The Jews Down Under

Compiled by Garry Fabian

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Catholic School Students write and perform moving play

MELBOURNE – Year 8 and 9 at a  Victorian country Catholic College recently wrote  and performed a play “Our Shoah” which they presented to packed audience.

The background of this that a  teacher at the school was awarded a scholarship for a three week Holocaust Study course at Yad Vashem in Jerusalem, a project that has been running for some seven years on an annual basis sponsored by
a Melbourne based B’nai B’rith Unit, the Raoul Wallenberg Unit. A number of  history teachers are awarded this scholarship every year, providing a fully funded scholarship.

On her return she shared her knowledge with her students who were inspired to write a play about a Jewish family in Germany and their fate during the period lof the Holocaust.  Both the script, backed by an audio-visual presentation  was extremely moving and  descriptive. It is an amazing achievement from
students , from a country town, who most likely  had never met a Jewish person before, and had not heard of the Holocaust.

The Pauline Glass Momorial Yad Vashem Scholarship has produced some very positive  results in assisting to pass on the facts about the Holocaust to a new generation of Australian  school students, and in a small, but significant
way combat the poison the Holocaust denyers are trying spread.

This year twelve teachers will be travelling to Israel in January under the scheme.

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New Polish Jewish group strengthens ties

MELBOURNE- A new organisation of  Polish Jews in Australia aims to strengthen ties  between Jewish and mainstream communities in  Poland, as well as among Jews and non-Jewish of Polish descent locally.

President Bernard Korbman told said the reason for the creation of the Australian Society of Polish Jews and Their Descendants (ASPJ), which  has a membership of around 50 primarily  “second-generation” people ­ the children of  Shoah survivors ­ was because “the time was right”.

The group also has survivors among its ranks, including David Prince and Moish Fiszman, who are on its board.

According to Korbman, the organisation, which  held its first annual general meeting on November  17, is a successor to the former Australian
chapter of the postwar Federation of Polish Jews, pioneered by communal figures such as Aron Sokolowicz.

ASPJ is also a descendant of the landsmanshaften, which underpinned Australia’s Polish-Jewish  community from the 1940s onwards, but which are now in decline because of the aging of survivors. It was the generation that established
the Jewish Holocaust Centre, of which Korbman is executive director.

“The children did not get involved and take over  from their parents,” he said. “We all felt Australian and [we] did not want to be known as Polish Jews, it meant very little to us. But as we’ve aged, some of the second generation have started to want to know more and learn about our roots.”

Interest has been re-ignited by developments such as the March of the Living, the fall of communism and renewed interest from Poles generally in their country’s Jewish history.

ASPJ has forged ties with the Museum of the History of Polish Jews, which will open in Warsaw  in 2011, and Andrew Rachjer, an ASPJ member, is  also a member of the museum’s board.

When Korbman visited Poland in 2006, he was “inundated by young Poles who wanted to learn  more about Judaism and Jews and [he] gave lectures at universities.”

Korbman said strengthening ties between Australian Jewish and non-Jewish communities of Polish ancestry needs to be achieved “without in any way whitewashing the history of the Holocaust and the relationship between Poles and Jews and anti-Semitism but we want to focus on the 1000-year history of Jews in Poland,” which he hailed as an age of culture, learning and long periods of peaceful development.

Meanwhile, he added, Jews and non-Jews of Polish descent in Australia need to hold “frank and honest dialogue” to break down stereotypes of each other’s communities.

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Gold Coast community shocked  by rabbi’s sudden death

GOLD COAST,  Queensland – The Gold Coast Jewish community and Jews around Australia are in mourning following the death of Temple Shalom’s Rabbi Jackie Wexler on November 21.

The 56-year-old, who suffered from food  allergies, had apparently been admitted to  hospital with an allergic reaction and diverticulitis some days earlier. She succumbed to a severe infection and cardiac arrest.

The Conservative rabbi arrived in Australia from the US in 2008 on a two-year contract to lead Temple Shalom.

The synagogue’s distraught president, Kate Lesser, said the congregation had been in close contact with Rabbi Wexler’s family in the US since her death.

“As a community, we have just lost our core,” she said.

Union for Progressive Judaism (UPJ) executive director Steve Denenberg said: “We learnt of the news of her passing with great shock and our whole movement is grieving. We said special prayers for her over the weekend.”

Rabbi Wexler once said of her calling as a rabbi,  that at the age of 17, “I knew without a doubt this is what I was meant to be,” although Conservative Judaism at that time did not allow women to be rabbis.

Gaining her s’micha from the Conservative movement’s Jewish Theological Seminary in the 1990s, she worked with congregations in Florida and on Long Island, New York. In August last  year, she took up her Australian appointment as a rabbi.

Discussions on extending Rabbi Wexler’s contract were about to take place, Denenberg said.

He said Rabbi Wexler had missed a rabbinical meeting preceding the UPJ’s six-monthly gathering in Sydney last week because she had been unwell.

Arrangements are being made to ensure a rabbi will be present for b’nei mitzvah taking place at Temple Shalom in the coming weeks.

“As soon as is appropriate, we will convene a search committee to look for a long-term replacement,” Denenberg said.

Rabbi Wexler is survived by her children, her mother and a sister, who all live in the United States.

Mumbai Survivor marks anniversary of massacre

CANBERRA – Australian students were among thousands worldwide who commemorated the first anniversary of the Mumbai terrorist attacks
with a communal Shabbat dinner.

A global directive by Chabad on Campus in New York, “Bring a Friend Shabbat” aimed to be the largest campus-based Shabbat celebration and was
held in memory of Rabbi Gavriel and Rivkah Holtzberg, who were Chabad shluchim (emissaries).

The couple, together with four others, were murdered in Nariman House, the headquarters of Chabad in Mumbai, on November 26, 2008.

In all, more than 170 people were killed over three days of terrorism in the tourist districts of the city.

Moshe Holtzberg, the infant son of Rabbi Gavriel and Rivkah Holtzberg, meanwhile, was spirited to safety by the Holtzbergs’ Indian nanny, Sandra Samuel.

Hailed as “a child of all Israel”, the toddler marked his third birthday at a gathering in Kfar Chabad on November 18.

Two thousand people attended the event, held to remember the victims and to see Moshe have his first haircut in accordance with religious tradition.

According to Samuel, it took some time for Moshe to recover from the attack, and he can now look at pictures of his parents without crying.

In Melbourne, Chabad Campus’ Rabbi Daniel and Sara Rabin organised a special dedication to the Holtzbergs. Rabbi Rabin honoured Rivkah’s love of
Shabbat with an intimate Shabbat dinner for 20 students.

At the meal, participants were encouraged to spend a few quiet moments reflecting on a personal resolution in memory of the slain rabbi and his wife.

“If 10 people could cause so much chaos and  tragedy,” he said, referring to the gunmen and hostage takers, “then 20 positive resolutions could change the world for good.”

Rabbi Rabin also honoured Rabbi Holtzberg’s love of scholarship and learning, by dedicating his weekly shiur to self-sacrifice and Jewish pride.

Meanwhile in Canberra, a ceremony to commemorate the victims of the Mumbai terrorist attack one year ago was held at the National Jewish Memorial Centre last week.

In particular, the slain Chabad emissaries were remembered at the event, which was organised jointly by Chabad of the ACT, the Israeli embassy and the ACT Jewish Community.

ACT Jewish Community president Dr Anita Shroot, Israeli embassy deputy chef de mission Eli Yerushalmi and Rabbi Dan Avital spoke at the memorial, and local resident Donald Chambers lit a candle.

New president for Rabbinical Council of Victoria

MELBOURNE – Rabbi Yaakov Glasman has been elected to replace Rabbi Meir Shlomo Kluwgant as president of the Rabbinical Council of Victoria (RCV).

After five years in the top job, Rabbi Kluwgant was required to step down, handing the baton to one of Melbourne’s youngest senior rabbis, Rabbi Glasman.

The North Eastern Jewish Centre rabbi edged out one of Melbourne’s most experienced senior  rabbis, Rabbi Philip Heilbrunn, to win the presidency, held at the RCV’s annual general meeting on November 25.

Caulfield Hebrew Congregation’s Rabbi Ralph Genende was elected vice president.

Rabbi Glasmann said: “It’s gratifying to know that my colleagues have expressed their confidence in me to assume the position of RCV president.”

He said his ambitions for the organisation are twofold: to continue the work already underway and to engage Jewish youth.

Rabbis and community leaders farewelled Rabbi Kluwgant at the AGM, giving him a standing ovation.

He has overseen a revamp of the RCV that delivered the rabbinic body extra clout and extra funding, in the form of substantial government grants.

In one of his last duties as president, Rabbi Kluwgant met last week with Victorian Premier John Brumby to thank him for his support for the state’s Orthodox rabbis.

Unfortunately though, Rabbi Kluwgant was unable to leave his post in a blaze of glory, with one of his pet projects, compulsory pre-nuptial agreements for Jewish wedding, voted down at the AGM. Instead, rabbis will recommend couples consider a pre-nuptial agreement.

Grandson recalls protest against Nazism

MELBOURNE – Aboriginal elder William Cooper’s grandson, Alfred “Uncle Boydie” Turner, was the guest speaker at the UIA’s AGM in Melbourne on November 26.

Cooper, of Yorta Yorta descent, spent most of his life in the Cummeragunja community where he was a spokesman for the Yorta Yorta in their ongoing
battles for land justice against the New South Wales government. Late in life, he resettled in Melbourne.

In 1938, following Kristallnacht, Cooper petitioned the German Consulate over the Nazis’ treatment of the Jews, the only such recorded protest in Australia at that time.

In May 2009, the State of Israel commemorated the brave actions of Cooper.

The Embassy of Israel and United Israel Appeal flew Turner to Israel for this commemoration and he spoke to the AGM about his experience.

More delays in Zentai extradition

PERTH  – Alleged war crimes suspect Charles Zentai has launched legal action that
will delay plans to extradite him to Hungary to face charges over a World War II murder.

Lawyers for the 88-year-old have been granted a judicial review of this month’s ministerial decision that gave the green light for the Perth resident to be sent to Budapest.

A Hungarian court wants Zentai to face charges in connection with the beating and murder of Budapest teenager Peter Balazs, whose body was dumped in the Danube in 1944.

A spokesperson for Home Affairs Minister Brendan O’Connor told The AJN the department will delay giving effect to its extradition ruling until after the Federal Court reviews the decision. That process must begin no later than December 4.

But there is no timeframe for the review, which could overturn O’Connor’s November 12 determination.

Zentai, who remains in prison in Perth, has maintained he is not guilty, and his lawyers have fought to keep him in Australia ever since the charges were laid in 2005.

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Fabian is Australia bureau chief for San Diego Jewish World.  He may be contacted at fabiang@sandiegojewishworld.com