Manny Waks

Born Menachem Leib in Israel, Waks was raised primarily in Australia. He is one of 17 children in an Orthodox Jewish family who were part of the Chabad-Lubavitch, Hasidic community in Melbourne. Before they were eventually ostracised for reporting child sexual abuse within the community, Waks, his parents and siblings were viewed as a "poster family for the Australian Chabad movement."[5] Waks returned to Israel when he turned 18, where he served in the Israel Defense Forces.[4] After returning to Australia from his service in the IDF, he obtained a degree in International Relations. He completed internships with a federal parliamentarian and the Lowy Institute for International Policy in Sydney. Waks' family featured in the 2003 SBS documentary Welcome to the Waks Family.[6]

In the late 1980s Waks attended Melbourne's Yeshivah centre, run by the Chabad ultra-orthodox movement of Judaism. Starting at the age of eleven, he was sexually abused by two members of the staff at the centre. Waks reported sexual abuse by two different perpetrators to the Yeshivah leadership and to the police in 1996.[7] When no action was taken, Waks went public in 2011 with allegations against the abusers, and pressure to keep quiet.

Both perpetrators were convicted of sex crimes in 2013.[8][9][10][11]

Waks gave evidence at the Royal Commission that he received abusive emails including one from an executive of the Sydney Yeshivah centre reading "Just because a security guard molested you, don’t blame Yeshivah... Get over it. I haven’t met a person yet with one nice word to say about you. Most people consider you a low life."[12] The Sydney Morning Herald wrote that Yeshivah rabbis "railed against the whistleblowing Waks" and claimed that Waks and his father had "a vendetta against the centre." [13] In testimony before the Royal Commission a former manager and director both apologised to Waks and admitted that they should have prevented this.[14]

As part of their effort to eliminate child sexual abuse in the Jewish community, Manny Waks and his father, Zephaniah Waks testified before the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse. As Zephaniah Waks shared evidence about the abuse his sons, the president of the Organisation of Rabbis of Australasia, Rabbi Meir Shlomo Kluwgant, sent a text message to an editor of the Australian Jewish News accusing him of “destroying Chabad” and labelling him a “lunatic”.[15] Kluwgant was cross-examined about whether he watched testimony by Zephaniah, initially stating under oath that he hadn't watched much of the testimony because he was preparing to go to hospital, before conceding that he had sent the text message about the testimony. Kluwgant resigned the next week after child sexual abuse victims told him his position was "untenable."[16]

In 2015 Chabad’s international leadership made overtures to Waks. Waks says he was invited to meet with Chabad's director of operations, Rabbi Mendy Sharfstein, to discuss best practices in responding to allegations of abuse.[17]

Manny Waks founded Tzedek, an organisation dedicated to fighting sexual abuse. The organisation has received $300,000 in funding from the Australian Federal Government.[20]

Waks established a non-profit group, Kol v’Oz. Kol v'Oz is lobbying the Knesset for changes in the statute of limitations on sexual crimes. [19] Waks serves as director of Kol v'Oz.[21]

Waks has initiated civil proceedings against Yeshivah Centre in Melbourne, Australia.[22]He has also sued his brother Avi Yemini following claims by Yemini that Waks and his father were harbouring a known paedophile in the family home.[23]

Waks was sued for defamation after a member of the public posted a false accusation against a member of the community on his organisation's (Tzedek) web site, and for posting things that suggested to some that this member was guilty.[24]