Published: 4 November 2022
Last updated: 5 March 2024
Parents at Cheder Levi Yitzchok in St Kilda have voiced fears about child safety.
The principal of a small faith-based school in south-east Melbourne has responded to concerns over a string of alleged child sexual abuse incidents involving students by telling families that the best protection for their children is to pray and perform religious rituals.
The parents’ concerns relate to the potential imminent return to Cheder Levi Yitzchok, a non-government school in St Kilda, of a student involved in an investigation by Victoria Police’s sexual offences and child abuse unit last year.
Three separate Victorian government agencies – the Department of Families, Fairness and Housing, the Commission for Children and Young People, and the Victorian Registration and Qualifications Authority – are investigating aspects of the case, including the school’s approach to safeguarding students in its care.
Tensions were heightened last week when the school’s president and principal, property scion Eliezer Kornhauser, told parents via email that “the situation for the school and parents is anything but perfect” and that some were engaging in “unproductive and occasionally hysterical conjecture”.
Kornhauser told parents they should put the ultimate trust of their children’s safety in their faith, not in secular society or laws.
“Our best protection lies in our faithful adherence to what G-D wants from each and every one of us, as clarified and amplified by the Rebbe,” he said.
“The best protection I can provide to my child is to daven [pray] appropriately … and perhaps most importantly, ensuring that my relationships with my fellow XXXX are based on compassion, sensitivity and love.”
Jewish Community Council of Victoria president Daniel Aghion released a statement in response, reminding the community of its obligations towards child safety and offering support.
