard at Yeshivah College, David Samuel Cyprys, is contesting 53 charges - including six counts of rape - allegedly committed against 12 boys between 1982 and 1991.
In a witness statement, former principal Rabbi Abraham Glick said he had only recently become aware of accusations against Cyprys. He also said Yeshivah Centre director Rabbi Yitzchok Dovid Groner had never divulged to him the names of alleged sex abuse victims.
But under oath in the Melbourne Magistrates Court yesterday, Rabbi Glick said he wanted to change this statement. ''I'm making that amendment because I said Rabbi Groner never divulged the names of individuals and I am now saying that is not 100 per cent accurate,'' Rabbi Glick said.
''There were two times when he named individuals.''
He said Rabbi Groner told him in the early 2000s that either an alleged victim or his father had complained that he had been sexually abused.
Rabbi Glick, who still teaches at Yeshivah College, said he had suspected at the
time that Cyprys was the alleged molester. ''It's a small community - you can hardly sneeze without everybody knowing about it,'' he said.
''There were all sorts of rumours flying around, and I suspected at the time it was David Cyprys. Rabbi Groner may even have told me it was David Cyprys, I don't recall.''
Magistrate Luisa Bazzani asked whether the rumours had resulted in a requirement that Cyprys be supervised around children at activities such as camps and martial arts lessons, where the abuse is alleged to have occurred.
But Rabbi Glick said Cyprys had no longer been involved in these activities when the rumours were circulating. ''He was already married. I don't think he was involved in camps or anything of that sort.''
However, he said Cyprys had been a security guard at the Yeshivah Centre in St Kilda East, which includes the school, for a few years from 2000.
''I did not believe that Rabbi Groner would have allowed him to act as a security guard unless he felt that he was currently not a threat to anyone,'' Rabbi Glick said in his statement. He said that since making his statement he remembered receiving a call from Rabbi Groner shortly before his death in 2008.
''He said to me that he had been approached by a mother who advised him her child had been molested by David Cyprys. She was agitated, she was threatening to take police action. He called me to ask me if I had knowledge of that. I said I had no knowledge of that.''
Rabbi Glick said he also wanted to clarify his statement that he had no recollection of any child or parent making a complaint to him about Cyprys molesting children. In fact, he said, he had no recollection of complaints made while he was principal from 1986 to 2007, but last year a man had advised him he had been molested at a camp when he was a child.
''What I'm clarifying is that report to me was made to me last year when I was no longer principal. It wouldn't be true to say the report was never made to me,'' he said.
Meanwhile, David Kramer, a former friend of Cyprys, said in a witness statement that Cyprys had told him he was having a relationship with an alleged victim, who was aged between 11 and 14 when the alleged abuse occurred. (Mr Kramer is not the same man as the convicted paedophile and former Yeshivah College teacher of the same name, whom police are seeking to extradite from the US.)
''What he said was sickening to me but appeared normal to him. The way David approached the subject was as if he was speaking about an adult female,'' he said.
Mr Kramer said in the statement that Cyprys had told him Rabbi Groner was aware of the situation.
The case before Ms Bazzani continues.
___________________________________________________________________________________
Australia wants to extradite Missouri molester for crimes there
BY ROBERT PATRICK
St Louis Today - Friday, May 18, 2012 12:05 am
ST. LOUIS • A man recently released from a seven-year prison term is fighting an attempt by Australia to extradite him to face allegations he abused students he taught there at least 20 years ago.
David Kramer, now 51, is due in U.S. District Court in St. Louis today for a hearing prompted by allegations involving his tenure at a school in St. Kilda, a Melbourne suburb.
Australia's extradition documents claim Kramer fondled or otherwise indecently assaulted four boys, 10 and 11, from 1989-92, both in and out of school. One former student accused him of hundreds of incidents. In December, he was charged with multiple counts of indecent assault and indecent acts.
"Mr. Kramer vehemently denies everything coming out of Australia," responded one of his lawyers here, Matthew Chase.
"They never bothered to charge him with a crime until December just past," Chase said. "Kind of makes you wonder why they never bothered. Perhaps because there really wasn't anything there."
Court documents say an outsider contacted by the school approached Kramer, who allegedly admitted 'sexually abusing the children, but indicated ... that the children had initiated the touching, and that they enjoyed it, and that no harm had been done."
Kramer was dismissed from the school, the documents say.
Chase said Kramer really departed because of an error that left him accused of overstaying his visa by eight months. He went to Israel in 1992 and spent almost a decade there before moving to the St. Louis area, Chase said.
Kramer was born in the U.S. but also has Israeli citizenship, Chase said. Court documents say Kramer is separated and has 11 children.
In 2007, St. Louis County prosecutors charged Kramer with sexual misconduct and statutory sodomy, claiming he fondled a 12-year-old boy and masturbated in front of him in an apartment in University City. Kramer pleaded guilty in 2008 and was sentenced to seven years in prison. Officials said the local episode did not involve teaching or a school.
In court filings, Assistant U.S. Attorney John Ware said that there are no grounds to release Kramer on bail, and sufficient evidence to have him extradited. A relative rarity of international extradition cases here has lawyers studying the law, Chase said.
"I can't claim to be an expert on this," he explained. "There's nobody (in St. Louis) who is an expert on this."
Jennifer Mann of the Post-Dispatch contributed to this report.
__________________________________________________________________________________
Nowhere left to hide
By Malki Rose
July 5, 2012
http://galusaustralis.com/2011/07/4749/nowhere-left-to-hide/
Perhaps the single most distressing thing about the David Kramer case, is not how many Yeshiva College students he preyed upon, or that he was quietly shipped out of Yeshiva and sent packing to the USA to strike again, but the fact that it took a shocking 18 years for issue to truly come to light and Victoria Police attention.
Those not affiliated with Chabad or Yeshiva continue to be mortified at its handling of the situation
Some of us in the Yeshiva/Beth Rivkah community ourselves in secondary school at the time had varying degrees of awareness of David Kramer, but others also an awareness of what was transpiring with our Yeshiva counterparts.
For some reason the early years of secondary school seemed to be plagued with incidents of sexual predators near and around our quaint school community.
The first incident in my memory was in year eight. Our first floor classroom window looked out over Balaclava Road and for some time our Jewish studies class was interrupted by peels of laughter from those who had happened to be staring out the window at the man in the flats across the road who made it a regular hobby of his to stand at his window and expose himself to onlooking students. Our teacher would advise us to stop laughing and “grow up”. When it continued to go on we were advised to “ignore it”.
In the next few years our class, our school, and our community would unfortunately come to be shaken by several other far more serious and terrifying incidents of sexual predatory behaviour, not just involving those of Yeshiva Beth Rivkah but also the Adass and Beth HaTalmud community and the Yavneh Mizrachi community. Some of the incidents involved predatory strangers and some of them involved known individuals in our community, people who prayed in our synagogues, but preyed on our children.
How did we know this? Simply because victims spoke up. Initially.
And those who had been preyed upon by strange ‘park paedophiles’ in Greenmeadows Park or the “guy with the red car who parked on Springfield avenue”…. those kids, they were the lucky ones.
Their reports and their complaints could be handed to their teachers, to their parents, to community leaders, and of course to the police and were publicised and dealt with as soon as was practical and in the strongest possible terms.
These external predators would not be allowed to get away with their preying on Jewish kids.
But these kids were not in the majority.
The majority were kids who were trapped. Trapped because no sooner had they found the courage to mention to a friend, teacher or counsellor, than were they summarily doubted.
They would find the courage to finally explain to someone why they had not been at school, why they were falling asleep in classes, why they had been slitting their wrists or why they just didn’t want to go home. The counsellors would always, to their credit take these matters seriously. But it would take little more than a flippant denial from the alleged predator or a remark from someone high up in the community that the child had an “active imagination” or was just “crying for attention” to put the matter to rest.
These predators are people in positions of responsibility in our community, within the walls we ironically build to keep danger out.
Most of these cases have never been reported to the police. They were briefly “dealt with” internally and then never spoken of again. Neither the predators nor the victims have ever seen a day of justice, while the pain lingers, forever affecting every day of their lives, their relationships, careers, and functioning. These children have grown into fractured adults and the predators continue to deceive the outside world. Nothing has been learned.
In 2008 when the case of Malka Leifer, the principal of Adass, came to media attention, the shame it brought to the community was not because we had an alleged predator in our midst. (To paraphrase the Lubavitcher Rebbe, ‘the Jewish community is not different’) Rather the abhorrent shame was in the management of the situation. To pack a suspected child predator onto a plane, (not for the first time in our community) laden with community funding and send them off to a place where they can continue to harm others, reeks of a kind of evil that it is hard to imagine even exists.
Those outside of the Adass community shook their heads. Just as with the Kramer case.
It is one kind of evil to be a human being who inflicts harm on a child, but it is an altogether different and possibly worse kind of evil to facilitate and enable the predator. So far our community has demonstrated that it is more than capable of both.
But this is not a problem of the Adass community, nor of the Yeshiva community. It is not even limited to the Orthodox community and certainly not to the Jewish community.
This issue is the significant and burdensome responsibility of the entire community. A responsibility which too many have shirked as that of “the other” for far too long.
For many years the Jewish Taskforce Against Family Violence (JTAFV), which has sought to involve the community at every level in taking responsibility, has been working hard to develop new programs to protect victims of abuse in all its forms.
JTAFV director Sheiny New advised “after many intensive development seminars with overseas and local specialists, we have created and now implemented an education programme for schools; something which we are encouraging all the schools integrate into their curriculum which can help equip the children, in an age appropriate, non-alarmist way, with the information and skills they need to protect themselves from sexual predators. So far it has been introduced successfully in several schools and we’ve had a great response.”
It is understood that not all the Jewish schools have been willing to introduce the program.
But the two greatest obstacles to protecting our children appear to be the demonising or doubting of the child, and allowing the reputations of notable community members to precede the rights of the child.
The predators so far have won. They are predominantly individuals of standing, people who are known and who hold positions of responsibility in our community, people who have the respect of our leaders.
This is the single greatest threat to our children’s safety. How can even the bravest young person find the courage to come out and say that one of these individuals are harming them? Who would believe them?
Detective Scott Dwyer of the Victoria Police remarked “People in positions of responsibility or power who abuse are often the most insidious. Their power over people, over children, means they can be even more dangerous and they have the ability to cause a lot more harm”.
If a predator is a rabbi, a therapist, a teacher or a leader, then we trust them. They hold the lives of so many in their hands and can manipulate them to their advantage.
So many victims would not dare speak out, believing that their story or complaint would never be believed over that of someone with a good reputation or strong standing in the Jewish or greater community.
Aside from the issue of reputation, victims also worry that nobody will believe them because the person they are naming “Is so lovely”, or “Such an active member of the community”, or “Someone everyone trusts implicitly”.
Parents and carers need to be aware that predators more often than not are warm, charismatic, and well-liked individuals. Rarely do they have teeth hanging out of their heads and “something dodgy about them”. They are almost always “not someone you would suspect”.
It has been 18 years since Kramer was sent packing and now for the first time in our communities history, the police are finally involved.
His victims can breath a sigh of relief that justice is and will continue to be served.
But what if something had been done many years ago, what if the school authorities had seen fit to confront the problem instead of handballing it to the USA where Kramer could victimise more children?
What have we learnt from the Kramer case? Or indeed from the non-existent Leifer case? That the only reason the Kramer case exists is because someone stepped forward.
Leifer’s name and whereabouts are known, there is no reason she could not be extradited to Australia tomorrow. But there is no complaint. Nobody will step forward because nobody wants to soil their reputation or that of their family.
Instead people would prefer to live comfortably with the knowledge that the person who abused them or their child is somewhere else, abusing someone else’s children and ruining other lives. But not theirs.
Since the story of Kramer broke in the Australian media some two weeks ago, the Victorian Police have announced that they are seeking any and all information from anyone who may have also been a victim of Kramer, so that they may be able to prosecute him in Australia should he be granted parole in April next year. This is fantastic.
But more importantly, the Police are also seeking information regarding other predators or other incidents that have not been dealt with to date.
A notice from the Victoria Police has been distributed throughout the Jewish community, including on websites and blogs, through email lists, letterbox drops and of course via the Yeshiva mailing system.
In writing this article 11 different people were spoken with, who have stated that they have claims or are victims of or witnesses to molestation. Every single one of them insisted on not being named. Only two of them are currently working with the police to bring in the perpetrators. The other nine (three of which are rethinking the prospect of filing a report) feel that nothing will be done and that they will not be believed; some also felt that coming forward poses too many risks to their family.
Maintaining a cone of silence only means providing a thick cloak of protection under which predators can hide, safe in the knowledge that nobody would dare ever step forward and name them.
But luckily this is no longer the case.
Detective Dwyer has advised that people in the Jewish community are at long last coming forward and that every single complaint is being treated with the utmost seriousness, confidentiality, and respect.
“At the moment we have 15 separate cases being investigated. In addition to this, we also have several other names that have been nominated as potential sexual predators, with limited information and we will be making further enquiries into those individuals as well.”
The Rabbinical Council of Victoria has instructed the community to co-operate wherever possible with the police and Rabbi Telsner has also reassured members of the Yeshiva community in a recent address that cases such as this do not fall into the category of mesira and that people should come forward to assist police wherever possible.
This is not a unique problem, not a religious problem, and not a problem of the corrupt outside world. It is an all too common universal problem. Not one person can say it is “Not my problem” or “Did you hear what happened in that community?”
Parents, victims or other witnesses who are afraid to come forward and make a report need to ask themselves this tough question.
If I, or my child, were to be in the presence of this individual and someone knew but did not tell me that they were a known sexual predator… how would this make me feel? Moreover, how would I feel once I found out the hard way? And how do I live with myself knowing that this could have been prevented had I have spoken up?
Let it not take another 18 years to bring to trial current predators living in our midst.
For related content, see David Werdiger’s article on stigma.
If you or anyone you know has information regarding a sexual assault, recent or not, we urge those with information to please either contact crimestoppers on 1800 333 00, or contact Detective Scott Dwyer at the Moorabbin Sexual Offences Unit directly on 9556 6128 or mobile 0414 181 311.
All complaints are completely confidential.
___________________________________________________________________________________
Jewish boys school gave molester free run
INSIDE STORY EXCLUSIVE
By Kate Legge
The Australian July 16, 2011 12:00AM
AN orthodox Jewish boys college in Melbourne continued to allow a trusted member of the community access to its campus, years after he pleaded guilty to a charge of indecent assault against a teenage student at the school.
The case has emerged in a new police investigation into pedophile activities at Yeshivah College between 1989 and 1993. Former students are coming forward with allegations that have rocked the Jewish community in St Kilda East, where black-clad, bearded Hasidic worshippers cut a distinctive presence on the streets. Their signed statements point to multiple offenders and blame a school hierarchy unwilling to flush them out.
Police records reveal that a Yeshivah College representative was interviewed in December 1991 soon after a boy complained he had been molested several times by a trusted mentoring figure heavily involved in extracurricular activities, who frequently mixed with students on the school's premises. According to the teenage victim, now living interstate, the mentor was assigned to him in "a caretaker role" when he arrived in Melbourne.
No conviction was recorded when the case went to court in 1992 and the offender was released on a promise of good behaviour with a fine of $1500.
Past and present parents of Yeshivah College are furious the school took no action to bar the offender from the school in Hotham Street at the heart of Melbourne's Jewish community, where security patrols orthodox premises alert for external threats.
One parent this week lamented the awful irony of a greater risk to children's safety behind the school's fortified perimeter.
Fresh complaints about the offender have come to light since Victorian police last month began probing sexual assault at the college during a four-year period 20 years ago.
Yeshivah College principal Yehoshua Smukler declined to answer questions from The Weekend Australian about the man's present relationship with the school. An update to parents last week expressed sympathy "for those who may have been affected" and reinforced the school's commitment "to a safe and nurturing environment where students, staff and parents feel comfortable to come forward with any concerns".
Rabbi Smukler insists the latest allegations "do not relate to a member of staff".
Documents pertinent to the man's occupation name the Yeshivah Centre, which runs the school, as his employer. He refused to be interviewed and would not respond to questions.
"I have done nothing wrong and I have nothing further to say to you," he said.
The new police investigation was driven by accusations against former Yeshivah teacher David Kramer, now behind bars for sexually abusing a child in the US, who was spirited out of Australia in 1993 after several students alleged they had been molested by him, prompting outraged parents to demand his removal.
The then chairman of the school's executive, Harry Cooper, this week confirmed that Kramer was flown to Israel at the school's expense. Parents were offered counselling but no one reported the allegations to the police.
Cooper, who lives in Israel, told The Weekend Australian: "At the request of the parents, we shipped him off. I remember it vividly."
He said he was aware of another allegation against an individual at the school, but "I don't think he was on the payroll".
Asked why the school helped Kramer leave the country without reporting him to the police, Cooper said: "It was a different world then. But we didn't give him any references. When a school in Israel asked for one, we told them of the allegations."
Kramer later went to the US, where he was convicted in 2008 after pleading guilty to sexual abuse of a 12-year-old boy at a synagogue in Missouri and sentenced to seven years' jail.
The mother of a former student who made allegations against Kramer believes the school authorities were aware of the problem.
"Of course they knew about it," the mother said. "They organised for me to see a counsellor. Yeshivah should have done something at the time -- I don't know why they didn't." Melbourne's Jewish community is close-knit. Attempts at transparency by the parents of former students have been frustrated by historical loyalty to religious codes, such as the "mesirah", which discourages members from reporting crimes to police, and the "arka'ot" prohibiting use of secular courts. Although a ruling last year by Victorian rabbis forbids followers to remain silent in cases of sexual abuse, many victims have been paralysed by an insidious fear of reprisal if they co-operate with civil authorities.
Soon after police appealed for co-operation, one of Yeshivah's religious leaders, Zvi Telsner, upset some in the community when his Saturday sermon drew on a biblical episode warning of the dangers of gossip and slander. Rabbi Telsner later dismissed any suggestion he was discouraging informers as "absolute rubbish".
In comments to Australian Jewish News, he called on the Yeshivah community to unite and help each other rather than "sending emails around and making trouble".
A concerned parent had emailed members of the community 24 hours earlier urging them to speak up. "Many in the community have been aware of these allegations for an extended period," the parent wrote. "We must ensure a full, thorough and proper investigation is conducted, and those who took advantage of our children are held to account".
This view is not universal. "Unless you know very specific details about a particular case, you may not inform the authorities, and anyone may kill you to prevent you doing so," was the comment on one Jewish blog where debate has raged for weeks over how to manage a problem hidden for years and now erupting with the same ferocity that shook up the Catholic and Anglican churches.
Rabbis from the New York headquarters of the orthodox Chabad sect associated with Yeshivah met this week as tensions mounted over how best to handle recent "severe incidents of child abuse".
They issued a sternly worded edict demanding openness to "eradicate evil from our midst".
Yeshivah College was first informed by police of sexual abuse allegations in 1991 before the introduction of mandatory reporting two years later. In 1993, the school dealt with allegations against Kramer. In 1996, another former student, Manny Waks, made a statement to police detailing multiple allegations of abuse between 1989 and 1991. He implicated the same individual who pleaded guilty to indecent assault in 1992 as well as another religious figure now living in the US.
The abuse began when Mr Waks was 12 and continued for two years.
This 1996 brief is one of several "cold" cases police are revisiting. Detective Acting Sergeant Scott Dwyer, who leads the latest inquiry, confirmed this week that "older matters" were being examined. Mr Waks, now 35, says he informed Yitzchok Groner, then Yeshivah's spiritual head, of his allegations in 1996. Rabbi Groner died in 2008.
The offender who pleaded guilty in court won the confidence of boys through his participation in school activities. He allegedly lured Mr Waks into the bath house at the rear of the college, where worshippers strip for ritual cleansing, and molested him in the water.
The teenager involved in the 1992 court case this week recalled having hypnosis and therapy to recover from being molested inside the bath house and at two other locations. He remembered the man warning him: "You can tell the school anything you like, they'll do nothing. I've got something on them."
" He was supposed to be looking after me. My trust was abused."
Now in his 30s, the former student wants to remain anonymous. When he complained to the school, he said "they accused me of lying". Twenty years later, he's fearful of publicity that might jeopardise his employment.
Several other former students who claim they were molested by this individual spoke to The Weekend Australian of the shame that had kept them quiet. One who had confided only in his wife took weeks to pluck up courage for a police interview. His sworn statement alleges the same man molested him in a deadlocked classroom when he was about 11 years old.
"I don't recall how it stopped or how long it went on for," he said. "I just remember it seemed to last forever. When it was over, I recall (him) expressly warning me that I was not allowed to tell anyone or he would hurt me."
He told police the man's activities were an "open secret but his rights were never curtailed, nor was he punished or publicly shunned".
He disclosed that "the most important reason I never came forward in my adult years was
(I was worried) that if I were to do so, I would be excommunicated from the community".
The perception of power and influence continues to worry people today.
Mr Waks, the only person so far prepared to speak publicly, says he has not received any counselling or pastoral support from the school. He now lives in Canberra. Others reside in their childhood neighbourhood. They worship at the Yeshivah synagogue. Some have sons at the school.
Mr Waks welcomed the "long overdue" expression of sympathy this week from the Yeshivah Centre as "first steps".
"There is still much more they need to do in this devastating episode," he said. "Yeshivah still needs to be held accountable for (failing to prevent) the years of abuse that has impacted upon the lives of so many people. I intend to do just that."
He has been patient enough. His first efforts to alert Rabbi Groner to the problem in 1996 achieved nothing. Four years later, Mr Waks alleges he was walking past the school gates and saw the man standing outside "smirking" at him.
"It made my blood boil," he said. "I went to Rabbi Groner's office. I said: 'You've got this person here and we all know what he's done. He's in a position of authority; he has access to children.' Rabbi Groner pleaded with me not take it further."
Angst within the community over Rabbi Groner's legacy divides the Jewish blogosphere. Mr Waks's character has been assassinated. Pini Althaus, whose father is a Yeshivah trustee, posted comments defending Rabbi Groner's "zero tolerance" and describing the school's preferred modus operandi.
"The rare cases that did transpire were dealt with swiftly," Mr Althaus said. "Rabbi Groner gave them the choice to leave the country immediately or face criminal action. In retrospect, perhaps the latter would have been more appropriate; however, this was not the 'culture' at that time to turn someone in to the authorities."
Mr Althaus alludes to another individual he says should have been barred from the school grounds. "We all knew growing up then, one doesn't get into a car with this person, spend time alone with this person, etc. This was a given to us all."
Acting Sergeant Dwyer said yesterday he had received a flood of responses to his call for students to come forward. "Many haven't ever told their families," he says. "Some who did were told, 'We'll never speak of this again' . . . This is what you're up against. Those who have walked away from the religion find it easier."
___________________________________________________________________________________
Offender data is current as of 10/17/2008 09:00 PM.
DOC Id 1180493
Offender Name David KramerRace White
Sex Male
Date of Birth 08/21/1960
Height/Weight 5'6" / 160
Hair/Eyes Brown /Blue
Assigned Location Eastern Reception Diagnostic Corr Center
Address 2727 Highway K, Bonne Terre, MO 63628
Assigned Officer Phone Number (573) 358-5516
Sentence Summary 7 Years (4, 7cc) Registration Required - Current Cycle
Active Offenses STAT SODOMY-1ST DEG-PERS UND 14;SEX MISCD/ATMP INVL CHLD-1ST OFNS
Completed Offenses Completed sentence not found
Aliases David Kramer
___________________________________________________________________________________
Jewish leader claims abuse in day school
JTA - July 10, 2011
SYDNEY, Australia (JTA) - A senior Jewish leader claimed he was sexually abused when a student at an Orthodox Jewish boys' school in Melbourne.
Manny Waks, president of the Jewish community in Canberra and a vice-president of the Executive Council of Australian Jewry, claimed July 8 that he was molested by a figure "in a position of power and authority" at Yeshivah College when he was a student there some 20 years ago.
Police reopened an investigation last month into allegations of sexual abuse at the school between 1989 and 1993. It is understood that news about the potential release next year from an American prison of David Kramer, a former Jewish studies teacher at the school, spurred authorities to appeal for alleged victims to come forward.
There have been suggestions police may try to extradite Kramer to Australia if charges against him are laid.
Kramer fled first to Israel in the 1990s and then America before being jailed for seven years for molesting a 12-year-old boy at a youth camp at a synagogue in St Louis, Missouri.
Waks, 35, who was not abused by Kramer, said one of the alleged incidents occurred inside a synagogue.
"The most important people in this tragedy are the many victims that have been abused and betrayed by the perpetrators and Yeshivah Centre many times over," he said in a statement. "The victims need and deserve justice and closure."
Waks grew up in a Chabad family with 16 siblings but joined the Israeli Army when he was 18 and rejected his Orthodox upbringing.
___________________________________________________________________________________
The following note comes from someone close to the case:
A number of brief points about the link below to one of the most respected/influential global Jewish publications (Forward):
JTA - July 10, 2011
SYDNEY, Australia (JTA) - A senior Jewish leader claimed he was sexually abused when a student at an Orthodox Jewish boys' school in Melbourne.
Manny Waks, president of the Jewish community in Canberra and a vice-president of the Executive Council of Australian Jewry, claimed July 8 that he was molested by a figure "in a position of power and authority" at Yeshivah College when he was a student there some 20 years ago.
Police reopened an investigation last month into allegations of sexual abuse at the school between 1989 and 1993. It is understood that news about the potential release next year from an American prison of David Kramer, a former Jewish studies teacher at the school, spurred authorities to appeal for alleged victims to come forward.
There have been suggestions police may try to extradite Kramer to Australia if charges against him are laid.
Kramer fled first to Israel in the 1990s and then America before being jailed for seven years for molesting a 12-year-old boy at a youth camp at a synagogue in St Louis, Missouri.
Waks, 35, who was not abused by Kramer, said one of the alleged incidents occurred inside a synagogue.
"The most important people in this tragedy are the many victims that have been abused and betrayed by the perpetrators and Yeshivah Centre many times over," he said in a statement. "The victims need and deserve justice and closure."
Waks grew up in a Chabad family with 16 siblings but joined the Israeli Army when he was 18 and rejected his Orthodox upbringing.
___________________________________________________________________________________
The following note comes from someone close to the case:
A number of brief points about the link below to one of the most respected/influential global Jewish publications (Forward):
- It further demonstrates the scandalous behaviour of the Yeshivah Centre in Melbourne (not that this is a revelation to many if us).
- I would like to acknowledge the courage of Yaakov Wolf for publicly identifying himself as one of the many former victims. For those who may not be aware, Yaakov is the son of prominent Rabbi/philosopher etc Laibl Wolf. Importantly, he is also the nephew of Don Wolf, the Chairman of the Board of Directors at Yeshivah.
- Some of you may not be aware of who Rabbi Meir Shlomo Kluwgant is. His father and numerous other relatives are and have been on the Yeshivah Executive, or hold/have held other senior leadership positions there, for many years. This may explain his odd comments at the end of the article.
- Please note there is also an audio interview with me which is also available at the link.
- Child Sex-Abuse Scandal in Australia's Jewish Community Spills Into U.S.
Child Sex-Abuse Scandal in Australia's Jewish Community Spills Into U.S.
Allegations Surface That Child Molesters Were Protected
By Paul Berger
Forward - February 17, 2012
A child sex abuse scandal in Australia’s Jewish community has spilled into America, as a pending extradition, arrests in Australia and a slew of cover-up allegations put that community’s response to molestation under scrutiny.
Australian police are seeking to extradite convicted child molester David Kramer, currently in jail in Farmington, Mo., on suspicion of having abused children at a Chabad school in Melbourne during the 1990s.
Kramer, who was reportedly spirited out of Australia by one of Melbourne’s Chabad leaders following abuse allegations, is halfway through a seven-year prison sentence for sodomizing a 12-year-old boy in St. Louis.
According to members of the Australian community, he is not the only molester to end up in the United States after Australian community leaders failed to report them to legal authorities. Other molesters fled the country more recently as suspicion of abuse fell on them, community members say.
The Forward has learned that at least two suspected molesters from the Australian Jewish community are living in the United States while they are under investigation in Australia.
Meanwhile, Manny Waks, a former vice president of the Executive Council of Australian Jewry, accused an Australian living in New York of molesting him when he was a boy.
Waks, 35, who has been the catalyst for revelations about the Melbourne abuse scandal, told the Forward he was molested by Velvel Serebryanski, son of a prominent Chabad rabbi, at two Melbourne synagogues during the late 1980s.
Listen to Paul Berger’s interview with Manny Waks about his personal experience of being abused.
Serebryanski, who goes by the name Zev Sero in New York, did not deny the allegations when a Forward reporter asked him about them at his Brooklyn home.
Serebryanski, 47, declined to speak on the record about the allegations. His father, Rabbi Aaron Serebryanski, is one of Chabad’s principal emissaries to Australia.
Waks claims that Serebryanski molested him on several occasions, including when he went to lie down during an all-night Shavuot study session in a synagogue at Melbourne’s Yeshivah Centre, a Chabad institution.
Waks said Serebryanski began to molest him in the synagogue and then said: “This isn’t for a place of worship. Let’s go outside.”
According to Waks, who was about 12 at the time, Serebryanski then led him into a nearby restroom.
The charges are contained in a police report that Waks filed in 1996.
In that same report, Waks details how he was also abused by David Cyprys, a Melbourne karate instructor.
Cyprys is about to stand trial in Australia on dozens of sex charges related to the abuse of 11 boys.
During a magistrates court hearing in Melbourne last year, Detective Senior Constable Lisa Metcher “accused members of the Yeshivah community of lying to police and trying to cover up sex abuse claims,” according to The Age, an Australian newspaper.
”They failed to act in any way to protect children,” the newspaper stated that Metcher told the court.
Waks went public last year with accusations that he was repeatedly molested while attending the Yeshivah Centre’s boys school, Yeshivah College.
His call for other victims to come forward shattered decades of denial. Press reports related how Victoria state police were inundated with testimony from young men who said they were abused.
Australian police are currently investigating more than a dozen Orthodox individuals suspected of child abuse in Australia, according to Joel Berman, a Los Angeles activist who has been in touch with detectives on aspects of the cases in the United States.
Berman said a number of people under investigation are currently in the United States. Police declined to speak to the Forward.
Many of the charges relate to the 1980s and ’90s, a time when rabbis in a number of Orthodox communities appear to have dealt with abuse by either turning a blind eye or throwing molesters out of the community.
At the center of the controversy is Rabbi Yitzchok Dovid Groner, the former head of the Yeshivah Centre.
Waks and other victims and their families claim they alerted Groner about abusers many times, but he failed to act.
In 1991, a child brought allegations of abuse against Cyprys. The following year, Cyprys pleaded guilty to a sexual offense and was fined, but Chabad officials allowed him to remain at the school, where he worked as a security guard until recently.
Waks said he confronted Groner about Cyprys in 1996 and in 2000, but Groner continued to allow him to work for the center. Groner died in 2008.
Even one of Groner’s defenders, Pini Althaus, said the rabbi threatened to report suspected abusers to the authorities — unless they moved elsewhere.
Althaus, a Brooklyn Chabad member whose father is a Yeshivah Centre trustee, stated in a comment posted on the VozIzNeias blog: “In the case of two American citizens who acted inappropriately, Rabbi Groner gave them the choice to leave the country immediately or face criminal action. In retrospect, perhaps the latter would have been more appropriate; however, this was not the ‘culture’ at that time, to masser or turn someone in to the authorities.”
Yaakov Wolf, an Australian who says Cyprys molested him and who now lives in Los Angeles, said of members of the yeshiva community: “They take these people and think they’ve done their job by sending them off to another community that hasn’t heard about them, and that’s what they’ve done for years.
“They end up sending them to another community, so basically they are throwing their problem onto somebody else.”
The identities of the two American citizens to whom Althaus referred are unclear. Kramer came from a Chabad community in the United States, but a spokesman at Farmington Correctional Center declined to confirm his citizenship.
Althaus declined to speak on the record to the Forward.
Meanwhile, a former Yeshivah College teacher told the Forward that the school failed to act on another occasion, too. In this case, the alleged perpetrator, who also subsequently moved to the United States, was a student.
During the early 1980s, the student, then aged 16 or 17, “took advantage” of a boy several years younger, the former faculty member told the Forward. He said the school refused to expel the abusive student.
“The parents of the abused boy were so horrified that the school would not expel him,” the former Yeshivah College teacher said, “that they ended up taking their son, as well as their two other younger boys, who were in the primary school, out of yeshiva and to another, less frum [observant] school.”
That alleged abuser was Mordechai Yomtov, who, almost 20 years later, was arrested in Los Angeles on charges of sexually abusing three boys at Cheder Menachem, a Chabad school.
In 2001, Yomtov pleaded guilty to molesting the boys, aged between 8 and 10. He served one year in prison and was required to register as a sex offender.
Yomtov has been in violation of sex offender registration requirements since March 2003, according to the website of the California Attorney General’s Office. A spokesman for Attorney General Kamala Harris did not respond to requests for clarification on Yomtov’s whereabouts.
The former Yeshivah College teacher, who did not wish to be named, said he also voiced concerns about Kramer to the school, but no one would listen.
Rabbi Avrohom Glick of Yeshivah College, who is a former principal and still teaches at the school, did not return calls for comment. Rabbi Yehoshua Smukler, the current principal of Yeshivah College, did not respond to calls and emails for comment. Rabbi Chaim Tzvi Groner, head of the Yeshivah Centre, did not respond to questions sent via email.
Rabbi Zvi Telsner, leader of the Yeshivah Centre synagogue and son-in-law of Yitzchok Dovid Groner, said he could not answer any questions about past events because they occurred before his time. “I wasn’t here,” Telsner said. “I have no idea what happened.”
Melbourne parents say they do know what happened.
One mother told The Weekend Australian newspaper that when she informed the school that Kramer, a Jewish studies teacher at Yeshivah College, was abusing her child, she was referred for counseling.
The Weekend Australian reported that after the allegations surfaced, Kramer “was flown to Israel at the school’s expense.” Harry Cooper, a former executive at Yeshivah College, told the newspaper: “At the request of the parents, we shipped him off. I remember it vividly.”
Kramer eventually made his way back to the United States and settled in St. Louis.
He became a volunteer youth leader at an Orthodox synagogue, Nusach Hari B’nai Zion.
The congregation’s rabbi, Ze’ev Smason, said Kramer was a “very attractive, dynamic fellow” who won over parents and their children. Then, one day, parents came to Smason with allegations of abuse.
“When the question was one of safety for children who might come in contact with him, he was immediately reported,” Smason said.
In July 2008, Kramer was sentenced to seven years in jail. He is eligible for parole this April. As soon as he is free, police intend to extradite him to Australia to stand trial, Australian media have reported.
Detectives traveled to the United States last year to gather evidence for this and other investigations, the Forward has learned.
Smason said he was glad he had persuaded at least one victim to report Kramer’s abuse in St. Louis. But, he added, there is still a reticence in the Orthodox Jewish community to speak to law enforcement.
Smason said he knows of another molester in the city, but he cannot persuade victims to contact police.
Sexual abuse is difficult enough for many victims to report, but Orthodox Jewish survivors and their families often find it much harder, because of the tight-knit nature of their communities and because of concerns that they are violating religious laws such as mesirah, which prohibits reporting on a fellow Jew to secular authorities. Many are also worried about committing a chilul Hashem, a desecration of God’s name.
Some Haredi, or ultra-Orthodox, organizations, such as Agudath Israel of America, still instruct people that unless one has direct knowledge of abuse, such as being a victim himself or herself or personally witnessing such an incident, that person must consult a rabbi before reporting suspicions to the authorities.
Chabad institutions have taken a more liberal approach. A beit din, or religious court, in the Crown Heights section of Brooklyn issued a ruling around the time that the Melbourne scandal broke, telling followers who suspect abuse that they are not violating religious laws by reporting their suspicions to the police.
Nevertheless, many survivors and their families fear being kicked out of synagogues and schools, or ruining marriage opportunities because of the taint of an abuse allegation.
Smason said people are often reticent to report because they don’t want to sully Judaism’s name, “not realizing that the ultimate chilul Hashem is that these things are kept quiet — and in the process, individuals bounce from community to community.”
Rabbi Meir Shlomo Kluwgant, immediate past president of the Rabbinical Council of Victoria, said rabbis’ approach to disclosures of sexual abuse has “definitely changed for the better in recent years.” But Kluwgant added that there has been no attempt to cover up abuse in Australia and that the rabbinate there is committed to addressing the issue.
“A lot [of abuse accusations are] based on rumor and innuendo, unless they’re proven in a court of law,” Kluwgant added. “I could tell you lots of lashon hara [evil talk].”
Jailed Teacher David Kramer Could Soon Be Eligible for Parole
By Paul Berger
Forward - April 02, 2012
Australia reportedly plans to seek the extradition of an imprisoned former Jewish studies teacher to face charges of child abuse dating back nearly 20 years.
David Kramer, 51, is currently in a Missouri jail after being convicted of sodomizing a 12-year-old boy in 2008. He was sentenced to seven years in prison but is about to become eligible for parole.
Detective Senior Constable Lisa Metcher told a Melbourne Magistrates Court on April 2 that Australian detectives will travel to America later this month to begin proceedings to extradite Kramer, according to The Age. A spokesman for the United States Department of Justice declined to comment.
As the Forward reported earlier this year, Kramer is one of several men formerly associated with Melbourne’s Yeshivah Centre, a Chabad institution, at the center of alleged sex abuse coverup allegations.
Kramer eventually found his way to St Louis, Mo., where he became a volunteer youth leader at Nusach Hari B’nai Zion, an Orthodox synagogue.
The synagogue’s rabbi Ze’ev Smason reported Kramer to authorities after parents came to him with allegations of abuse.
___________________________________________________________________________________
Police to ask US to hand over ex-teacher
Jewel Topsfield
The Age - April 3, 2012
VICTORIA Police will this month seek to extradite a former teacher at a Melbourne Jewish orthodox school from the United States over a child sex abuse scandal that was allegedly covered up by the school.
Parents allege that Yeshivah College in East St Kilda assisted the former teacher, David Kramer, to flee Australia in 1993 after they complained he had sexually abused their children.
Kramer was the focus of a Victoria Police probe launched last year into alleged sexual abuse at Yeshivah College between 1989 and 1993, which has widened to include other alleged perpetrators.
Magistrate Luisa Bazzani yesterday asked in court if Kramer had been brought to Australia by Victoria Police last month.
''More like mid-April, they will be travelling over to extradite him,'' Detective Senior Constable Lisa Metcher told the Melbourne Magistrates Court.
The Age understands that charges will be served this month and then Victoria Police will seek to extradite him.
A parent told The Age that Yeshivah College did not go to the police in 1993 despite accusations that Kramer, who taught Jewish studies and was a chaperone at camps, had sexually abused children at the school.
''We couldn't even get them to fire the guy,'' the parent said. A meeting was called at which parents intended to give Yeshivah College an ultimatum: sack Kramer or they would go to the police.
''Everybody was so scared of Yeshivah's power, no individual felt strong enough to go to police,'' the parent said.
Fifteen minutes before the meeting was due to start, the parents received a phone call telling them that there was no need to proceed. A week and a half later Kramer was ''spirited out of the country''.
''The way it was handled was wrong.'' The parent said if alleged sexual abuse occurred now, parents would be on the phone to police ''in a second''.
''Times were different 20 years ago. It's a very closed community and there was a reticence to talk about any of those things and to try to keep them under cover.''
The Age has been told some members of the Jewish community have been reluctant to speak to police due to concerns they would be violating the Jewish law of mesirah, which prohibits reporting a fellow Jew to civil authorities.
However the Rabbinical Council of Victoria has stressed the prohibitions of mesirah did not apply in cases of abuse.
Sergeant Jo Stafford from the police media unit told The Age the matters involving David Kramer were still under investigation and it was inappropriate to comment further.
''No charges have been served at this time,'' Sergeant Stafford said.
Yeshivah College did not respond to an emailed inquiry from The Age.
Meanwhile, former Yeshivah College security guard David Samuel Cyprys, who has been charged with sexually molesting students from the school, yesterday had the conditions of his bail varied in the Melbourne Magistrates Court.
Cyprys has been charged with 51 counts of gross indecency, indecent assault, false imprisonment, common law assault, attempted indecent assault and rape involving 11 alleged victims.
He was yesterday ordered to report to police in St Kilda every Monday, Wednesday and Friday (excepting a religious holiday) instead of every day, as previously stipulated in his bail conditions.
Cyprys' committal hearing will begin on May 7.
___________________________________________________________________________________Jewel Topsfield
The Age - April 3, 2012
VICTORIA Police will this month seek to extradite a former teacher at a Melbourne Jewish orthodox school from the United States over a child sex abuse scandal that was allegedly covered up by the school.
Parents allege that Yeshivah College in East St Kilda assisted the former teacher, David Kramer, to flee Australia in 1993 after they complained he had sexually abused their children.
Kramer was the focus of a Victoria Police probe launched last year into alleged sexual abuse at Yeshivah College between 1989 and 1993, which has widened to include other alleged perpetrators.
Magistrate Luisa Bazzani yesterday asked in court if Kramer had been brought to Australia by Victoria Police last month.
''More like mid-April, they will be travelling over to extradite him,'' Detective Senior Constable Lisa Metcher told the Melbourne Magistrates Court.
The Age understands that charges will be served this month and then Victoria Police will seek to extradite him.
A parent told The Age that Yeshivah College did not go to the police in 1993 despite accusations that Kramer, who taught Jewish studies and was a chaperone at camps, had sexually abused children at the school.
''We couldn't even get them to fire the guy,'' the parent said. A meeting was called at which parents intended to give Yeshivah College an ultimatum: sack Kramer or they would go to the police.
''Everybody was so scared of Yeshivah's power, no individual felt strong enough to go to police,'' the parent said.
Fifteen minutes before the meeting was due to start, the parents received a phone call telling them that there was no need to proceed. A week and a half later Kramer was ''spirited out of the country''.
''The way it was handled was wrong.'' The parent said if alleged sexual abuse occurred now, parents would be on the phone to police ''in a second''.
''Times were different 20 years ago. It's a very closed community and there was a reticence to talk about any of those things and to try to keep them under cover.''
The Age has been told some members of the Jewish community have been reluctant to speak to police due to concerns they would be violating the Jewish law of mesirah, which prohibits reporting a fellow Jew to civil authorities.
However the Rabbinical Council of Victoria has stressed the prohibitions of mesirah did not apply in cases of abuse.
Sergeant Jo Stafford from the police media unit told The Age the matters involving David Kramer were still under investigation and it was inappropriate to comment further.
''No charges have been served at this time,'' Sergeant Stafford said.
Yeshivah College did not respond to an emailed inquiry from The Age.
Meanwhile, former Yeshivah College security guard David Samuel Cyprys, who has been charged with sexually molesting students from the school, yesterday had the conditions of his bail varied in the Melbourne Magistrates Court.
Cyprys has been charged with 51 counts of gross indecency, indecent assault, false imprisonment, common law assault, attempted indecent assault and rape involving 11 alleged victims.
He was yesterday ordered to report to police in St Kilda every Monday, Wednesday and Friday (excepting a religious holiday) instead of every day, as previously stipulated in his bail conditions.
Cyprys' committal hearing will begin on May 7.
Jailed Teacher David Kramer Could Soon Be Eligible for Parole
By Paul Berger
Forward - April 02, 2012
Australia reportedly plans to seek the extradition of an imprisoned former Jewish studies teacher to face charges of child abuse dating back nearly 20 years.
David Kramer, 51, is currently in a Missouri jail after being convicted of sodomizing a 12-year-old boy in 2008. He was sentenced to seven years in prison but is about to become eligible for parole.
Detective Senior Constable Lisa Metcher told a Melbourne Magistrates Court on April 2 that Australian detectives will travel to America later this month to begin proceedings to extradite Kramer, according to The Age. A spokesman for the United States Department of Justice declined to comment.
As the Forward reported earlier this year, Kramer is one of several men formerly associated with Melbourne’s Yeshivah Centre, a Chabad institution, at the center of alleged sex abuse coverup allegations.
Kramer eventually found his way to St Louis, Mo., where he became a volunteer youth leader at Nusach Hari B’nai Zion, an Orthodox synagogue.
The synagogue’s rabbi Ze’ev Smason reported Kramer to authorities after parents came to him with allegations of abuse.
___________________________________________________________________________________
By Jewel Topsfield
The Age - May 15, 2012
THE ex-principal of a Melbourne Jewish school has changed his evidence about his knowledge of alleged paedophilia and conceded he was aware in the early 2000s of rumours that a former security guard had molested children.
The former security guard at Yeshivah College, David Samuel Cyprys, is contesting 53 charges - including six counts of rape - allegedly committed against 12 boys between 1982 and 1991.
In a witness statement, former principal Rabbi Abraham Glick said he had only recently become aware of accusations against Cyprys. He also said Yeshivah Centre director Rabbi Yitzchok Dovid Groner had never divulged to him the names of alleged sex abuse victims.
But under oath in the Melbourne Magistrates Court yesterday, Rabbi Glick said he wanted to change this statement. ''I'm making that amendment because I said Rabbi Groner never divulged the names of individuals and I am now saying that is not 100 per cent accurate,'' Rabbi Glick said.
''There were two times when he named individuals.''
He said Rabbi Groner told him in the early 2000s that either an alleged victim or his father had complained that he had been sexually abused.
Rabbi Glick, who still teaches at Yeshivah College, said he had suspected at the
time that Cyprys was the alleged molester. ''It's a small community - you can hardly sneeze without everybody knowing about it,'' he said.
''There were all sorts of rumours flying around, and I suspected at the time it was David Cyprys. Rabbi Groner may even have told me it was David Cyprys, I don't recall.''
Magistrate Luisa Bazzani asked whether the rumours had resulted in a requirement that Cyprys be supervised around children at activities such as camps and martial arts lessons, where the abuse is alleged to have occurred.
But Rabbi Glick said Cyprys had no longer been involved in these activities when the rumours were circulating. ''He was already married. I don't think he was involved in camps or anything of that sort.''
However, he said Cyprys had been a security guard at the Yeshivah Centre in St Kilda East, which includes the school, for a few years from 2000.
''I did not believe that Rabbi Groner would have allowed him to act as a security guard unless he felt that he was currently not a threat to anyone,'' Rabbi Glick said in his statement. He said that since making his statement he remembered receiving a call from Rabbi Groner shortly before his death in 2008.
''He said to me that he had been approached by a mother who advised him her child had been molested by David Cyprys. She was agitated, she was threatening to take police action. He called me to ask me if I had knowledge of that. I said I had no knowledge of that.''
Rabbi Glick said he also wanted to clarify his statement that he had no recollection of any child or parent making a complaint to him about Cyprys molesting children. In fact, he said, he had no recollection of complaints made while he was principal from 1986 to 2007, but last year a man had advised him he had been molested at a camp when he was a child.
''What I'm clarifying is that report to me was made to me last year when I was no longer principal. It wouldn't be true to say the report was never made to me,'' he said.
Meanwhile, David Kramer, a former friend of Cyprys, said in a witness statement that Cyprys had told him he was having a relationship with an alleged victim, who was aged between 11 and 14 when the alleged abuse occurred. (Mr Kramer is not the same man as the convicted paedophile and former Yeshivah College teacher of the same name, whom police are seeking to extradite from the US.)
''What he said was sickening to me but appeared normal to him. The way David approached the subject was as if he was speaking about an adult female,'' he said.
Mr Kramer said in the statement that Cyprys had told him Rabbi Groner was aware of the situation.
The case before Ms Bazzani continues.
___________________________________________________________________________________
BY ROBERT PATRICK
St Louis Today - Friday, May 18, 2012 12:05 am
ST. LOUIS • A man recently released from a seven-year prison term is fighting an attempt by Australia to extradite him to face allegations he abused students he taught there at least 20 years ago.
David Kramer, now 51, is due in U.S. District Court in St. Louis today for a hearing prompted by allegations involving his tenure at a school in St. Kilda, a Melbourne suburb.
Australia's extradition documents claim Kramer fondled or otherwise indecently assaulted four boys, 10 and 11, from 1989-92, both in and out of school. One former student accused him of hundreds of incidents. In December, he was charged with multiple counts of indecent assault and indecent acts.
"Mr. Kramer vehemently denies everything coming out of Australia," responded one of his lawyers here, Matthew Chase.
"They never bothered to charge him with a crime until December just past," Chase said. "Kind of makes you wonder why they never bothered. Perhaps because there really wasn't anything there."
Court documents say an outsider contacted by the school approached Kramer, who allegedly admitted 'sexually abusing the children, but indicated ... that the children had initiated the touching, and that they enjoyed it, and that no harm had been done."
Kramer was dismissed from the school, the documents say.
Chase said Kramer really departed because of an error that left him accused of overstaying his visa by eight months. He went to Israel in 1992 and spent almost a decade there before moving to the St. Louis area, Chase said.
Kramer was born in the U.S. but also has Israeli citizenship, Chase said. Court documents say Kramer is separated and has 11 children.
In 2007, St. Louis County prosecutors charged Kramer with sexual misconduct and statutory sodomy, claiming he fondled a 12-year-old boy and masturbated in front of him in an apartment in University City. Kramer pleaded guilty in 2008 and was sentenced to seven years in prison. Officials said the local episode did not involve teaching or a school.
In court filings, Assistant U.S. Attorney John Ware said that there are no grounds to release Kramer on bail, and sufficient evidence to have him extradited. A relative rarity of international extradition cases here has lawyers studying the law, Chase said.
"I can't claim to be an expert on this," he explained. "There's nobody (in St. Louis) who is an expert on this."
Jennifer Mann of the Post-Dispatch contributed to this report.
__________________________________________________________________________________
Nowhere left to hide
By Malki Rose
July 5, 2012
http://galusaustralis.com/2011/07/4749/nowhere-left-to-hide/
Perhaps the single most distressing thing about the David Kramer case, is not how many Yeshiva College students he preyed upon, or that he was quietly shipped out of Yeshiva and sent packing to the USA to strike again, but the fact that it took a shocking 18 years for issue to truly come to light and Victoria Police attention.
Those not affiliated with Chabad or Yeshiva continue to be mortified at its handling of the situation
Some of us in the Yeshiva/Beth Rivkah community ourselves in secondary school at the time had varying degrees of awareness of David Kramer, but others also an awareness of what was transpiring with our Yeshiva counterparts.
For some reason the early years of secondary school seemed to be plagued with incidents of sexual predators near and around our quaint school community.
The first incident in my memory was in year eight. Our first floor classroom window looked out over Balaclava Road and for some time our Jewish studies class was interrupted by peels of laughter from those who had happened to be staring out the window at the man in the flats across the road who made it a regular hobby of his to stand at his window and expose himself to onlooking students. Our teacher would advise us to stop laughing and “grow up”. When it continued to go on we were advised to “ignore it”.
In the next few years our class, our school, and our community would unfortunately come to be shaken by several other far more serious and terrifying incidents of sexual predatory behaviour, not just involving those of Yeshiva Beth Rivkah but also the Adass and Beth HaTalmud community and the Yavneh Mizrachi community. Some of the incidents involved predatory strangers and some of them involved known individuals in our community, people who prayed in our synagogues, but preyed on our children.
How did we know this? Simply because victims spoke up. Initially.
And those who had been preyed upon by strange ‘park paedophiles’ in Greenmeadows Park or the “guy with the red car who parked on Springfield avenue”…. those kids, they were the lucky ones.
Their reports and their complaints could be handed to their teachers, to their parents, to community leaders, and of course to the police and were publicised and dealt with as soon as was practical and in the strongest possible terms.
These external predators would not be allowed to get away with their preying on Jewish kids.
But these kids were not in the majority.
The majority were kids who were trapped. Trapped because no sooner had they found the courage to mention to a friend, teacher or counsellor, than were they summarily doubted.
They would find the courage to finally explain to someone why they had not been at school, why they were falling asleep in classes, why they had been slitting their wrists or why they just didn’t want to go home. The counsellors would always, to their credit take these matters seriously. But it would take little more than a flippant denial from the alleged predator or a remark from someone high up in the community that the child had an “active imagination” or was just “crying for attention” to put the matter to rest.
These predators are people in positions of responsibility in our community, within the walls we ironically build to keep danger out.
Most of these cases have never been reported to the police. They were briefly “dealt with” internally and then never spoken of again. Neither the predators nor the victims have ever seen a day of justice, while the pain lingers, forever affecting every day of their lives, their relationships, careers, and functioning. These children have grown into fractured adults and the predators continue to deceive the outside world. Nothing has been learned.
In 2008 when the case of Malka Leifer, the principal of Adass, came to media attention, the shame it brought to the community was not because we had an alleged predator in our midst. (To paraphrase the Lubavitcher Rebbe, ‘the Jewish community is not different’) Rather the abhorrent shame was in the management of the situation. To pack a suspected child predator onto a plane, (not for the first time in our community) laden with community funding and send them off to a place where they can continue to harm others, reeks of a kind of evil that it is hard to imagine even exists.
Those outside of the Adass community shook their heads. Just as with the Kramer case.
It is one kind of evil to be a human being who inflicts harm on a child, but it is an altogether different and possibly worse kind of evil to facilitate and enable the predator. So far our community has demonstrated that it is more than capable of both.
But this is not a problem of the Adass community, nor of the Yeshiva community. It is not even limited to the Orthodox community and certainly not to the Jewish community.
This issue is the significant and burdensome responsibility of the entire community. A responsibility which too many have shirked as that of “the other” for far too long.
For many years the Jewish Taskforce Against Family Violence (JTAFV), which has sought to involve the community at every level in taking responsibility, has been working hard to develop new programs to protect victims of abuse in all its forms.
JTAFV director Sheiny New advised “after many intensive development seminars with overseas and local specialists, we have created and now implemented an education programme for schools; something which we are encouraging all the schools integrate into their curriculum which can help equip the children, in an age appropriate, non-alarmist way, with the information and skills they need to protect themselves from sexual predators. So far it has been introduced successfully in several schools and we’ve had a great response.”
It is understood that not all the Jewish schools have been willing to introduce the program.
But the two greatest obstacles to protecting our children appear to be the demonising or doubting of the child, and allowing the reputations of notable community members to precede the rights of the child.
The predators so far have won. They are predominantly individuals of standing, people who are known and who hold positions of responsibility in our community, people who have the respect of our leaders.
This is the single greatest threat to our children’s safety. How can even the bravest young person find the courage to come out and say that one of these individuals are harming them? Who would believe them?
Detective Scott Dwyer of the Victoria Police remarked “People in positions of responsibility or power who abuse are often the most insidious. Their power over people, over children, means they can be even more dangerous and they have the ability to cause a lot more harm”.
If a predator is a rabbi, a therapist, a teacher or a leader, then we trust them. They hold the lives of so many in their hands and can manipulate them to their advantage.
So many victims would not dare speak out, believing that their story or complaint would never be believed over that of someone with a good reputation or strong standing in the Jewish or greater community.
Aside from the issue of reputation, victims also worry that nobody will believe them because the person they are naming “Is so lovely”, or “Such an active member of the community”, or “Someone everyone trusts implicitly”.
Parents and carers need to be aware that predators more often than not are warm, charismatic, and well-liked individuals. Rarely do they have teeth hanging out of their heads and “something dodgy about them”. They are almost always “not someone you would suspect”.
It has been 18 years since Kramer was sent packing and now for the first time in our communities history, the police are finally involved.
His victims can breath a sigh of relief that justice is and will continue to be served.
But what if something had been done many years ago, what if the school authorities had seen fit to confront the problem instead of handballing it to the USA where Kramer could victimise more children?
What have we learnt from the Kramer case? Or indeed from the non-existent Leifer case? That the only reason the Kramer case exists is because someone stepped forward.
Leifer’s name and whereabouts are known, there is no reason she could not be extradited to Australia tomorrow. But there is no complaint. Nobody will step forward because nobody wants to soil their reputation or that of their family.
Instead people would prefer to live comfortably with the knowledge that the person who abused them or their child is somewhere else, abusing someone else’s children and ruining other lives. But not theirs.
Since the story of Kramer broke in the Australian media some two weeks ago, the Victorian Police have announced that they are seeking any and all information from anyone who may have also been a victim of Kramer, so that they may be able to prosecute him in Australia should he be granted parole in April next year. This is fantastic.
But more importantly, the Police are also seeking information regarding other predators or other incidents that have not been dealt with to date.
A notice from the Victoria Police has been distributed throughout the Jewish community, including on websites and blogs, through email lists, letterbox drops and of course via the Yeshiva mailing system.
In writing this article 11 different people were spoken with, who have stated that they have claims or are victims of or witnesses to molestation. Every single one of them insisted on not being named. Only two of them are currently working with the police to bring in the perpetrators. The other nine (three of which are rethinking the prospect of filing a report) feel that nothing will be done and that they will not be believed; some also felt that coming forward poses too many risks to their family.
Maintaining a cone of silence only means providing a thick cloak of protection under which predators can hide, safe in the knowledge that nobody would dare ever step forward and name them.
But luckily this is no longer the case.
Detective Dwyer has advised that people in the Jewish community are at long last coming forward and that every single complaint is being treated with the utmost seriousness, confidentiality, and respect.
“At the moment we have 15 separate cases being investigated. In addition to this, we also have several other names that have been nominated as potential sexual predators, with limited information and we will be making further enquiries into those individuals as well.”
The Rabbinical Council of Victoria has instructed the community to co-operate wherever possible with the police and Rabbi Telsner has also reassured members of the Yeshiva community in a recent address that cases such as this do not fall into the category of mesira and that people should come forward to assist police wherever possible.
This is not a unique problem, not a religious problem, and not a problem of the corrupt outside world. It is an all too common universal problem. Not one person can say it is “Not my problem” or “Did you hear what happened in that community?”
Parents, victims or other witnesses who are afraid to come forward and make a report need to ask themselves this tough question.
If I, or my child, were to be in the presence of this individual and someone knew but did not tell me that they were a known sexual predator… how would this make me feel? Moreover, how would I feel once I found out the hard way? And how do I live with myself knowing that this could have been prevented had I have spoken up?
Let it not take another 18 years to bring to trial current predators living in our midst.
For related content, see David Werdiger’s article on stigma.
If you or anyone you know has information regarding a sexual assault, recent or not, we urge those with information to please either contact crimestoppers on 1800 333 00, or contact Detective Scott Dwyer at the Moorabbin Sexual Offences Unit directly on 9556 6128 or mobile 0414 181 311.
All complaints are completely confidential.
___________________________________________________________________________________
INSIDE STORY EXCLUSIVE
By Kate Legge
The Australian July 16, 2011 12:00AM
AN orthodox Jewish boys college in Melbourne continued to allow a trusted member of the community access to its campus, years after he pleaded guilty to a charge of indecent assault against a teenage student at the school.
The case has emerged in a new police investigation into pedophile activities at Yeshivah College between 1989 and 1993. Former students are coming forward with allegations that have rocked the Jewish community in St Kilda East, where black-clad, bearded Hasidic worshippers cut a distinctive presence on the streets. Their signed statements point to multiple offenders and blame a school hierarchy unwilling to flush them out.
Police records reveal that a Yeshivah College representative was interviewed in December 1991 soon after a boy complained he had been molested several times by a trusted mentoring figure heavily involved in extracurricular activities, who frequently mixed with students on the school's premises. According to the teenage victim, now living interstate, the mentor was assigned to him in "a caretaker role" when he arrived in Melbourne.
No conviction was recorded when the case went to court in 1992 and the offender was released on a promise of good behaviour with a fine of $1500.
Past and present parents of Yeshivah College are furious the school took no action to bar the offender from the school in Hotham Street at the heart of Melbourne's Jewish community, where security patrols orthodox premises alert for external threats.
One parent this week lamented the awful irony of a greater risk to children's safety behind the school's fortified perimeter.
Fresh complaints about the offender have come to light since Victorian police last month began probing sexual assault at the college during a four-year period 20 years ago.
Yeshivah College principal Yehoshua Smukler declined to answer questions from The Weekend Australian about the man's present relationship with the school. An update to parents last week expressed sympathy "for those who may have been affected" and reinforced the school's commitment "to a safe and nurturing environment where students, staff and parents feel comfortable to come forward with any concerns".
Rabbi Smukler insists the latest allegations "do not relate to a member of staff".
Documents pertinent to the man's occupation name the Yeshivah Centre, which runs the school, as his employer. He refused to be interviewed and would not respond to questions.
"I have done nothing wrong and I have nothing further to say to you," he said.
The new police investigation was driven by accusations against former Yeshivah teacher David Kramer, now behind bars for sexually abusing a child in the US, who was spirited out of Australia in 1993 after several students alleged they had been molested by him, prompting outraged parents to demand his removal.
The then chairman of the school's executive, Harry Cooper, this week confirmed that Kramer was flown to Israel at the school's expense. Parents were offered counselling but no one reported the allegations to the police.
Cooper, who lives in Israel, told The Weekend Australian: "At the request of the parents, we shipped him off. I remember it vividly."
He said he was aware of another allegation against an individual at the school, but "I don't think he was on the payroll".
Asked why the school helped Kramer leave the country without reporting him to the police, Cooper said: "It was a different world then. But we didn't give him any references. When a school in Israel asked for one, we told them of the allegations."
Kramer later went to the US, where he was convicted in 2008 after pleading guilty to sexual abuse of a 12-year-old boy at a synagogue in Missouri and sentenced to seven years' jail.
The mother of a former student who made allegations against Kramer believes the school authorities were aware of the problem.
"Of course they knew about it," the mother said. "They organised for me to see a counsellor. Yeshivah should have done something at the time -- I don't know why they didn't." Melbourne's Jewish community is close-knit. Attempts at transparency by the parents of former students have been frustrated by historical loyalty to religious codes, such as the "mesirah", which discourages members from reporting crimes to police, and the "arka'ot" prohibiting use of secular courts. Although a ruling last year by Victorian rabbis forbids followers to remain silent in cases of sexual abuse, many victims have been paralysed by an insidious fear of reprisal if they co-operate with civil authorities.
Soon after police appealed for co-operation, one of Yeshivah's religious leaders, Zvi Telsner, upset some in the community when his Saturday sermon drew on a biblical episode warning of the dangers of gossip and slander. Rabbi Telsner later dismissed any suggestion he was discouraging informers as "absolute rubbish".
In comments to Australian Jewish News, he called on the Yeshivah community to unite and help each other rather than "sending emails around and making trouble".
A concerned parent had emailed members of the community 24 hours earlier urging them to speak up. "Many in the community have been aware of these allegations for an extended period," the parent wrote. "We must ensure a full, thorough and proper investigation is conducted, and those who took advantage of our children are held to account".
This view is not universal. "Unless you know very specific details about a particular case, you may not inform the authorities, and anyone may kill you to prevent you doing so," was the comment on one Jewish blog where debate has raged for weeks over how to manage a problem hidden for years and now erupting with the same ferocity that shook up the Catholic and Anglican churches.
Rabbis from the New York headquarters of the orthodox Chabad sect associated with Yeshivah met this week as tensions mounted over how best to handle recent "severe incidents of child abuse".
They issued a sternly worded edict demanding openness to "eradicate evil from our midst".
Yeshivah College was first informed by police of sexual abuse allegations in 1991 before the introduction of mandatory reporting two years later. In 1993, the school dealt with allegations against Kramer. In 1996, another former student, Manny Waks, made a statement to police detailing multiple allegations of abuse between 1989 and 1991. He implicated the same individual who pleaded guilty to indecent assault in 1992 as well as another religious figure now living in the US.
The abuse began when Mr Waks was 12 and continued for two years.
This 1996 brief is one of several "cold" cases police are revisiting. Detective Acting Sergeant Scott Dwyer, who leads the latest inquiry, confirmed this week that "older matters" were being examined. Mr Waks, now 35, says he informed Yitzchok Groner, then Yeshivah's spiritual head, of his allegations in 1996. Rabbi Groner died in 2008.
The offender who pleaded guilty in court won the confidence of boys through his participation in school activities. He allegedly lured Mr Waks into the bath house at the rear of the college, where worshippers strip for ritual cleansing, and molested him in the water.
The teenager involved in the 1992 court case this week recalled having hypnosis and therapy to recover from being molested inside the bath house and at two other locations. He remembered the man warning him: "You can tell the school anything you like, they'll do nothing. I've got something on them."
" He was supposed to be looking after me. My trust was abused."
Now in his 30s, the former student wants to remain anonymous. When he complained to the school, he said "they accused me of lying". Twenty years later, he's fearful of publicity that might jeopardise his employment.
Several other former students who claim they were molested by this individual spoke to The Weekend Australian of the shame that had kept them quiet. One who had confided only in his wife took weeks to pluck up courage for a police interview. His sworn statement alleges the same man molested him in a deadlocked classroom when he was about 11 years old.
"I don't recall how it stopped or how long it went on for," he said. "I just remember it seemed to last forever. When it was over, I recall (him) expressly warning me that I was not allowed to tell anyone or he would hurt me."
He told police the man's activities were an "open secret but his rights were never curtailed, nor was he punished or publicly shunned".
He disclosed that "the most important reason I never came forward in my adult years was
(I was worried) that if I were to do so, I would be excommunicated from the community".
The perception of power and influence continues to worry people today.
Mr Waks, the only person so far prepared to speak publicly, says he has not received any counselling or pastoral support from the school. He now lives in Canberra. Others reside in their childhood neighbourhood. They worship at the Yeshivah synagogue. Some have sons at the school.
Mr Waks welcomed the "long overdue" expression of sympathy this week from the Yeshivah Centre as "first steps".
"There is still much more they need to do in this devastating episode," he said. "Yeshivah still needs to be held accountable for (failing to prevent) the years of abuse that has impacted upon the lives of so many people. I intend to do just that."
He has been patient enough. His first efforts to alert Rabbi Groner to the problem in 1996 achieved nothing. Four years later, Mr Waks alleges he was walking past the school gates and saw the man standing outside "smirking" at him.
"It made my blood boil," he said. "I went to Rabbi Groner's office. I said: 'You've got this person here and we all know what he's done. He's in a position of authority; he has access to children.' Rabbi Groner pleaded with me not take it further."
Angst within the community over Rabbi Groner's legacy divides the Jewish blogosphere. Mr Waks's character has been assassinated. Pini Althaus, whose father is a Yeshivah trustee, posted comments defending Rabbi Groner's "zero tolerance" and describing the school's preferred modus operandi.
"The rare cases that did transpire were dealt with swiftly," Mr Althaus said. "Rabbi Groner gave them the choice to leave the country immediately or face criminal action. In retrospect, perhaps the latter would have been more appropriate; however, this was not the 'culture' at that time to turn someone in to the authorities."
Mr Althaus alludes to another individual he says should have been barred from the school grounds. "We all knew growing up then, one doesn't get into a car with this person, spend time alone with this person, etc. This was a given to us all."
Acting Sergeant Dwyer said yesterday he had received a flood of responses to his call for students to come forward. "Many haven't ever told their families," he says. "Some who did were told, 'We'll never speak of this again' . . . This is what you're up against. Those who have walked away from the religion find it easier."
___________________________________________________________________________________
Jewish day school apologizes to child sex abuse victims
JTA - August 22, 2012
JTA - August 22, 2012
SYDNEY, Australia (JTA) -- The Orthodox Jewish school in Melbourne embroiled in a child sex abuse scandal apologized “unreservedly” to the victims.
The apology, issued Monday in a letter from the head of the Yeshivah College and the head of the Yeshivah Center, which houses the headquarters of Chabad-Lubavitch in Melbourne, said: “We understand and appreciate that there are victims who feel aggrieved and we sincerely and unreservedly apologize for any historical wrongs that may have occurred.”
Outlining safety measures the college had taken, the letter said it “wants to make it absolutely clear that we condemn sexual abuse in any form.”
It comes six weeks after a judge ordered David Cyprys, a former security guard contracted to the college, to stand trial next year for multiple child sex abuse charges allegedly perpetrated over two decades ago on 12 students – three of whom now reside in America.
Manny Waks, the only Australian-based victim who has spoken publicly, said that the apology was “an important milestone.”
“The other past victims and I sought recognition of the ongoing and serious sexual abuse we suffered from the very institution that we hold partly responsible for that abuse. Today’s statement by the Yeshivah leadership is an acknowledgement of the abuse we suffered,” he said.
But the apology is “only a first step,” he continued.
“The reality is that Yeshivah has not apologized for their despicable behavior over the past year,” Waks said. He also criticized the letter’s claim that they are cooperating with police even though detectives had accused the college of a cover-up in court.
One blogger slammed the letter as a “lawyer-drafted piece of propaganda” and a “non-apology apology” that “does not include an admission of guilt.”
Moves are afoot to extradite David Kramer, a convicted pedophile in America, over allegations he committed child sexual abuse at Yeshivah College in the 1980s. Kramer taught at the college.
___________________________________________________________________________________
U.S. court clears path for extradition to Australia of alleged sex abuser
JTA - November 8, 2012
SYDNEY (JTA) – A U.S. judge cleared the way for the extradition to Australia of a man wanted in connection with alleged child sex abuse at a Jewish school.
David Kramer, 51, a dual Israeli-American national, is accused of sexually abusing students at the Yeshivah College in Melbourne between 1989 and 1993.
A judge in St. Louis, Mo., sustained the motion for Kramer's extradition on Oct. 2 and U.S. marshals moved Kramer to Texas on Oct. 26, apparently in preparation to transfer him to Australia, JTA has learned.
Parents at Yeshivah College, an Orthodox boys' school that is run under the auspices of Chabad-Lubavitch movement, accuse school officials of helping Kramer flee Australia in 1993 after complaints were raised about the alleged sexual abuse of students. The allegations were not reported to police at the time.
Kramer went to Israel and then America, where he was jailed in 2008 after pleading guilty to molesting a 12-year-old boy at a synagogue in Missouri.
Kramer was arrested on April 23 in response to Australia’s application for his extradition, a spokesman for the Australian Attorney General's department told JTA.
"David Kramer is wanted by authorities of the Australian state of Victoria to face prosecution for the offenses of indecent assault and indecent acts with a child under the age of 16," the spokesman said, adding that was the government's "longstanding policy not to comment on operational matters, including the timing or logistics of potential surrenders."
Meanwhile, David Cyprys, a former security guard contracted to Yeshivah College, will stand trial in July on multiple counts of child molestation, including child rape. He has pleaded not guilty to the charges against 12 defendants who were students at Yeshivah College in the 1980s. Three of them now live in the United States.
___________________________________________________________________________________
Principal at Aussie school under fire sees child sex abuse inquiry as ‘welcome step’
The apology, issued Monday in a letter from the head of the Yeshivah College and the head of the Yeshivah Center, which houses the headquarters of Chabad-Lubavitch in Melbourne, said: “We understand and appreciate that there are victims who feel aggrieved and we sincerely and unreservedly apologize for any historical wrongs that may have occurred.”
Outlining safety measures the college had taken, the letter said it “wants to make it absolutely clear that we condemn sexual abuse in any form.”
It comes six weeks after a judge ordered David Cyprys, a former security guard contracted to the college, to stand trial next year for multiple child sex abuse charges allegedly perpetrated over two decades ago on 12 students – three of whom now reside in America.
Manny Waks, the only Australian-based victim who has spoken publicly, said that the apology was “an important milestone.”
“The other past victims and I sought recognition of the ongoing and serious sexual abuse we suffered from the very institution that we hold partly responsible for that abuse. Today’s statement by the Yeshivah leadership is an acknowledgement of the abuse we suffered,” he said.
But the apology is “only a first step,” he continued.
“The reality is that Yeshivah has not apologized for their despicable behavior over the past year,” Waks said. He also criticized the letter’s claim that they are cooperating with police even though detectives had accused the college of a cover-up in court.
One blogger slammed the letter as a “lawyer-drafted piece of propaganda” and a “non-apology apology” that “does not include an admission of guilt.”
Moves are afoot to extradite David Kramer, a convicted pedophile in America, over allegations he committed child sexual abuse at Yeshivah College in the 1980s. Kramer taught at the college.
___________________________________________________________________________________
U.S. court clears path for extradition to Australia of alleged sex abuser
JTA - November 8, 2012
SYDNEY (JTA) – A U.S. judge cleared the way for the extradition to Australia of a man wanted in connection with alleged child sex abuse at a Jewish school.
David Kramer, 51, a dual Israeli-American national, is accused of sexually abusing students at the Yeshivah College in Melbourne between 1989 and 1993.
A judge in St. Louis, Mo., sustained the motion for Kramer's extradition on Oct. 2 and U.S. marshals moved Kramer to Texas on Oct. 26, apparently in preparation to transfer him to Australia, JTA has learned.
Parents at Yeshivah College, an Orthodox boys' school that is run under the auspices of Chabad-Lubavitch movement, accuse school officials of helping Kramer flee Australia in 1993 after complaints were raised about the alleged sexual abuse of students. The allegations were not reported to police at the time.
Kramer went to Israel and then America, where he was jailed in 2008 after pleading guilty to molesting a 12-year-old boy at a synagogue in Missouri.
Kramer was arrested on April 23 in response to Australia’s application for his extradition, a spokesman for the Australian Attorney General's department told JTA.
"David Kramer is wanted by authorities of the Australian state of Victoria to face prosecution for the offenses of indecent assault and indecent acts with a child under the age of 16," the spokesman said, adding that was the government's "longstanding policy not to comment on operational matters, including the timing or logistics of potential surrenders."
Meanwhile, David Cyprys, a former security guard contracted to Yeshivah College, will stand trial in July on multiple counts of child molestation, including child rape. He has pleaded not guilty to the charges against 12 defendants who were students at Yeshivah College in the 1980s. Three of them now live in the United States.
Principal at Aussie school under fire sees child sex abuse inquiry as ‘welcome step’
JTA - November 14, 2012
SYDNEY (JTA) -- The launch of a commission to investigate child sex
abuse was welcomed by the principal of an Australian Jewish school whose
students allegedly were victimized.
Prime Minister Julia Gillard said Monday that the royal commission -- or public inquiry -- would look into children under the care of religious organizations and focus on the response of the institutions to the alleged sex abuse cases. She called child sex abuse "vile and evil."
Yeshivah College, an Orthodox school run by Chabad in Melbourne, has been at the center of controversy since allegations broke last year that its students had been victims of sexual abuse.
Its principal, Rabbi Yehoshua Smukler, issued a statement Wednesday saying that “Child abuse is abhorrent and has a traumatic consequences for victims and their families. Victims of abuse deserve support and closure, and a royal commission is a very positive and welcome step.”
Manny Waks, a spokesman for alleged victims who claims he was abused as a student at Yeshivah College, said that “I’m receiving more and more allegations of child sexual abuse coming from the Melbourne, Sydney and Perth Jewish communities. Some are alleged to have occurred years ago, while others as recent as the past few years.”
One alleged perpetrator, David Cyprys, is standing trial next year on numerous counts of child sex abuse against former students of Yeshivah College from the 1980s. Another alleged perpetrator, David Kramer, is awaiting extradition from America to Australia, where he is wanted by police who are investigating allegations that he also committed child sex abuse while he taught at Yeshivah College between 1989 and 1993.
Malka Leifer, a former principal of the Adass Israel School in Melbourne, fled the country for Israel in 2008 amid allegations that she sexually abused female students.
___________________________________________________________________________________
U.S. extradites alleged Chabad day school abuser to Australia
JTA - December 2, 2012
David Kramer was surrendered by U.S. authorities on November 29 and extradited to Melbourne, where he is accused of sexually abusing children at Yeshivah College between 1989 and 1992, when he was a teacher at the Chabad-run boys' school.
SYDNEY, Australia - An American Jew was extradited to Australia and charged with multiple counts of indecent assault and indecent acts with a minor at an Orthodox Jewish school.
David Kramer was surrendered by U.S. authorities on November 29 and extradited to Melbourne, where he is accused of sexually abusing children at Yeshivah College between 1989 and 1992, when he was a teacher at the Chabad-run boys' school.
The 52-year-old was remanded in custody and is scheduled to appear in court today to face 10 counts of indecent assault on minors and two counts of indecent acts with a child under 16, a Victoria Police statement said.
Manny Waks, a spokesperson for the alleged Jewish victims of child abuse in Australia, said: "I'm delighted that David Kramer has been extradited to Australia to face justice. Not I nor any of his victims that I've been in contact with ever really expected this day to arrive. It's an important day for the victims and for the entire Jewish community."
The chairman of the College Board at the time, Harry Cooper, confirmed to The Australian newspaper last year that the Yeshivah Center, which houses the Chabad headquarters in Melbourne, shipped Kramer off to Israel without reporting him to police soon after allegations against him emerged.
Kramer later went to the United States, where he was convicted and sentenced in 2008 to seven years in jail for sodomizing a 12-year-old boy in a synagogue in St Louis.
Earlier this year the Yeshivah Center "unreservedly" apologized to the victims for any "historical wrongs" they had been done.
Last week the president of the Executive Council of Australian Jewry met its leaders and received a "comprehensive briefing" about the college's policies, processes and programs to prevent abuse and ensure allegations are reported to authorities.
___________________________________________________________________________________
JTA - December 4, 2012
SYDNEY (JTA) -- An American citizen who is accused of child sex abuse at an Orthodox Jewish school in Australia appeared in court.
David Kramer, 52, in Melbourne Magistrates' Court on Monday did not speak and did not apply for bail, according to local media reports. Kramer was not required to enter a plea. He was remanded into custody until Jan.18.
As he left the court, Manny Waks, a spokesman for alleged Jewish victims of child sex abuse, shouted from the gallery, "Welcome back to Australia, Rabbi Kramer." Waks apologized to the court for heckling, local media reported.
Upon his arrival in Australia after being surrendered by U.S. authorities last week, Kramer was arrested and charged with 10 counts of indecent assault and two counts of indecent acts with a child under the age of 16.
The incidents are alleged to have taken place at Yeshivah College, a Chabad-run school, between 1989 and 1992.
Kramer, who was jailed in the United States in 2008 for sodomizing a 12-year-old boy at a Missouri synagogue, is one of three men embroiled in child sex abuse scandals inside the Jewish community. ___________________________________________________________________________________
Yeshivah rabbi fronts court
By Pia Akerman
The Australian - December 4, 2012
A RABBI accused of sexually
assaulting students at a Jewish school in Melbourne has appeared in
court following his extradition from the US.
David Kramer, a 52-year old American citizen who was living in Missouri, was surrendered by US authorities last week and flown back to Melbourne, where he has not lived since the 1990s.
A Victorian warrant was issued for his arrest last year amid allegations he abused four boys while teaching at Yeshivah College in St Kilda East between 1990 and 1992.
He was arrested in the US in April and unsuccessfully fought the extradition order through the courts.
He is one of two former Yeshivah College employees facing separate child sexual abuse charges.
Former school security guard David Cyprys is due to stand trial in July on charges of child rape and other sexual abuse against 12 students in the 1980s.
Mr Kramer has been charged with 10 counts of indecent assault and two counts of indecent acts with a child under the age of 16.
Dressed in a baggy white T-shirt with a greying beard, Mr Kramer was not required to enter a plea and did not speak during a brief hearing in the Melbourne Magistrates Court yesterday.
He did not apply for bail.
As Mr Kramer stood to leave the dock, former Yeshivah student and victims advocate Manny Waks called from the public gallery: "Welcome back to Australia, Rabbi Kramer."
Mr Waks quickly apologised to the court for his comment.
Mr Kramer will face court again next month.
_______________________________________________________________________________
Rabbi pleads guilty to child sex abuse
By Sarah Farnsworth
ABC News - April 12, 2013
CLICK HERE: TO WATCH VIDEO
_______________________________________________________________________________
_______________________________________________________________________________
FAIR USE NOTICE
Some of the information on The Awareness Center's web pages may contain copyrighted material the use of which has not always been specifically authorized by the copyright owner. I am making such material available in my efforts to advance understanding of environmental, political, human rights, economic, democracy, scientific, and social justice issues, etc.
I believe this constitutes a 'fair use' of any such copyrighted material as provided for in section 107 of the US Copyright Law. In accordance with Title 17 U.S.C. Section 107, the material on this site is distributed without profit to those who have expressed a prior interest in receiving the included information for research and educational purposes.
For more information go to: http://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/17/107.shtml . If you wish to use copyrighted material from this update for purposes of your own that go beyond 'fair use', you must obtain permission from the copyright owner.
Prime Minister Julia Gillard said Monday that the royal commission -- or public inquiry -- would look into children under the care of religious organizations and focus on the response of the institutions to the alleged sex abuse cases. She called child sex abuse "vile and evil."
Yeshivah College, an Orthodox school run by Chabad in Melbourne, has been at the center of controversy since allegations broke last year that its students had been victims of sexual abuse.
Its principal, Rabbi Yehoshua Smukler, issued a statement Wednesday saying that “Child abuse is abhorrent and has a traumatic consequences for victims and their families. Victims of abuse deserve support and closure, and a royal commission is a very positive and welcome step.”
Manny Waks, a spokesman for alleged victims who claims he was abused as a student at Yeshivah College, said that “I’m receiving more and more allegations of child sexual abuse coming from the Melbourne, Sydney and Perth Jewish communities. Some are alleged to have occurred years ago, while others as recent as the past few years.”
One alleged perpetrator, David Cyprys, is standing trial next year on numerous counts of child sex abuse against former students of Yeshivah College from the 1980s. Another alleged perpetrator, David Kramer, is awaiting extradition from America to Australia, where he is wanted by police who are investigating allegations that he also committed child sex abuse while he taught at Yeshivah College between 1989 and 1993.
Malka Leifer, a former principal of the Adass Israel School in Melbourne, fled the country for Israel in 2008 amid allegations that she sexually abused female students.
___________________________________________________________________________________
U.S. extradites alleged Chabad day school abuser to Australia
JTA - December 2, 2012
David Kramer was surrendered by U.S. authorities on November 29 and extradited to Melbourne, where he is accused of sexually abusing children at Yeshivah College between 1989 and 1992, when he was a teacher at the Chabad-run boys' school.
SYDNEY, Australia - An American Jew was extradited to Australia and charged with multiple counts of indecent assault and indecent acts with a minor at an Orthodox Jewish school.
David Kramer was surrendered by U.S. authorities on November 29 and extradited to Melbourne, where he is accused of sexually abusing children at Yeshivah College between 1989 and 1992, when he was a teacher at the Chabad-run boys' school.
The 52-year-old was remanded in custody and is scheduled to appear in court today to face 10 counts of indecent assault on minors and two counts of indecent acts with a child under 16, a Victoria Police statement said.
Manny Waks, a spokesperson for the alleged Jewish victims of child abuse in Australia, said: "I'm delighted that David Kramer has been extradited to Australia to face justice. Not I nor any of his victims that I've been in contact with ever really expected this day to arrive. It's an important day for the victims and for the entire Jewish community."
The chairman of the College Board at the time, Harry Cooper, confirmed to The Australian newspaper last year that the Yeshivah Center, which houses the Chabad headquarters in Melbourne, shipped Kramer off to Israel without reporting him to police soon after allegations against him emerged.
Kramer later went to the United States, where he was convicted and sentenced in 2008 to seven years in jail for sodomizing a 12-year-old boy in a synagogue in St Louis.
Earlier this year the Yeshivah Center "unreservedly" apologized to the victims for any "historical wrongs" they had been done.
Last week the president of the Executive Council of Australian Jewry met its leaders and received a "comprehensive briefing" about the college's policies, processes and programs to prevent abuse and ensure allegations are reported to authorities.
___________________________________________________________________________________
Former Yeshiva College teacher David Kramer faces court on sex charges
By Shannon Deery
Herald Sun - December 3, 2012
A FORMER Melbourne school teacher extradited from the US after being charged with sex crimes has appeared in court.
David Kramer, 52, was extradited from the US at the weekend after being charged with 10 counts of indecent assault.
The former Yeshiva College teacher is also facing two charges of indecent acts with children under the age of 16.
The offences are alleged to have happened while he was a teacher at the college between 1989 and 1992.
Court documents reveal there are four alleged victims in relation to the charges.
Kramer appeared at the Melbourne Magistrates Court this morning for a brief filing hearing.
He did not speak during the short hearing but appeared shocked after Yeshivah child sexual abuse victim Manny Waks stood up and called out: "Welcome back to Australia Rabbi Kramer”.
Kramer left Australia in 1993 after several students alleged they had been molested by him.
He was arrested in the US in April in response to Australia's request for his extradition.
He was surrendered by US authorities on Thursday.
Senior Yeshivah College figures have previously confirmed they did not report allegations of abuse levelled at Kramer to police.
Instead they said they paid for him to relocate to Israel after angry parents demanded he leave the college.
Mr Waks, who was not abused by Kramer, said it was good to have the former teacher back in Australia to face the serious allegations.
"It will be hard for victims to relive their experience of abuse but they're determined to pursue the matter until justice is served,” he said.
Mr Waks, who has started Victoria's first Jewish support group for victims of sexual abuse, called on other victims to come forward.
Kramer was remanded in custody and ordered to reappear in court for a committal mention in January.
___________________________________________________________________________________
By Shannon Deery
Herald Sun - December 3, 2012
A FORMER Melbourne school teacher extradited from the US after being charged with sex crimes has appeared in court.
David Kramer faces a string of sex charges after being extradited from the United States. Picture: File
Supplied
The former Yeshiva College teacher is also facing two charges of indecent acts with children under the age of 16.
The offences are alleged to have happened while he was a teacher at the college between 1989 and 1992.
Court documents reveal there are four alleged victims in relation to the charges.
Kramer appeared at the Melbourne Magistrates Court this morning for a brief filing hearing.
He did not speak during the short hearing but appeared shocked after Yeshivah child sexual abuse victim Manny Waks stood up and called out: "Welcome back to Australia Rabbi Kramer”.
Kramer left Australia in 1993 after several students alleged they had been molested by him.
He was arrested in the US in April in response to Australia's request for his extradition.
He was surrendered by US authorities on Thursday.
Senior Yeshivah College figures have previously confirmed they did not report allegations of abuse levelled at Kramer to police.
Instead they said they paid for him to relocate to Israel after angry parents demanded he leave the college.
Mr Waks, who was not abused by Kramer, said it was good to have the former teacher back in Australia to face the serious allegations.
"It will be hard for victims to relive their experience of abuse but they're determined to pursue the matter until justice is served,” he said.
Mr Waks, who has started Victoria's first Jewish support group for victims of sexual abuse, called on other victims to come forward.
Kramer was remanded in custody and ordered to reappear in court for a committal mention in January.
___________________________________________________________________________________
Former Jewish school teacher faces court
9 News - December 3, 2012
A former teacher at a Jewish Orthodox school has faced court in Melbourne over indecent assaults allegedly committed more than a decade ago.
US national David Kramer, 52, was extradited from the US state of Missouri on Thursday, and faced 10 charges of indecent assault and two charges of an indecent act with a child under the age of 16.
The offences are all alleged to have occurred against three victims over two years between January 1990 and February 1992, when Kramer was a teacher at Yeshivah College in St Kilda East.
He appeared in Melbourne Magistrates Court on Monday wearing a white T-shirt, spectacles and with a beard and moustache.
As he turned to leave the dock after a brief hearing in which no bail application was made, former Yeshivah student and victims advocate Manny Waks, 36, said "Welcome back to Australia Rabbi Kramer".
Mr Waks quickly apologised to the court for his comment.
Kramer was remanded to appear at the Melbourne Magistrates Court on January 18.
___________________________________________________________________________________
Jewish day school sex abuser charged, appears in court 9 News - December 3, 2012
A former teacher at a Jewish Orthodox school has faced court in Melbourne over indecent assaults allegedly committed more than a decade ago.
US national David Kramer, 52, was extradited from the US state of Missouri on Thursday, and faced 10 charges of indecent assault and two charges of an indecent act with a child under the age of 16.
The offences are all alleged to have occurred against three victims over two years between January 1990 and February 1992, when Kramer was a teacher at Yeshivah College in St Kilda East.
He appeared in Melbourne Magistrates Court on Monday wearing a white T-shirt, spectacles and with a beard and moustache.
As he turned to leave the dock after a brief hearing in which no bail application was made, former Yeshivah student and victims advocate Manny Waks, 36, said "Welcome back to Australia Rabbi Kramer".
Mr Waks quickly apologised to the court for his comment.
Kramer was remanded to appear at the Melbourne Magistrates Court on January 18.
___________________________________________________________________________________
JTA - December 4, 2012
SYDNEY (JTA) -- An American citizen who is accused of child sex abuse at an Orthodox Jewish school in Australia appeared in court.
David Kramer, 52, in Melbourne Magistrates' Court on Monday did not speak and did not apply for bail, according to local media reports. Kramer was not required to enter a plea. He was remanded into custody until Jan.18.
As he left the court, Manny Waks, a spokesman for alleged Jewish victims of child sex abuse, shouted from the gallery, "Welcome back to Australia, Rabbi Kramer." Waks apologized to the court for heckling, local media reported.
Upon his arrival in Australia after being surrendered by U.S. authorities last week, Kramer was arrested and charged with 10 counts of indecent assault and two counts of indecent acts with a child under the age of 16.
The incidents are alleged to have taken place at Yeshivah College, a Chabad-run school, between 1989 and 1992.
Kramer, who was jailed in the United States in 2008 for sodomizing a 12-year-old boy at a Missouri synagogue, is one of three men embroiled in child sex abuse scandals inside the Jewish community. ___________________________________________________________________________________
By Pia Akerman
The Australian - December 4, 2012
 |
| David Kramer allegedly assaulted students at Yeshivah College |
David Kramer, a 52-year old American citizen who was living in Missouri, was surrendered by US authorities last week and flown back to Melbourne, where he has not lived since the 1990s.
A Victorian warrant was issued for his arrest last year amid allegations he abused four boys while teaching at Yeshivah College in St Kilda East between 1990 and 1992.
He was arrested in the US in April and unsuccessfully fought the extradition order through the courts.
He is one of two former Yeshivah College employees facing separate child sexual abuse charges.
Former school security guard David Cyprys is due to stand trial in July on charges of child rape and other sexual abuse against 12 students in the 1980s.
Dressed in a baggy white T-shirt with a greying beard, Mr Kramer was not required to enter a plea and did not speak during a brief hearing in the Melbourne Magistrates Court yesterday.
He did not apply for bail.
As Mr Kramer stood to leave the dock, former Yeshivah student and victims advocate Manny Waks called from the public gallery: "Welcome back to Australia, Rabbi Kramer."
Mr Waks quickly apologised to the court for his comment.
Mr Kramer will face court again next month.
_______________________________________________________________________________
Rabbi pleads guilty to child sex abuse
By Sarah Farnsworth
ABC News - April 12, 2013
CLICK HERE: TO WATCH VIDEO
A rabbi who taught at a Jewish Orthodox boys' school in Melbourne has pleaded guilty to child sex abuse dating back 20 years.
David Kramer, 52, pleaded guilty in the Melbourne Magistrates Court to six charges of indecent assault for the sexual abuse of students at the Jewish orthodox Yeshiva College in St Kilda East between 1990 and 1992.
It is believed Kramer is the first member of a Jewish institution to admit to child sex abuse allegations in Australia.
Kramer fled overseas in the early 1990s when accusations of abuse were raised with the college.
He was sentenced to seven years in jail in the United States for abusing a 12-year-old boy.
Kramer was extradited to face charges in Australia last year.
An advocate for the victims, Manny Waks, says it is an important milestone for the victims and a watershed for the Australian Jewish community.
"Today's conviction will send out a strong message to our community: you will be brought to justice irrespective of how far back you committed these crimes," he said in a statement.
"There is no immunity.
"Hopefully it will encourage some of his many other alleged victims to come forward."
He says the victims that he has spoken to are feeling anxious but relieved that justice has finally been served.
"We hope and trust that he will get the sentence he deserves," he said.
Kramer is due to return to court in July.
_______________________________________________________________________________
American Teacher David Kramer Convicted of 6 Abuse Counts at Australian Chabad Yeshiva
School Officials Allowed Him To Flee to Israel
JTA - April 12, 2013
An American Jew pleaded guilty to charges of sexual assault against students at an Orthodox boys school in Melbourne.
David Kramer, 52, pleaded guilty to five charges of indecent assault via video link Friday at Melbourne Magistrates Court.
He also pleaded guilty to one count of an indecent act with a minor; six of the original 12 charges were withdrawn.
Kramer, who was jailed in 2008 for sodomizing a 12-year-old boy at a synagogue in St. Louis, was extradited from the United States by Australian police last December.
He pleaded guilty to assaulting students at Yeshivah College, an Orthodox boys’ school run by Chabad while he was teaching there between 1989 and 1992.
It was alleged in court last year that Kramer’s employers did not report the allegations to police. Instead, they allegedly paid for him to relocate to Israel.
He later moved to America.
Manny Waks, the founder of Tzedek, an advocacy group for Jewish victims of child sex abuse, described Kramer’s guilty pleas as an “important milestone” for victims and “a watershed moment” for the Australian Jewish community.
“David Kramer will be the first perpetrator to be convicted for his crimes against innocent children since this scandal broke in mid-2011 and the first to be convicted for such crimes within a Jewish institution as an employee,” Waks said in a statement.
“It will send out a strong message to our community,” Waks said. “You will be brought to justice irrespective of how far back you committed these crimes.”
Kramer made no application for bail and was ordered to appear at the County Court on July 17.
_______________________________________________________________________________
FAIR USE NOTICE
Some of the information on The Awareness Center's web pages may contain copyrighted material the use of which has not always been specifically authorized by the copyright owner. I am making such material available in my efforts to advance understanding of environmental, political, human rights, economic, democracy, scientific, and social justice issues, etc.
I believe this constitutes a 'fair use' of any such copyrighted material as provided for in section 107 of the US Copyright Law. In accordance with Title 17 U.S.C. Section 107, the material on this site is distributed without profit to those who have expressed a prior interest in receiving the included information for research and educational purposes.
For more information go to: http://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/17/107.shtml . If you wish to use copyrighted material from this update for purposes of your own that go beyond 'fair use', you must obtain permission from the copyright owner.
_______________________________________________________________________________
No comments:
Post a Comment