Ignoring Chaim Walder’s alleged victims, Chief Rabbi David Lau visited the haredi (ultra-Orthodox) author’s home on Tuesday night to comfort his family, who are sitting shiva.
Walder was found dead in a cemetery on Monday in what is suspected to have been a suicide. He was facing multiple allegations of rape and sexual assault of minors since a Haaretz expose last month.
Walder was a well-known author of children’s and young adults’ books in the haredi world. His series Kids Speak (in Hebrew, Yeladim Mesaprim al Atzmam) has sold more than two million copies in communities across Israel and the Diaspora.
He was accused of raping minors and young adults, all of whom he met in his line of work as a therapist and children’s author.
Lau was photographed in a tent that was set up outside the Walder home for the shiva.
הרב הראשי לישראל הרב לאו בסוכת האבלים של משפחת חיים ולדר @shaharilan pic.twitter.com/H9O52nOXBa
— Isaac ♀️Winehouse (@IsaacGalil) December 28, 2021
Lau’s visit to the shiva drew condemnations across social media particularly due to his silence on the Walder affair and not saying anything about the author’s alleged victims. So far, more than 20 testimonies have been brought to the rabbinical court in Safed that had convened to hear the accusations.
Stop the חילול השם. Morally and ethically, Israel can ill afford hereditary taxpayer-funded sinecures for clerics. Do away with the State Rabbinate. End divisive parochial control of Judaism in Israel. It would be a blessing. Amen. https://t.co/fZhyxc6wie
— Elliot Jager אליוט ג'גר (@JAGERFILE) December 29, 2021
The haredi media also ignored the victims and reported on the death of “Rabbi Haim Walder” without mentioning the severe allegations that were brought against him.