Waks assisted the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse in investigating Melbourne Yeshivah centre of the Orthodox Chabad movement of Judaism on their handling of child sexual abuse cases.
[3] After publicising child sexual abuse in the Jewish community in Australia, Waks moved to France.
[5] One of Manny's younger brothers (from whom he was formerly estranged) is the far-right provocateur, former drug addict, and convicted criminal Avi Yemini.
In the late 1980s Waks attended Melbourne's Yeshivah centre, run by the Chabad ultra-orthodox movement of Judaism.
[18] As part of their effort to eliminate child sexual abuse in the Jewish community, Manny Waks and his father, Zephaniah Waks testified before the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse.
As Zephaniah Waks shared evidence about the abuse of his sons, the president of the Organisation of Rabbis of Australasia, Rabbi Meir Shlomo Kluwgant, sent a text message to an editor of the Australian Jewish News accusing him of "destroying Chabad" and labelling him a "lunatic".
Kluwgant resigned the next week after child sexual abuse victims told him his position was "untenable.
Manny Waks said, "Today, Rabbi Moshe Gutnick restored my faith in ultra-Orthodox Judaism.
Waks says he was invited to meet with Chabad's director of operations, Rabbi Mendy Sharfstein, to discuss best practices in responding to allegations of abuse.
In 2012 he founded Tzedek, an Australia-based organisation advocating for a Jewish community free of child sexual abuse, after having brought his own experience of Child sexual abuse in Australia within the Jewish community[2] into the public arena in July 2011.
Waks says he was invited to meet with Chabad's director of operations, Rabbi Mendy Sharfstein, to discuss best practices in responding to allegations of abuse.
In his comments he cautioned the committee: "Sex offenders tend to move from country to country to avoid jail, but what makes Israel unique is the Law of Return, which essentially grants unhindered access to anyone who is Jewish to come here without any real screening.