Literatureחיים ולדר

Chaim Walder

Chaim Walder was an Israeli Haredi author of books for children, teens and adults, known for the series Children Tell About Themselves, who faced allegations of sexual abuse in 2021.

1968 to 2021Children Tell About Themselves seriesHaredi children's literatureYated Ne'eman columnThe 2021 sexual abuse allegations

Born: 15 November 1968, Haifa
Died: 27 December 2021, Segula Cemetery
Occupation: writer, children's writer, opinion journalist, rabbi
Education: Kol Torah

Chaim Walder was born in 1968 in Haifa

Walder was born in Haifa on 15 November 1968 and grew up in a Haredi family in the Hadar HaCarmel neighborhood. His parents were Shlomo and Pnina Walder. He studied at Mishkan Yaakov yeshiva in Haifa and later at the Kol Torah and Knesses Chizkiyahu yeshivas.

He served in the IDF as a soldier-teacher. After his discharge he taught at a Haredi heder in Bnei Brak, where he began writing stories from the children's point of view. In 1993 he self-published his first book, Children Tell About Themselves, and its first run of 2,000 copies sold out within 10 days.

From 1990 he wrote a regular column on social issues for Yated Ne'eman, and he also hosted a radio program. In 1997 he founded the Center for the Child and Family in Bnei Brak and managed it. In 2003 he received the Magen LeYeled award from the Israel National Council for the Child.

In November 2021 Haaretz published reports of women who said Walder had sexually assaulted them, and more accusers came forward. Walder denied the claims. The Safed rabbinical court found that he had abused women, girls and boys who came to him for treatment, and he took his own life on 27 December 2021.