Ezzy was ‘troubled’
A FORMER Chabad Youth leader and substitute teacher at Yeshivah College (Melbourne) was found dead in his East St Kilda home on Thursday last week.
Aron “Ezzy” Kestecher, who is understood to have taken his own life, was due to face court later this year on charges relating to child sexual abuse. The incidents allegedly took place between 2009 and 2010.
Kestecher was first charged with four counts of indecent acts on a child under 16 in 2011, but the allegations were subsequently withdrawn by the complainants in 2012.
Rabbi Meir Shlomo Kluwgant said he had spent the afternoon of last Thursday “standing and saying tehillim” beside Kestecher’s body.
“The family is broken, his friends are devastated. The chapter of tehillim (Psalm 20) we said as we stood by his body … was most probably among the most difficult of prayers I have ever said,” Rabbi Kluwgant said.
“I provided a measure of support and comfort to his family members and his close friends.”
Rabbi Kluwgant described Kestecher as “a very special young man who in his youth spent many a Shabbos meal at my home with friends and family”.
“He was a kind person with very special attributes, but he was also deeply troubled.”
Angry posters took to Facebook claiming Kestecher was subjected to trial by media and driven to suicide because of a presumption of guilt.
Rabbi Kluwgant inferred that the Jewish community had played a part in Kestecher’s demise.
“Melbourne Jewish community … (all of us) need to take a good long hard look at ourselves and see what we can do to ensure that this kind of tragedy never ever happens again.
A service was held at Melbourne’s Chevra Kadisha on Sunday and Kestecher will be buried in Israel. He is survived by his mother and father Rabbi Moshe and Yael Kestecher and siblings.
ADAM KAMIEN
Aron Kestecher was found dead in his apartment last week. Photo: Facebook
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