VoiCSA (originally Kol v'Oz) was established in 2016 as an Israel-based, international organization that is dedicated to addressing the issue of child sexual abuse in the global Jewish community. Our work covers three broad areas:
Advocacy
Advocacy
VoiCSA focuses its activities on influencing high-level, relevant decision-makers, legislators and leaders, in Israel and in Jewish communities abroad, to ensure appropriate laws, policies and best practice are employed and implemented within their respective jurisdiction.e to victims/survivors.
Empowerment
Empowerment
VoiCSA focuses its activities on influencing high-level, relevant decision-makers, legislators and leaders, in Israel and in Jewish communities abroad, to ensure appropriate laws, policies and best practice are employed and implemented within their respective jurisdiction.e to victims/survivors.
Awareness
Awareness
VoiCSA focuses its activities on influencing high-level, relevant decision-makers, legislators and leaders, in Israel and in Jewish communities abroad, to ensure appropriate laws, policies and best practice are employed and implemented within their respective jurisdiction.e to victims/survivors.
VoiCSA (originally Kol v'Oz) was established in 2016 as an Israel-based, international organization that is dedicated to addressing the issue of child sexual abuse in the global Jewish community. Our work covers three broad areas:
Advocacy
Advocacy
VoiCSA focuses its activities on influencing high-level, relevant decision-makers, legislators and leaders, in Israel and in Jewish communities abroad, to ensure appropriate laws, policies and best practice are employed and implemented within their respective jurisdiction.e to victims/survivors.
Empowerment
Empowerment
VoiCSA focuses its activities on influencing high-level, relevant decision-makers, legislators and leaders, in Israel and in Jewish communities abroad, to ensure appropriate laws, policies and best practice are employed and implemented within their respective jurisdiction.e to victims/survivors.
Awareness
Awareness
VoiCSA focuses its activities on influencing high-level, relevant decision-makers, legislators and leaders, in Israel and in Jewish communities abroad, to ensure appropriate laws, policies and best practice are employed and implemented within their respective jurisdiction.e to victims/survivors.
TEAM
A survivor of child sexual abuse himself, Manny was a vice-president of the Executive Council of Australian Jewry and president of the Canberra Jewish Community when he spoke out publicly about the abuse in 2011. In 2012 he established Tzedek, an Australia-based support and advocacy group for Jewish victims and survivors of child sexual abuse. In 2016 Manny relocated to Israel with his family mainly to continue his public advocacy work in this area, culminating in his founding of Kol v'Oz. Manny has previously held a number of other senior leadership positions in Australia. His activism on behalf of victims/survivors of child sexual abuse is the subject of two television documentaries produced by the ABC (Code of Silence and Breaking the Silence). Manny has published his memoir, Who Gave You Permission?. His full bio is available here.
Chief Executive Officer
Manny Waks
Director of Legal Affairs
Martin E. Friedlander Esq.
Chief Business Development Officer
Noga Shelleg
Noga Shelleg specializes in branding and strategic marketing. She served as the Chief Marketing Officer at The Jerusalem Botanical Gardens, where she was responsible for business development, branding, strategic planning, and product development. Prior to that she had been the Marketing Manager at Philip Stein & Associates (Israel), developing and implementing the company’s vision and goals while establishing the marketing department's methodologies. In her previous work she was the Marketing Manager at Rudlin Torah Academy (Richmond, VA) and the assistant marketing consultant of Prof. Avichai Shuv-Ami. Noga graduated from the School of Business at the College of Management—Academic Studies and has been certified by the International Advertising Association (IAA).
Martin E. Friedlander, Esq. is an attorney who has been practicing law for over twenty-eight years in all areas of Family and Matrimonial law, specializing in all issues relating to children. Mr. Friedlander started his law career by interning and later becoming the associate to Jeffrey S. Sunshine, Esq. who is now the Administrative Judge for Matrimonial matters in the State of New York. He currently has offices located in New York City and Nassau County.
Because of Martin’s involvement in both matrimonial litigation and custody issues, he has handled many child sexual abuse matters and is familiar with all aspects, especially with the reluctance of the community to report abusers. He has handled matters dealing with the difficulties in having witnesses come before courts to testify in those matters.
Mr. Friedlander has lectured for attorneys at Tahel Conferences in Israel, an organization for abused women and children dealing with domestic violence and abuse.
Mr. Friedlander is a renowned lecturer and has spoken on an array of topics, such as the Hague Convention and child custody. He has lectured regarding reporting of abuse requirements in educational institutions. Mr. Friedlander has also presented at conferences for the AFCC and New York County Lawyers Association. He is a published author with articles appearing in the New York Law Journal and Matrimonial Strategist.
Mr. Friedlander is a current Fellow of the American Academy of Matrimonial Lawyers. He was a member of the Board of Trustees of the Brooklyn Bar Association and is currently a member of the New York State Bar Association Family Law Section, AFCC, and Brooklyn Bar Association. Mr. Friedlander graduated from Brooklyn Law School.
Clinical Project Manager
Sandra Ifrah
Sandra Ifrah is the Director and Principal Psychologist at the Family and Trauma Centre. As a registered psychologist with over 15 years of experience, she brings a wealth of knowledge and experience specifically on matter related to child sexual abuse. Sandra’s experience stems from working many years in both the public and private sectors as well as over 8 years at the Centre of Sexual Assault (CASA) supporting victim survivors of sexual abuse.
As an experienced speaker and presenter, Sandra is also passionate about raising awareness on the prevention and management of allegation of child sexual abuse, where she facilitates workshops and professional development to the community and to other professionals. She is a coach and mentor for other clinicians as well as a lecturer and clinical student supervisor at one of Melbourne’s top and reputable universities.
BOARD OF DIRECTORS
Director, Special Risk Department, Nilibit
GLOBAL ADVISORS
Professor David Forbes – Director, Australian Centre for Posttraumatic Mental Health (Australia)
Mr. Alan Gill – Executive Vice President Emeritus, American Jewish Joint Distribution Committee (Israel)
Hon. Robert Hettleman – New York State Family Court Judge (US)
Ms. Lisa Hofheimer – Executive Director, Lee Liberman Charitable Foundation (US)
Dr. Yitzhak Kadman – Executive Director, Israel National Council for the Child (Israel)
Rabbi Michael Melchior – Former Cabinet Minister and Chairman of the Committee for Children's Rights in the Knesset (Israel/Europe)
Dr. Michael Salamon – Senior Psychologist and Director, ADC Psychological Services (US)
Prof. Asher Ben-Arieh - Director at The Haruv Institute (Israel)
The role of the Global Advisors is to provide broad strategic direction and advice to VoiCSA.
