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National Council of Jewish Women Australia celebrates 80 years
PERTH, June 21- National Council of Jewish Women Australia (NCJWA) celebrated its 80th anniversary at its plenary conference in Perth. Attended by board members from around Australia, the organisation reviewed the work completed in the past two years, while approving various projects in Israel and planning for the future.
The plenary also saw the 80th anniversary celebrations of the Western Australian and South Australian sections within NCJWA, marked with gala dinner attended by Jewish and non-Jewish community leaders and delegates.
 Guest speaker on the evening was Lord Mayor of Perth Lisa Scaffidi (at left), who discussed the council's many achievements in its 80 year history. "You celebrate 80 years of great work in the community, work that has touched the lives of many women and children of all ages, circumstances and backgrounds", she said.
'Historic' support for synagogues
MELBOURNE, June 25- Victorian Orthodox synagogues have until the end of July to decide whether to financially support the Council of Orthodox Synagogues of Victoria (COSV). Their
decision will affect the future of the communal eruv and beth din.
In an unprecedented event, more than 50 synagogue presidents and rabbis attended a COSV crisis meeting at Melbourne Hebrew Congregation on Tuesday night.
 COSV president Moshe Trebish (at left) called the meeting "historical", but conceded it had been called in dire times. The COSV has a $40,000 shortfall this financial year because some synagogues have not paid their required dues of $25 per seat.
"We have reached a stage where it appeared to us we wouldn't be able to provide the services we had been providing," Trebish said.
Caulfield Hebrew Congregation (CHC) president Dr Gary Frydman reiterated that the shul had still not quite resolved its financial problems.
He said it was his wish to provide support for the COSV, and to see as much of the estimated $25,000 owed by CHC paid to the COSV, but predicted that because of the "public stoush"
many congregants "will simply refuse to pay".
"We got dragged through the mud," Dr Frydman said of emails circulated and discussions held in recent weeks. He warned: "I don't know if we'll be back here next year."
Stephen Pinch, president of St Kilda Hebrew Congregation, said it was unfortunate that drastic measures had to be taken before shuls took their COSV commitments seriously.
He said it was his shul's wish that all congregations - from the smallest minyans to the largest and oldest shuls - become COSV members and agree to provide equitable funding for communal infrastructure.
"We've got to be quite firm on that because that is what we're trying to achieve," Pinch said.
Trebish announced at the meeting that a couple of smaller shuls had agreed this week to provide financial support to the COSV.
In addition, there were shuls represented at the meeting that were not yet COSV members, indicating that Pinch's desire to see the newer shtiebels commit to the COSV may be coming to fruition.
According to the resolution unanimously passed, synagogue presidents will meet with their boards to discuss whether to commit to the $25 per seat COSV levy. Presidents will then be required to inform the COSV of their decisions by July 31.
Football girls ramp up
Maccabiah preparation
MELBOURNE, June 26- Australia's Maccabiah Women's football squad assembled in Melbourne for their third training camp earlier this month, with players from Sydney and Perth joining the Melbourne contingent to train under coaches Martin Cohen and Robi Roth.
The camp culminated with a friendly game against local side Cairnlea, who hold top spot in Victoria's Northern Region State League, but the girls showed their skill in a 5-0 triumph.
Young Victorian Bec Bennet almost got the Maccabiah outfit off to a perfect start in the fifth minute, but her strike hit the upright with the keeper well beaten.
Prolific NSW striker Nicky Goldberg was proving to be a handful for the Cairnlea defence, but couldn't find reward for her piercing attacks early in the contest.
Captain Naomi Mossenson showed her leadership qualities playing in the middle of the park, providing a constant link between the defensive and attacking thirds.
The competitive hit-out saw the sides go to the sheds locked in a scoreless draw, but the Maccabiah girls came out in the second half with renewed intent.
Mossenson sent a fine through ball to Goldberg, who confidently beat her defender and slotted the ball home for the opening goal on 55 minutes.
Cairnlea tried to come back, but their attack was blunted by the strong defensive group of Western Australian Tal Mossenson and Victorians Lauren Goldman and Raquel Lewis.
The Maccabiah side extended its buffer after a period of constant pressure paid dividends, earning a 65th minute penalty.
Mossenson's strike was parried by the Cairnlea keeper, but she was able to score on the rebound. With Bec Sheridan and Jess Nash working strongly and speedy midfielder Lani Kahn creating panic among the Cairnlea defenders, the next goal came when
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Lauren Broit delivered a quick pass to Goldberg, who again showed her goal-scoring pedigree by slotting home her second and Maccabiah's third goal.
Tall Di Kensell was active in defence, but it was a courageous dive at the feet of a Cairnlea striker by keeper Amy Seskin that showed Maccabiah's desperation to keep a clean sheet.
Broit then stole the show with a long-range wonder strike, before a Bennet free-kick was only parried by the keeper.
None other than Goldberg was on hand to grab a hat-trick and round out a 5-0 win for the side.
Section manager Sydney Kahn described the win as confidence boosting.
Farewell to 'Mr. AJAX'
 MELBOURNE, June 24- The funeral last Wednesday of John Brustman was the one of the largest many can recall at the Springvale Chevra Kadisha cemetery.
The huge crowd spilled outside the shtiebel and
represented a snapshot of the Melbourne Jewish community. Black-hatted Chabadniks mingled with
AJAX footballers in their club tracksuit tops.
Most Melbourne Jewish community organisations were represented, and in many cases by the top brass.
The eulogy touched on the myriad of groups with which John and his wife Helen were involved. They had no children, so many of these groups - particularly the North Eastern Jewish Centre, United Israel Appeal, Chabad House of Malvern and
the AJAX Football Club - were the couple's family.
AJAX in particular, is grieving again. In April, club patron and former champion Richard Pratt passed away. Last week it was John Brustman.
Mourners heard how Brustman served as a goal umpire for 621 matches. AJAX president Brian Goldberg did the math and said it added up to about 30 seasons of waving the white flags.
His commitment to writing the match reports for The Australian Jewish News (AJN) lasted much longer. Brustman's first AJAX match report appeared on the back page of The AJN on April 19, 1962. "AJAX win opener" told of a "sound" 26-point win over Brunswick at Brunswick.
In the style of the dearly departed Sporting Globe, Brustman recounted each match, almost blow for blow. His first match report concluded with: "when Kalman handpassed to Burstin who goaled, the game was sewn up".
Brustman covered the Jackas nearly every week for the next 40 years and his words carried a big stick.As club historian Barry Markoff recalled last week: "If John wrote 'AJAX will need to lift its intensity if it wants to win next week', then you
can be assured the team hadn't been playing very well".
"His writing was very instructive and he often used to use the reports to motivate the team for the next week."
Club legend Michael Ritterman added: "You never got a mention in the paper unless you earned it and he was very good at getting to the point in what he wrote."
Brustman gave up the weekly AJN match reports a few years back, but couldn't resist the urge to write about the club he loved. In the last few years, he embraced the internet, writing snippets and going into bat for it in the always opinionated and sometimes anti-Semitic amateur football section of the popular Big Footy message board under the username, Mazal.
He clearly knew his football. When he wrote early in 1967 that 16-year-old debutant Michael Ritterman had the makings of a "future star" he was right on the money. Ritterman went on to
become the club's most decorated player.
Brustman was the first AJAX identity and one of just four, to date, to be honoured by the Victorian Amateur Football Association (VAFA) with a certificate of merit. He was honoured
again by the VAFA with a lifetime achievement award at the opening game of this season.
This meant he was well connected within the wider amateur football fraternity and Markoff recalls receiving a few tip-offs from Brustman about Jewish players from rival clubs, who were
thinking of switching clubs. Often, these players would end up at AJAX.
"He wasn't just a Saturday follower of the club. He was interested in the club all year around and would often phone during the week, out of season, just to see how things were shaping up for the following season. He really was Mr AJAX."
AJAX won on Saturday, defeating Parkdale at Parkdale by 44 points, the club's first win at that ground. Mr AJAX would have been particularly proud.
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The Jews Down Under