Extradited Jewish Teacher Heckled in Aussie Court

David Kramer

By Forward Staff December 3, 2012

Confrontation: Manny Waks, an advocate for child abuse victims in Australia, heckled accused teacher David Kramer in a Melbourne court.

A Jewish school teacher accused of child sex abuse was heckled in an Australian court by a victims advocate after being extradited from the U.S.

David Kramer

David Kramer, 52, looked stunned when alleged child sexual abuse victim Manny Waks stood up and shouted at him.

“Welcome back to Australia Rabbi Kramer,” Waks called out, according to the Herald Sun newspaper.

Kramer was sent to Australia over the weekend to face 10 counts of indecent assault.

The former teacher at Yeshivah College teacher in Melbourne allegedly committed the acts on four victims between 1989 and 1992.

Kramer did not speak during a brief hearing.

The head of the Yeshivah Center, which houses the Chabad headquarters in Melbourne, admitted it shipped Kramer off to Israel without reporting him to police soon after allegations against him emerged.

Kramer later went to America, 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” and 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.

The Forward’s staff contributors are listed in our masthead.

A message from our CEO & publisher 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 during this critical time.

The coming year promises to be filled with more complex and historic developments. We are entering an era where independent, fact-based Jewish journalism will be more important than ever. We need to be ready for whatever 2025 will bring, and with your help, we can be.

We’ve set a goal to raise $260,000 by December 31. That’s an ambitious goal, but one that will give us the resources we need to invest in the high quality news, opinion, analysis and cultural coverage that isn’t available anywhere else.

If you feel inspired to make an impact, now is the time to give something back. Join us as a member at your most generous level.

— Rachel Fishman Feddersen, Publisher and CEO