JHC Social Club

Holocaust survivors, volunteers and guides, together with their friends, look forward to the monthly meeting of the Jewish Holocaust Centre (JHC) Social Club. The Club has continued to attract stimulating and informative speakers, and participants always ask searching questions and take part in lively discussion after each presentation.

Over the three months from September last year, the theme of our discussions was Israel and the Middle East. Dr Dan Porat, a researcher at the Australian Centre for Jewish Civilisation at Monash University and a former IDF intelligence officer, journalist and international analyst with a focus on Iran’s nuclear program and international security, addressed us on ‘Iran, Israel, and the Bomb’. Megan Goldin, a journalist and former producer of the television programs 7:30 Report and Foreign Correspondent, later spoke about ‘How the Media Covers Israel’, and Dr Dvir Abramovich, Chair of B’nai B’rith Anti-Defamation Commission and The Israel Kipen Lecturer in Jewish Studies and Director of the Program in Jewish Culture and Society at The University of Melbourne, discussed ‘The War Against Israel’. These three presentations gave us much food for thought.

Sue Hampel OAM, co-president of the JHC, delivered an address titled ‘From Romania to Poland – and to Rwanda: a Reflective Journey of the Child of a Holocaust Survivor’. A former high school teacher at Mount Scopus Memorial College, Sue founded the March of the Living Australia and is currently working at Monash University as a teaching associate in Modern Jewish History, Holocaust and Post-Conflict Studies. She has led numerous groups of students and adults to Poland and Rwanda.

Gary Samowitz, CEO of Stand Up, spoke about ‘Changing the World... Where Do We Start?’ Gary was appointed as Stand Up’s first CEO in 2009 and has played a key role in raising the awareness of social justice issues in the Jewish community through volunteering and the development of programs.

Complementing Gary’s presentation, our next speaker, Nivy Balachandran, spoke about ‘Confronting Bigotry’. Nivy designs and delivers programs to adults and youth on education about world views, conflict transformation, and cross-cultural communication. She is a recognised leader in interfaith and intercultural affairs who has represented Australia at interfaith conferences around the world.

The JHC Social Club regularly attracts between 45 to 60 people and welcomes members of the community to attend for bagels and coffee, and for stimulating and lively discussion. The Club meets monthly on Thursday mornings at the Jewish Holocaust Centre.

For further information about the JHC Social Club, please contact Barbara Sacks on 0404 224 498.

1 (l-r) Barbara Sacks, Saba Feniger, Sue Hampel OAM, Abram Goldberg OAM and Adele Pakula

2 Megan Goldin and Leon Shulkin

3 Lusia Haberfeld and Dr Dvir Abramovich

4 (l-r) Jack Ginger, Alice Peer, Barbara Sacks and Eva Graham