Orly House to open for vulnerable Jewish youth

A PATHWAYs Melbourne leader has spoken out about resistance within parts of the Jewish community to acknowledging child abuse, as the organisation prepares to open Orly House for vulnerable Jewish youth.

Youth and Family Programs Manager Dassi Erlich described a telling exchange with a rabbi while seeking support for the new crisis accommodation facility.

“One rabbi, every time I said the word abuse, he said dysfunctional, and I said the word abuse, and he said dysfunctional, and I said, No, there’s abuse. There’s actual abuse going on in this community,” Erlich said.

She said there remained “almost a disbelief that we have homelessness among our youth, that there is abuse, to the extent that abuse in the general society also happens in our community”.

Despite some resistance, the project has received broad rabbinical support, with rabbis from across the community affixing mezuzahs to the house.