by Ittay Flescher
A prayer of thanks – that was my first reaction to the guilty verdict of Malka Leifer. It’s a sex-abuse case I've followed for over 13 years years as a former teacher at Melbourne's Adass Israel School, then as a member of the city's Jewish community and a friend of the victims, and later as a journalist in Israel with Plus61J Media.
I still remember the shock when journalists Ashley Browne and Naomi Levin broke the story in 2008, writing in The Australian Jewish News that Leifer had fled to Israel in the middle of the night with the help of the school's leaders.
I remember how many people criticized the brave victims who came forward and the journalists who told the women's stories; they were charged with sinat hinam and lashon hara – baseless hatred and slander.
I remember the civil court case in 2015 where the Supreme Court of the state of Victoria ordered the school to pay more than 1.1 million Australian dollars ($740,000), with Leifer having to pay AU$150,000, one of the largest sex abuse payouts in Australian history.
I remember the concerns that many people raised – that talking about this story would stoke antisemitism and harm the Jewish community's reputation, or damage Australia-Israel ties.
In 2018, as I entered the courtroom on Jerusalem's Saladin Street for the first hearing in the Leifer case that I attended, I was struck by the fact that the only ultra-Orthodox Jews there were family and supporters of Leifer's campaign to avoid justice in Australia. Some were holding mezuzahs or reciting Psalms, while others were holding texts with writings from the kabbala.
Leifer's sister would often hold an image of Reb Shaya'la of Kerestir up toward the judge, as this Hungarian rabbi who died a century ago was believed to possess the power to heal the sick and comfort the afflicted.