ABC follows up Code of Silence
Breaking the Silence, a one hour COMPASS special, follows the journey of Australian Jew Manny Waks who was, until recently, the only survivor of child sexual abuse within Melbourne’s Jewish community to speak publicly…Waks meets with an abuser and confronts one who abused him.
The sequel to the Walkley Award winning COMPASS special of 2014 Code of Silence will air on Tuesday evening on ABC-TV.
Zephania and Manny Waks
The sequel begins with Manny Waks as he gives evidence at the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sex Abuse, during which two ultra-Orthodox Jewish institutions are accused of covering-up and protecting perpetrators in the 1980s and 90s. Over two explosive weeks inside Melbourne’s County Court, viewers will witness, for the first time, those rabbis and officials accused of the cover-ups take the stand and be grilled.
For the first time, it is also revealed that Manny was not the only member of the family who was abused; Manny’s father Zephaniah Waks reveals two other sons were abused by a Yeshivah Centre teacher, David Kramer in the 1990’s. He had tried to have the abuse handled by community leaders but was subject to an ancient code of silence that forbids Jews from speaking about the allegations involving other Jews, to the police. The result was that Zephaniah and his wife were virtually excommunicated and feeling isolated, they decided to relocate to Israel. Now his other son Yanky agrees to speak on camera for the first time.
After the hearings, Manny travels to the United States to confront one of the two men who he claims abused him. The film’s climax follows Manny to Los Angeles, where he meets a convicted paedophile who was given a suspended sentence for abusing AVB in Sydney in the 1980s. It’s a powerful moment between victim and abuser that delivers an unexpected conclusion.
Will Manny’s confrontation with the man he claims abused him give him peace of mind? And will his meeting with the convicted paedophile give him a crucial sense of resolution?
I think we Jews have enough to contend with, with anti-Semitism in the community. Putting this out there is just gonna give the Jew haters more ammunition to hate us more. Really ticks me off.
I honestly believe in some cases it’s better not to wash your dirty laundry in public. What has Manny achieved by doing this? Does it change what happened? Does it make him feel better? All he’s doing is poisoning (more) minds against Jews. Brrr.
“What has Manny achieved by doing this?” Exposed a vile systemic issue with the cover-up of child abuse by leaders of your faith.
“Does it change what happened?” No, time machines have not been invented yet. But it does establish a point where now you lot can examine your responses to allegations of child rape, and it does mean that now we have a better system for protecting children from people who seek out positions of power and privilege so they can abuse children.
“Does it make him feel better?” Probably does, yes. Justice has a way of doing that.
“All he’s doing is poisoning (more) minds against Jews.” Ya’ll are doing a good job of that yourselves with comments like the one you just made. He is a)exposing people who rape kids and then their Jewish mates help them cover it up or b)exposing the Jewsih community for protecting child rapists. If the Jewish community wish to protect child rapists then they are poisonous and deserve to be shamed.