Australian Chabad Rocked by New Abuse Scandal
The tightly knit Chabad Lubavitch community in Melbourne has been rocked by claims about the role of the community’s rabbi in alleged instances of child abuse at an Orthodox boys school.
At the center of the crisis is David Cyprys, a former security guard contracted by Melbourne’s Yeshivah College, which also houses the headquarters of the local Chabad movement.
Cyprys, 44, appeared at Melbourne Magistrates Court last week, contesting 53 charges of gross indecency toward minors, including six counts of rape allegedly committed between 1982 and 1991.
There are at least 12 alleged victims, including two who now live in America.
Court documents state they were assaulted at various locations, including Cyprys’ van, Yeshivah College, Gan Yisrael youth camps and ritual baths.
For more, go to Haaretz.com
A message from our Publisher & CEO Rachel Fishman Feddersen
I hope you appreciated this article. Before you go, I’d like to ask you to please support the Forward’s award-winning, nonprofit journalism so that we can be prepared for whatever news 2025 brings.
At a time when other newsrooms are closing or cutting back, the Forward has removed its paywall and invested additional resources to report on the ground from Israel and around the U.S. on the impact of the war, rising antisemitism and polarized discourse.
Readers like you make it all possible. Support our work by becoming a Forward Member and connect with our journalism and your community.
— Rachel Fishman Feddersen, Publisher and CEO