Malka Leifer

The Adass Israel School sex abuse scandal (פרשת מלכה לייפר ) is a criminal case and extradition dispute regarding allegations of child sex abuse at a Jewish religious school in Melbourne, Australia.

A former principal, Malka Leifer, faced trial on 70 sex offence charges laid by Victoria Police, with accusations from at least eight alleged victims.

The Adass Israel Congregation is a Jewish group in Melbourne that traces its origins to a split in the Elwood Shule in the early 1940s; some of its early members were boys and men who had been sent to Australia by the British on the infamous Dunera in 1941.

The community's synagogue is in Ripponlea, and its school and chevra kadisha (Jewish funeral society) are located in nearby East St Kilda and Elsternwick.

The community is "ultra-Orthodox".

Children are raised without television, Internet access, or radio, but have access to Jewish newspapers and magazines that cover worldly matters.

After the age of eight, boys and girls are kept entirely separate outside family homes, and the stories they are told never involve friendships between boys and girls.

There is no sex education in schools of the community, but before marriage the bride and groom attend educational classes to discuss sex and other topics about marriage.

The rabbi of the community acts as the ultimate authority for members.

After an arranged marriage in 2006, Erlich had moved to Israel with her husband.

In 2007, a woman in Israel, Dassi Erlich, sought counseling when she started to have recurrent nightmares and anxiety about events that had taken place at Adass Israel School when she was in high school.

These incidents allegedly happened at the hands of Leifer, the principal of the school.

Leifer, a dual Israeli-Australian citizen, fled under suspicious circumstances shortly before a warrant could be issued, and remained in Israel from 2008 until January 2021, under varying levels of police and court supervision, pending the resolution of her extradition case.

Leifer's trial did not address other alleged sex crimes in Israel and the West Bank because they did not occur in Australia.

The degree of freedom she enjoyed in Israel prompted worldwide media coverage and criticism of Israel's judicial system; activist Manny Waks described the case as "a farce" and "an embarrassment".

Leifer lived an apparently normal life for some time in the Israeli settlement of Emmanuel in the West Bank, despite a court ruling that she was mentally unfit for proceedings.

She was eventually rearrested after media and police scrutiny of her behavior, but continued to evade extradition, with more than 70 court hearings and appeals requested by her legal team, and delays due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

In January 2021, after more than 13 years as a fugitive, Leifer was extradited to Australia; she appeared before a Melbourne judge via video link in April 2021, her first appearance in Australian court.

On 3 April 2023 Leifer was found guilty of 18 charges, including rape and child sexual abuse.

In February 2008, Erlich's therapist in Israel contacted a psychologist in Melbourne, who, in turn, contacted a senior teacher she knew at the school.

The information passed on is that there were substantial allegations of "inappropriate conduct" by Leifer.

The teacher phoned Erlich, and was convinced of the claims that there had been "clearly sexualised behaviour" by Leifer and that "important boundaries had been crossed".

The teacher then confronted Leifer who denied that there was any problem and subsequently reported the matter to two senior rabbis and with other rabbis, a barrister and a psychologist.

A meeting was arranged with the president and some members of the school board.

Leifer was telephoned at the meeting and denied the allegations, saying: "You have destroyed my reputation. I'm not going to stand for this."

On the evening that the allegations came to light, in March 2008, the wife of a school board member rang a travel agent to say a flight to Israel was needed urgently.

The school arranged, paid for, and booked tickets for Leifer and four of her eight children on an aircraft that departed at 1:20 am the same night, without having informed the police.

The police later investigated the school.

As a result of an investigation by Victoria Police, a warrant was issued against Leifer in 2014 for 74 child sex offences concerning at least eight pupils, and an extradition request was placed with Israel.

Leifer was arrested in Israel in August 2014, and placed under house arrest in Bnei Brak, where she was required to wear an electronic tag.

At her various extradition hearings, Leifer claimed that she suffered extreme anxiety and panic attacks in the lead-up to the hearing; she received a delay.

She subsequently deferred the hearings numerous times, claiming mental health issues, with one judge suggesting that the case could potentially be delayed up to a decade.

In 2015, the Supreme Court of Victoria awarded a judgement of over AU$1 million against the school, as well as $150,000 of exemplary damages personally against Leifer.

Australian police confirm there is an ongoing investigation into the actions of some members of the Adass Israel community for helping Leifer leave Australia.

Israeli police investigated and indicted former Minister of Health Yaakov Litzman, following an investigation into official interference with Leifer's extradition case.

Litzman eventually pleaded guilty to breach of trust in the case in early 2022.

Leifer's husband, Rabbi Yaakov Yosef (Jacob) Leifer, fled to Israel with her, where he now heads the small Chust Hassidic community in Immanuel where he and his wife had been living since 2016, and where she was arrested.

In June 2016 an Israeli court suspended Leifer's extradition hearings and home detention altogether, requiring only biennial psychiatric reviews to determine whether she was capable of attending court in Israel.

In June 2018, Immanuel was cited as a "haven for paedophiles" by The Sydney Morning Herald, which exposed further alleged child sexual abuse there by Leifer, committed "without consequence."

The father of Rabbi Leifer and former leader of the Khust Hasidic, Grand Rabbi Baruch Pinchas Leifer, was arrested, in January 2022, and charged with historical sexual abuse of a minor to whom he is related, and a then 18-year-old male; he denies the charges, which are before Jerusalem Magistrate Courts.