Rabbi Telsner had been under mounting pressure to resign following his controversial testimony in February at the Royal Commission, a government inquiry into how Chabad responded to the child sex abuse scandal in Sydney and Melbourne.
During the hearing, Rabbi Telsner was accused of orchestrating the shunning of whistleblowers and their families, having warned his flock against speaking to police or the media without the permission of a rabbi. He also claimed pedophiles and gays could be “cured” by therapy.
Last week, Rabbi Telsner was embroiled in a heated exchange with a victim of child sexual abuse, which is understood to have triggered his resignation.
Manny Waks, the only Jewish victim in Australia to go public, posted on Facebook on Tuesday: “Finally. The news we have all been awaiting … We feel vindicated. We feel that justice has prevailed.”
Rabbi Telsner is the fourth rabbi to resign in the wake of the Royal Commission, following Rabbi Meir Kluwgant, Rabbi Yossi Feldman and Rabbi Abraham Glick.
Three men associated with Chabad in Sydney and Melbourne were convicted of child sex crimes dating back to the 1980s.
