SYDNEY, Australia (JTA) – The advocacy and support group for Jewish victims of child sexual abuse in Australia received $300,000 from the federal government.
Tzedek was among 11 groups to share in the $4.9 million to provide support for victims and survivors of child sexual abuse over a three-year period.
“We are delighted with this Australian government funding and are profoundly grateful for it,” said Tzedek founder and CEO Manny Waks, who was sexually abused while attending Yeshivah College in Melbourne. “It will enable Tzedek to continue in our critical work.”
Waks said the Royal Commission is a “unique opportunity for the Jewish community to help uncover the injustices of the past for the sake of obtaining justice for the many victims and survivors, and to learn from these past mistakes to create a better and safer future for our community.”
He called on anyone with information about child sexual abuse at any Jewish institution throughout Australia, “especially victims and survivors and their families – irrespective of when the abuse occurred or is alleged to have occurred,” to contact the Royal Commission.
Three pedophiles are now in jail – two Orthodox employees of Yeshivah College and a non-Jewish man who coached a girls Maccabi basketball team in Melbourne – and police continue to investigate multiple cases of historic abuse in the Jewish community.
