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Victorian Senator Mitch Fifield on Israel study trip, others to follow
 CANBERRA, July 17- Following in the footsteps of his parliamentary colleagues’ trip to Israel with the Australia Israel Cultural Exchange, Victorian senator Mitch Fifield (pictured at right) has departed for the country.
The Shadow Parliamentary Secretary for Disabilities, Careers and the Voluntary Sector was awarded a scholarship to travel to Israel from the NAB Yachad Scholarship Fund.
Deputy Opposition Leader Julie Bishop, together with other MPs, is also visiting Israel this month as part of an Australia/Israel and Jewish Affairs Council trip.
Senator Fifield said his trip would primarily focus on matters relating to his portfolio. He will visit Israeli non-governmental organisations (NGOs) that provide help to people with disabilities, their families and their careers. He will also visit NGOs that work with youth at risk.
Senator Fifield has been a long-time supporter of the Jewish community. Earlier this year, he addressed an Israel solidarity rally in Melbourne. He was also one of two senators who recently defended Israel in parliament.
He expressed support for efforts to release Gilad Shalit, an Israeli soldier who has been held hostage for more than three years.
“This young man does not deserve to languish as a prisoner of Hamas for a moment longer,” the Liberal senator said. “His family does not deserve to spend another moment in torment.”
Labor senator Michael Forshaw, the chair of the Joint Standing Committee on Foreign Affairs, Defence and Trade also spoke in support of Israel in the final sitting week of parliament before the winter break.
He rejected the idea put forward by some pro-Palestinian groups of a boycott against Israel. He also criticised the often-used comparison between Israel and apartheid South Africa.
“In my view, to suggest that the campaign to support Palestinian rights should be founded upon a boycott of Israel, using the terminology or the argument that Israel is an apartheid state is, as I said, an outrage,” Senator Forshaw said.
“There are rights enjoyed by Palestinians and Arab citizens in Israel that do no exist for the Jewish people in some of those surrounding countries.”
Senator Fifield’s trip is sponsored by Yachad, an organisation that links Australians with Israeli experts across a variety of fields. Previous NAB Yachad Scholarship Fund recipients included Aboriginal leader Noel Pearson and Treasurer Wayne Swan.
Cybersmart developed as safe
way for kids to use Internet
CANBERRA, July 17 - The Australian federal Government launched Cybersmart, the first national cybersafety education initiative of its kind, at Melbourne’s Beth Rivkah Ladies College this week. Launched by the Minister for Broadband, Communications and the Digital Economy, Senator Stephen Conroy, Cybersmart is an interactive website designed to keep kids safe when using the internet.
“Young people are often the first to engage in new activities online. Unfortunately, however, they are often the first to experience cyber-safety problems such as cyber-bullying, invasions of privacy and content, which could be harmful to them,” Conroy said.
According to Conroy, Cybersmart will provide the information and skills necessary for young people to “make smart decisions online," as well as equipping parents and teachers with tools to assist children who are spending more and more time on the internet.
In addition to age-specific resources and a “schools gateway”, Cybersmart will include a helpline in collaboration with the Kids Helpline, providing confidential advice from counsellors for kids who have encountered issues.
Following the official launch on July 13, Beth Rivkah students had the opportunity to navigate the site.
A number of Melbourne’s Jewish schools said internet safety was an important part of their curriculum.
“We are very aware of the widespread benefits that access to the internet can give our students, but also mindful of the risks and dangers involved in internet use, and of the need to educate our students, and school community, to be intelligent, ethical and safe internet users,” a spokesperson for Beth Rivkah Ladies College said.
Beth Rivkah, Yeshivah College, Mount Scopus Memorial College, Leibler Yavneh College and Sholem Aleichem College have specific internet filters in place and have included cyber-safety and appropriate internet usage in the curriculum.
Jewish community concerned about underage drinking
MELBOURNE, July 17— The Jewish Community Council of Victoria (JCCV) is continuing its campaign against underage drinking and has recently conducted focus groups with Melbourne’s Jewish schools. While this is a concern for the wider community, recent incidents in the Jewish community, with some taking place in association with teenage parties, it is something that has come into sharp focus over recent months.
The meeting was organised after the JCCV’s social justice committee formed a working group earlier this year to tackle the issues of teen alcohol abuse.
As a result of the focus group discussions, which included principals and other senior school representatives, the JCCV and Jewish school leaders recommended a zero-tolerance approach to underage drinking across the community. This includes at synagogues, religious functions, such as bar mitzvahs, school events and private parties.
“Melbourne’s Jewish community can no longer pretend that underage drinking is not a problem. We have reached the point where every one of its members has to take some responsibility to help solve it,” JCCV president John Searle said.
“The message from the focus group confirmed the fears many hold. All agreed that underage binge drinking and general alcohol abuse are increasing among young Jews.”
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The JCCV, together with Jewish schools, have committed to further research on the issues of underage binge drinking, as well as implementing educational strategies. While they recognised they were part of the solution, the schools also noted that a “unified and strategic community approach” was the key.
The JCCV-school meeting recommended a change in community attitude that having fun had to involve drinking alcohol.
“The JCCV already has the commitment of most Jewish day schools and will request the endorsement of the Rabbinical Council of Victoria and the Progressive and Conservative rabbinate,” Searle said.
“Without the whole-hearted engagement of parents, in particular, and of other communal members and organisations, we cannot make further progress.”
In coming weeks, the JCCV will hold focus groups with parents and with Jewish teenagers to gather more information about underage drinking. It is expected that any strategies formulated in the Jewish community will be shared with Victoria’s other ethnic and religious communities.
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Bondi Mizrachi Synagogue
carries on without a Rabbi
SYDNEY, July 16- Over a month after Bondi Mizrachi Synagogue and its estranged rabbi, Moshe Gutnick, faced off before the London Beth Din over an ongoing contract dispute, there’s still no word of when a ruling can be expected.
The three-day hearing over the rabbi’s proposed redundancy which saw both parties, along with their counsel, fly to London concluded on June 8. Since then, the parties have indicated that they have not been contacted by the Jewish court as to when it plans to hand down its judgement.
In the meantime, Rabbi Gutnick continues to go without a wage, which he agreed to beforehand, while Mizrachi shul operates without a rabbi.
“We are patiently waiting and will comment after the judgement,” Rabbi Gutnick, who is currently abroad in New York stated.
Mizrachi president Mark Schneider also declined to comment directly on the case. However, he admitted the uncertainty over the forthcoming ruling was “making it hard to raise funds” for the already cash-strapped congregation.
From the onset, the shul’s board has maintained its decision to make the rabbi’s position redundant was because it couldn’t afford to continue paying his $80,000 annual salary. It had also said the shul was facing the possibility of insolvency. But at present, such talk appears to be put on hold.
“The fact that Rabbi Gutnick agreed not to receive a salary over this period has reduced our operating costs over the past few months,” explained Schneider, adding that the shul was “operating fine” without a rabbi.
“Our Baal Tephillah and Baal Koreh are doing a great job with the help and involvement of many able congregants. We had a successful Kiddush last Shabbos, and another is planned for this week,” he said.
The board was also “working through a few contingencies” on how to run services for upcoming Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur festivals in September, he said.
The case first appeared before the NSW Supreme Court in April when the rabbi won a last-minute injunction blocking the shul from voting on a proposal to make his position redundant after 22 years of service.
The rabbi had argued that the board’s attempt to remove him went against his contractual life tenure, and only a Jewish court had the right to decide on whether to make his position redundant.
The court ultimately ruled it was a matter for the Jewish courts.
Eruv Heads across Sydney Harbour Bridge
SYDNEY, July 17- The Northern Eruv committee is busy working to revive a plan to build an eruv that would enclose part of the North Shore suburb of St Ives in Sydney. Ku-ring-gai Council staff rejected the committee’s original application last October due to fears over its impact on the area.
The council’s concerns include the use of 26 poles to erect the 20-kilometre boundary, which it thinks could be visually “inconsistent” with the area. It also fears the extension wires could adversely affect the trees.
Some of the information provided by the applicant, the council said, was “inaccurate or incomplete”, rendering the development application “unsatisfactory”. But after months of consultations to review the proposal, the committee said this week that it could be ready to relodge the application as early as August.
“Since October last year, the committee has been continuing its works for the St Ives eruv,” Northern Eruv spokesman David Guth said “This has been done in association with the local council, other stakeholders and various parties with a view to relodging the application in the very near future.
“The committee has been working to ensure a successful outcome for the community and will look to provide an update at the appropriate time,” he added.
Aussies angered at Maccabiah
substandard accommodation
RAMAT GAN, July 17 - The opening of the 18th Maccabiah has been marred by accommodation issues affecting juniors from Australia and several other nations.
The Australian junior team was forced from its base at Shefayim, a costal kibbutz between Tel Aviv an Natanya, after concerns from team management that the facilities "were less than satisfactory".
It is understood that a team from the US arrived at Shefayim first, leaving insufficient accommodation for the 100-strong Australian team.
The Australians were relocated to Hakfar Hayarok, a youth village near Ramat Hasharon. One of the team managers, Vicki Lustig from Melbourne said "that it was quite unsatisfactory, and they were disappointed in the disruption this caused to their preparation for the competition."
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The Jews Down Under 