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B'nai B'rith Australia/ New Zealand sponsors appeal for Tonga/Samoa tsunami victims
MELBOURNE -In response to the devastating tsunami which has affected thousands of people in the Pacific islands of Samoa and Tonga
B'nai B'rith Australia/ New Zealand
invites B'nai B'rith members and supporters
to contribute to the Samoa/ Tonga Tsunami Relief Appeal.
Please make cheques payable to B'nai B'rith Foundation and forward to PO Box 443, KINGS CROSS, NSW 1340 or EFT for credit of B'nai B'rith Foundation, Westpac Bank - Balaclava Branch
BSB: 033-169 Account No: 11 3095 Reference: Donor Name and confirm your payment and address for receipting to bbozdist@ozemail.com.au
All funds raised will be remitted in full through the Salvation Army. The Salvos are currently deploying teams of workers to the affected areas to assist victims and their families.
Adrienne Perch, President, B'nai B'rith Australia / New Zealand; Danielle Schilling, Acting Chair, B'nai B'rith Vic Inc
Jewish Community combatting family violence
MELBOURNE— The below message is circulated on behalf of the Jewish Task Force Against Family Violence:
25 November is White Ribbon Day which is the day when men SAY NO to violence. JTAFV inc has, for 15 years, been educating the community as to the existence of, and ways to prevent, family violence. We have now started to run school based programmes which involve "educating the educator" and also the students as to the existence of sexual assault and family violence and train them to understand and be involved in respectful relationships.
We now offer a speakers' bureau, whereby members of our committee will speak to your group about family violence and sexual assault. In particular, now that White Ribbon Day is coming up, we are keen to address as many of you as
possible. Normally, we would expect a presentation, which includes time for questions, to go for about an hour.
Jewish community digs
deep for disaster relief
MELBOURNE — With the region reeling from the aftermath of earthquakes in Indonesia, quakes and tsunamis in Samoa, and a typhoon in the Philippines, Jewish Aid Australia (JAA) is
urging its supporters to help with emergency efforts.
JAA president Ric Benjamin told The AJN the Jewish emergency relief organisation is directing its supporters to donate to ShelterBox Australia, a local organisation that sends shelter packs to disaster-stricken areas.
ShelterBox Australia is an initiative of Rotary and is affiliated with the global ShelterBox program, based in the United Kingdom.
A shelter pack, which consists of a rugged tent and blankets for up to 10 people, costs about $1200 to buy.
"They're already distributing in Samoa and beginning to distribute in Indonesia," Benjamin said.
Rather than running a community appeal, JAA has been in contact with Jewish community organisations, including the NSW Jewish Board of Deputies and the Jewish Community Council of Victoria, as well as smaller Jewish organisations.
The message is to ask constituents to contribute directly to ShelterBox, and the Council of Orthodox Synagogues of Victoria and the Union for Progressive Judaism (UPJ) have already responded to the alert and notified their email lists, Benjamin said.
UPJ executive director Steve Denenberg said his organisation was "working with Jewish Aid Australia and Mazon, as well as seeking to combine with the wonderful efforts of the Joint
Distribution Committee, which has already pledged significant financial resources to help provide aid and assistance in the rebuilding process".
"On a practical level, we know that many of our congregations will want to respond and help with the aid effort. We believe that a coordinated Jewish response will be of most benefit to those who have suffered such losses and that this is the best way to show that we not only care for our own, but that we believe it is our sacred obligation to reach out and help people in times of need."
The executive director of Jewish National Fund (JNF) Victoria, Joe Krycer, said JNF was closely monitoring the situation in Indonesia and Samoa and, as an environmental organisation, would assess the need for aiding restoration efforts
after primary rescue and relief work had been completed.
"When it comes to a time in the not-too-distant future when there may be work that calls for expertise in environmental rehabilitation, we're always available to help out anywhere, and
wherever we are asked," he said, adding that aid could come at state and federal levels in Australia, and through Keren Kayemet l'Yisrael in Jerusalem.
Community urged to continue to highlight Shalit's captivity
MELBOURNE - Australia's Zionist community has expressed hope that kidnapped Israeli soldier Gilad Shalit will be released
alive following a video delivered last week by Hamas.
The video, released last Friday, shows Shalit in good physical health, holding a newspaper dated September 14, 2009.
He is recorded as saying he is being well looked after and that he yearns to be reunited with his family. He calls on Israeli Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu to waste no opportunities in finalising a deal to secure his release.
President of the Zionist Council of Victoria (ZCV) Dr Danny Lamm said: "Since June 25, 2006, his family has lived in limbo, not knowing his fate or the state of his physical or mental
wellbeing. The videotape is a sign of life.
"Gilad's parents, his family and friends, Israelis and Jewish communities all over the world have been waiting for this sign and we know now that Gilad is alive."
The executive director of the State Zionist Council of NSW (SZC), Aviva Kogus, said Shalit's capture from within Israeli territory was a blatant contravention of international law.
"Though we are encouraged by this video, we also
recognise that this is only the first step towards his release," she said.
"The SZC once again calls upon the Israeli government to redouble their efforts to ensure the safe return of Gilad Shalit to Israel."
SZC president Frank Levy commended the NSW Government for its recent unanimous passing of a resolution calling for Red Cross access to Shalit something that has been denied since his capture as well as his safe return home to Israel.
Dr Lamm also called on the community to continue to campaign for Shalit's release, urging people to utilise "the power of Gilad's taped image to strengthen the campaign".
His organisation has run a "blue ribbon" campaign since Shalit's capture, which encourages the community to wear a blue ribbon to raise awareness of his kidnapping.
"Talk about Gilad to your family and friends and keep up with the blue ribbon campaign that the Zionist Council of Victoria initiated back in June 2006," Dr Lamm said.
"The blue ribbon campaign will go on until Hamas releases Gilad and he is back home in Israel with his family."
Zentai one step
closer to extradition
PERTH - Charles (Karoly) Zentai, the Perth man facing charges for a Holocaust-era murder, inched closer to being extradited after losing an appeal to the full bench of the Federal Court on Thursday.
Zentai, 88, is out on bail, and may still appeal his case to the High Court, after the Federal Court granted a stay of 14 days on the execution of a warrant for his extradition.
If Zentai appeals and loses he will face charges in Budapest.
He has always denied the charges relating to the murder of Peter Balazs, a young man who was beaten and then thrown into the Danube River in Budapest in 1944.
Two other officers in the Hungarian army were convicted of their complicity in Balazs' murder in court proceedings soon after World War II.
Since his arrest in 2005 after investigations under the Simon Wiesenthal Centre's worldwide Operation Last Chance, Zentai's lawyers unsuccessfully argued that the Perth Magistrate's
Court had no jurisdiction to rule on extraditing him.
The Magistrate's Court decision was upheld by Justice John Gilmour in the Federal Court in March this year, before yesterday's ruling by the court's full bench confirming Justice Gilmour's decision.
Zentai has previously appealed to the High Court, when he challenged the magistrate court's jurisdiction.
The final decision on extraditing him is in the hands of Attorney-General Robert McClelland, and he has referred it to Home Affairs Minister Brendan O'Connor, who has invited submissions on the matter.
A spokesperson for O'Connor's office said that when it came time for a final decision on Zentai's extradition, it would be made "expeditiously".
No 'Use-by date'
for evil; - a reflection
MELBOURNE--They're rounding up the last of much-loved,
snowy-haired grandads that might sizzle sausages for the family on weekends, but stand accused of unalloyed evil.
Perth's Charles Zentai and Ohio's John Demjanjuk are presumed innocent unless a court determines otherwise, but it has taken years to get them to face justice.
Demajanjuk 89, is charged with being an accessory to the murder of 27,900 people at the Sobibor death camp in Poland during WW II.
Now if any ordinary citizen was charged with 27,900 murders, they would demand their day in court as soon as possible to clear their name, if indeed they were innocent as they claim, but Demanjanjuk, a retired car factory worker, has
fought tooth and nail for years to avoid his.
He has been deported to Munich, Germany, where his trial starts next month. Zentai, 87, last week lost his latest appeal (see above) in the Federal Court against extradition to Hungary to face charges that in Budapest in 1944 he bashed
to death 18 year old Peter Balazs, because the boy was not wearing the yellow star Nazis insisted Jews must.
The disciplined officers of the Royal Hungarian Army took mischief like that quite seriously as they enthusiastically did Hitler's bidding.
Zentai was said to have been one. He denies being in town on the day this incident took place. Justice for the alleged victims of those two does not yellow and fade like the charges sheets they wish to avoid. If Damjanjuk and Zentai are found
guilty, their day in court will be just a stopover to a few years in jail and eternity in hell.
Go to the top of next column
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Youth moving Zionism
MELBOURNE- In 1913 in Eastern Europe, two Jewish youth groups merged to form what is now the oldest Zionist youth group still in existence.
Born on the eve of World War I, Hashomer Hatzair provided refuge for young Jews wanting to engage with their Jewish identity outside the walls of the traditional shtetl life -- a life that was fast crumbling around them.
It was a time of great change, with anti-Semitism on the rise and Nazism and communism just around the corner.
Fast-forward 96 years, and a group of Jewish youth gather each week in inner-Melbourne, keeping Hashomer Hatzair alive.
Like the other Zionist youth movements in Australia today, Hashomer Hatzair, or Hashy, is as popular as ever, with more than 100 school-aged members (chanichim) currently attending weekly meetings.
The ideologies behind the six Zionist youth movements are largely unchanged, but the reasons for participating have. Nevertheless, Zionist youth movements in Australia are going from strength to strength.
For former Habonim Dror leader and current chairperson of the Australian Zionist Youth Council (AZYC) -- the umbrella organisation for the Zionist movements -- Liam Getreu, this growth comes as no surprise.
"It seems people want to be more engaged," Getreu said "We had about 180 people at our bogrim (graduate) seminar last week as opposed to 110 or 120 last year. The numbers of bogrim have gone up, but [never] by that much."
Robbie Franco, executive director of the Zionist Federation of Australia (ZFA), the roof body of Australia's Zionist organisations, echoed these sentiments.
"I think it is going very well and in fact, it just proves the point that when you have the right people doing the right things, you don't need to place limitations on it," Franco said,
crediting the current crop of movement leaders for the success.
"I have been here four months exactly and I have met an incredible bunch of students. Those who I have met among the leadership, they are talented, they are bright, committed, articulate and an absolute delight."
While Getreu referred to the "passion" and "commitment" of the current leaders, he also credited past leaders with the present state of the movements.
"It all goes in cycles so the strength now is because of the bogrim five or six years ago," he said.
"There was a good bunch of talented madrichim (leaders) who were able to talk to the kids and these kids have stayed involved and are really passionate."
Betar's Andrew Gray agrees with Getreu, also referring to the efforts of past leaders.
"We had four bogrim a few years back and their efforts paid off," he said.
Betar, which was established by staunch Zionist Ze'ev Jabotinsky in the early 1920s, has recently enjoyed significant annual growth, with 150 students attending the summer federal camp last year, as opposed to 80 the year before.
"The dedication of the bogrim at the movement has brought the increase. They all love the movement and its ideology and [all] are really committed."
Gray said another factor leading the growth of Betar has been a considered effort to attract students from non-Jewish schools - a matter close to his heart, considering he himself attended a non-Jewish school.
"There is nothing more beneficial than attending a [youth] movement, learning about Judaism and being a part, particularly for people who may have felt disenfranchised."
Netzer's Jeremy Bliss has had a similar experience, becoming involved in the movement when he moved from The King David School to Wesley College.
Bliss said that while King David and Emanuel School students make up the majority of Netzer's numbers because of the alignment with Progressive Judaism, there are also a large number of students from non-Jewish schools attending Netzer.
Hashy's Liraz Jedwab agreed, saying that students who attend non-Jewish schools comprise about 40 per cent of participants.
It may be no coincidence that the majority of the assistants who teach Jewish studies through the United Jewish Education Board, Jewish Student Network and Academy BJE come through the youth movement system.
"They lead every week [at their movement] and they still want more. They are passionate about education so they go off and [teach] as well," Getreu said.
The obvious impact of a youth movement on students who attend a non-Jewish school was shown in the recent Monash University Jewish Population Survey of Australia's Jewish community.
The survey showed that people who attended a non-Jewish school, but participated in a youth movement, were likely to feel as Zionist as if they attended a Jewish school.
Another trend being observed at the moment by the AZYC is the number of youth movement participants indicating they would like to make aliyah.
"We did a quick straw poll on our recent bogrim seminar and of the 180 or so people there, about 120 said they were going to make aliyah in the next few years," Getrau said.
"Even if half of those or a quarter do, you are looking at amazing aliyah numbers coming from the movements. There is a real renaissance of an aliyah culture that is incredible."
In addition to the aliyah numbers, many of the movements -- even the more secular ones -- are driving a new wave of Jewish practice.
"The Judaism part of the more secular movements is increasing," Getreu said.
"Secular Judaism does not mean that you are not going to do anything because you don't like it, rather it means that you are going to find meaning in what there is and that you are going
to try to adapt what has previously been done to modern standards and to modern society . It's about educating secular Jews to understand their faith more."
Whether it is the desire to be more engaged, the passion and commitment of the leaders or the unique and informal methods of teaching and learning, the current state of youth movements in Australia is looking up and if it is up to Franco from the ZFA, this growth will not peak anytime soon.
Instead, Franco is focused on how the movements can continue to attract more people.
While about 1000 young people attend weekly Zionist youth movement meetings across the country, he estimates there are tens of thousands more who are yet to get involved.
"It is not whether the youth movements per se are doing a good job, it is how we get them to reach out and make youth movements a culture of choice," he said, adding that the ZFA's plenary held over three days last week focused on this very subject.
Titled "Le'an" -- Hebrew for "where to" -- the plenum focused on "developing new strategies for older beliefs" and taking the Zionist organisations into the next decade.
And just as the ZFA is looking to the future, so is Getreu, who said that "the bogrim today are the leaders of the future".
"People are coming back from Shnat [a year in Israel] and realising that it is not just a one-year process, it is the beginning or one step in a lifelong set of goals that you want to
achieve . People are more willing to understand that and are more willing to engage with their Jewish and Zionist identity."
Leading newspaper editor responds to community concern
MELBOURNE- There were no shy silences when The Age's editor-in-chief, Paul Ramadge, asked for questions following his speech to Melbourne's Jewish community last week.
Around 200 people packed Beth Weizmann on October
6 for the speech, which Ramadge aptly called "dialogue."
The evening ran over time as the audience made comments and fired questions at the editor.
Ramadge has been editor-in-chief for a year, since Andrew Jaspan left. During that time, he has been criticised by both Jewish community leaders and Jewish members of the public for the paper's reportage of Israel and Jewish community issues.
Ramadge began his speech by expressing wishes of chag sameach for Succot, before remarking, "I do not want to pretend to understand the Jewish narrative as well as you do."
Nevertheless, throughout his address he showed he
was well read on contemporary and historical issues, citing many Jewish and Israeli novelists, historians and politicians.
He spoke about Fairfax's Middle East correspondent, Jason Katsoukis, who he said has built strong links with Jewish and Arab leaders in the Middle East, as well as with Israeli
Ambassador to Australia Yuval Rotem.
Ramadge listed a number of reports Katsoukis had filed for the news organisation, in an attempt to indicate the correspondent had provided a balance of stories from the Israeli perspective and the Palestinian perspective, and a balance of hard,
political stories as well softer, human-interest pieces.
"Jason Katsoukis is following his brief to report accurately, fairly and with courage," he said.
"His articles in Israel have often gone beyond politics, which I thought was one of the things you [the Jewish community] asked for."
In response to concerns about the paper's coverage of Operation Cast Lead, Ramadge cited the old catchcry, the fog of war, saying it is difficult for journalists to see through the spin during a war and report with accuracy. But he
maintained his faith in Katsoukis' journalistic ability.
Over the past 12 months, Jewish community leaders have petitioned Ramadge a number of times. The two most serious complaints were about a column by Michael Backman -- who no longer writes for the paper -- that leaders called "blatantly
anti-Semitic.
and a report of an Orthodox man's death in a road accident, which mentioned unrelated year-old allegations of sexual assault in the Adass Israel community.
Ramadge conceded a number of times that The Age is not perfect, but added that each time a mistake was identified, staff training was reviewed, meetings with the journalists involved
were held and sometimes counselling was provided to ensure similar future mistakes were avoided.
He called anti-Semitism "abhorrent and sickening" and emphasised that both he and the paper "believe in a society that is free."
He also encouraged members of the community to stay in touch with him.
"Know that I value dialogue on every issue of concern," he said.
Fabian, our Australia bureau chief, may be contacted at fabiang@sandiegojewishworld.com
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The Jews Down Under 