For nearly a decade, MedEx served as a beacon for medical professionals in North America with aspirations to make Aliyah to Israel. As an annual standalone event, MedEx offered invaluable support: it connected healthcare professionals with Israeli hospitals, facilitated the licensing process and helped expedite the Oleh’s transition into Israel’s healthcare system. The program quickly became a trusted pathway for motivated practitioners seeking to contribute their talents in Israel and make the move.
Its success caught the attention of Israel’s key policymakers. With Israel facing a severe physician shortage, the Israeli Ministry of Health and the Ministry of Aliyah and Integration recognised that MedEx’s impact could be amplified far beyond North America. The government approached Nefesh B’Nefesh with a bold proposal: expand MedEx into a structured initiative that could serve physicians around the world. Responding to this vision, Nefesh B’Nefesh, already renowned for its effectiveness in facilitating Aliyah, embarked on an ambitious transformation, forming the International Medical Aliyah Program (IMAP).
Officially launched in March 2024, IMAP represents the next chapter in Israel’s strategy to fortify its healthcare system amid growing physician shortages. Nefesh B’Nefesh signed a multi-year agreement with Israel’s Ministry of Aliyah and Integration, Ministry of Health and Ministry of Negev, Galil and National Resilience, in cooperation with The Jewish Agency for Israel to formalise IMAP, committing to streamline the recruitment, licensing and placement of medical professionals worldwide. The goal is to bring in at least 2,000 physicians over the next five years.
The cofounder and chairman of Nefesh B’Nefesh, Tony Gelbart, said: “Confronting the growing challenges of healthcare personnel shortages, especially in times of crisis, remains a critical mission for us. The International Medical Aliyah Program is designed to ensure a seamless transition for these committed medical professionals and passionate Zionists and we are thrilled to now offer this expedited process to professionals from all over the world. We are honoured to have been given this role by the Israeli government and extremely grateful to our philanthropic partners in
IMAP continues to expand globally
making this possible.” With the framework in place, IMAP immediately began to expand. The program launched its first European MedEx in Paris on March 31st, 2024, following the annual MedEx New Jersey held earlier that month. The rollout continued with large scale events in Buenos Aires, London and Los Angeles, and small-scale events around the world, reflecting IMAP’s international ambition. Europe saw strong engagement. At the second annual MedEx in France, held in May 2025, more than 300 European doctors and medical students, particularly from France, Belgium and Switzerland, gathered to explore their Aliyah options and career pathways. Officials underscored the importance of their participation, especially as Israel continues to face acute personnel shortages in regions like the Negev and Galilee.
Meanwhile, South America became another focal point. In Buenos Aires, IMAP hosted events that built on the region’s growing interest, laying the groundwork for robust support networks to assist medical professionals in their Aliyah journeys. These regional expansions underscore IMAP’s adaptability and the universal need among medical professionals for structured and tailored Aliyah assistance.
In a defining move, IMAP is slated to officially hold the first ever MedEx Australia in October 2025, signaling yet another significant milestone in its global trajectory. Ahead of the official launch, two information sessions were held in July – one in Melbourne and another in Sydney. These sessions drew strong attendance from doctors and medical specialists. Participants expressed gratitude for the clarity and comprehensiveness of the information provided. Many shared how daunting the Aliyah process can feel – particularly when it comes to professional licensure, relocation logistics and navigating the Israeli healthcare system – and how critical IMAP’s role would be in easing the transition. The feedback clearly illustrated that IMAP’s presence in Australia is not just welcome: it may be transformative in helping medical Olim relocate with confidence.
This enthusiasm mirrors the sentiment witnessed in Europe and South America. Dedicated professionals are eager to contribute to Israel’s healthcare landscape, but they need a clear, supportive and efficient framework to make it happen. IMAP delivers that.
By transforming MedEx into IMAP, there is now a clear-cut mechanism for Israel to recruit not just professionals,
but loyal Zionists, motivated by a deep sense of purpose. This strategy resonates deeply when set against Israel’s current healthcare realities.
Since its launch, IMAP has already facilitated the Aliyah of a recordbreaking 786 physicians, with hundreds more in the pipeline. With its operational footprint now firmly established across Europe, South America and Australia, IMAP is poised to deliver on its ambitious five-year goal of bringing thousands of healthcare professionals to Israel.
Yet beyond numbers, the program reflects a broader vision, where medical professionals become agents of change, strengthening healthcare in Israel, while actualising their own aspirations. What began as a standalone North American conference has evolved into a global initiative, with real impact and deep resonance. IMAP exemplifies how vision, collaboration and compassionate infrastructure can transform dreams into reality. As the program grows, its mission remains steadfast: to facilitate medical Aliyah, fortify Israel's healthcare system and connect devoted professionals with a meaningful Zionist mission that transcends continents.
MedEx participants help to secure the future of Israeli medical services (photos by Shachar Azran)
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DR DVIR ABRAMOVICH CONSIDERED OPINION
As I approach this Jewish New Year, there is a heaviness in my chest. It is not the ordinary solemnity of the season, the reflective pause, the taking of stock. It is something more jagged, more raw: the sense of a people suddenly aware that the ground beneath them is no longer firm.
The Hamas massacres did not only kill more than a thousand Israelis. They uncorked a wave of antisemitism that broke on distant shores. And in this country, where so many once believed themselves securely at home, it has left a bruise that language struggles to name. For the past twelve months, Jews in Australia and across the diaspora have continued to carry October 7 like a scar they cannot hide.
The catalogue of incidents is sobering, but if you want to understand the mood, begin not with a ledger of incidents, but with a feeling of siege. What does siege feel like in a country that calls itself lucky? It feels like hearing your name spoken as an accusation. It feels like watching the familiar landmarks of belonging take on a new edge, as when the Sydney Harbour Bridge filled with more than 90,000 people and a single chant carried through the air, ‘From the river to the sea’, a phrase that erased a nation and a people with six words.
The there is the recent revelation that the Adass Synagogue firebombed in Melbourne was not a random act, but part of a plan traced back to Tehran. Or the July night when an arsonist struck the East Melbourne Synagogue, another reminder that even prayer houses are not exempt from the fury of those who despise us. Or the mob that stormed Miznon, an Israeli restaurant in Melbourne, shattering its glass and chanting ‘Death to the IDF’, as if eating hummus and pita were now acts of war. For Jews watching, it felt like Kristallnacht in miniature, an ordinary corner of the city suddenly turned against them.
Consider the weekend marches that have become a ritual, filling Melbourne’s streets with banners and megaphones. Week after week, Jews listened as the chants hardened: Zionists branded as war criminals, fascists, pariahs. The effect was not abstract. Families decided not to step into the CBD, conceding it no longer felt like their city on those days. These aren’t just headlines. They settle into the bones. You absorb them like the ringing in your ears after a crash. The body flinches, long after the noise stops. The word that I keep hearing from my fellow Jews is betrayal. It does not always present as anger; often it arrives as disappointment and fear. I have sat in living rooms where this fear has a face. After the Adass bombing, a grandmother who had lived here for 60 years whispered that she had never imagined she would utter the word Aliyah to her children. Now she had. A father called me late one evening, asking for words to reassure his anxious Year 9 daughter at a public school who had been called a ‘baby killer’. A
The year that shattered Jewish trust in Australia
young professional confided that he no longer posts photos of himself at Jewish community events on LinkedIn. “It’s not worth the risk,” he said. He fears that in today’s climate, a visible Jewish identity is a liability, a mark against his career. The burden is not just theoretical. It is in the ordinary calibrations of daily life.
A poll confirmed what we already knew. Sixty-six percent of Australian Jews said they feel unwelcome, but are staying. Eighteen percent are considering leaving for Israel. Three percent have already decided to go. Add it together: more than four in five are living with some degree of unease about their future here. This is not statistical noise. This is a seismic shift in the psychological weather of a community that has been here since the First Fleet.
Safety is not just locks and guards. It is the assumption that when an old hatred stirs, your neighbours will stand beside you. That the country you love, will love you back. When that trust is shaken, the damage goes deeper than smashed windows or graffiti. A synagogue can be rebuilt. A wall can be scrubbed. But when belonging itself feels provisional, the music of citizenship goes out of tune.
Australian Jews are bereaved. They are grieving a quieter loss, which is the easy, unselfconscious trust they had in Australia.
Some point to the statements from leaders and “yes”, there were strong words. The government expelled Iran’s ambassador. Politicians across parties condemned antisemitism. Those things matter and they deserve acknowledgment. But let’s not pretend they are enough.
Words do not walk children to school. Words do not stand at bus stops with teenagers who can’t decide whether the Star of David should be tucked inside a shirt. I keep returning to a smaller
question: what does it do to a child to grow up with this hum in the air? Not the spectacle, not the headlines, the hum. For Jewish children, coming of age has meant learning the weather of mistrust earlier than they should.
The test before Australia now is not abstract. It is whether this country wants to be a place where a child can wear a Jewish school jacket without secondguessing; where a small community can gather for prayer without calculating exit routes or revealing the location at the last minute; where being identified as Jewish in public is as unremarkable as being identified as anything else.
This year, Jewish life did not curl in on itself; it became more deliberate. Cultural festivals and events went ahead. The rallies for the hostages and Israel gained in strength and frequency; books about the Jewish experience were written; Shabbat tables lengthened. Some Jews chose not to lower their profile, but to live a little more openly.
Not out of bravado, but out of fidelity to those who rebuilt their lives after the Holocaust, to children who watch, to a tradition that outlasted empires. They reminded everyone that a nation’s character is revealed not only in its crises, but in its small refusals to let cruelty set the tone.
How does it feel to carry all this into the New Year? It is like entering a familiar room and finding that the furniture has shifted a few centimetres in the night.
Rosh Hashanah is the season when Jews perform a moral inventory of the self, of the community, of the world. This year, the record is heavy. Fear has crept into the ordinary.
Belonging, once automatic, feels conditional. Trust, once solid, is fractured. These are not abstractions; they are the climate of the soul in a year of screams and slogans.
Even as we gather for the New Year, we cannot forget that the hostages remain in Hamas’s grip. Lives suspended in captivity, families left in limbo, a human silence that shames the world.
The year ahead will not be easy. The dark currents that swept through our cities will not vanish overnight. The slogans will not dissolve, just because we wish them to. But there is an older sound that carries farther than any chant and it calls all of us, Jews and non-Jews, to an ethic of attention and care.
It asks Australians to be guardians of one another’s dignity, to re-learn the simple arts of decency: speaking up, shutting down, refusing to trivialise or excuse hate.
I cannot tell you how the next 12 months will unfold. I can tell you what will be required if we are to be the country we say we are: vigilance against antisemitism and shared intolerance for the casual cruelties that make people feel like outsiders in their own home.
As this New Year dawns, I think of the people I met this year: the inspiring ones who told me they had not hidden a necklace with the map of Israel or a Jewish symbol; the dignified ones who said they were raising children to be proud, even when the world would not make it easy; the weary ones who challenge the bigots online. The load is heavy. But so is the resolve.
And perhaps that is the truest meaning of this season: that even when the night has felt too long, we gather, we bless our children and we dip apples in honey.
And we begin. Again.
Dr Dvir Abramovich is chair of the AntiDefamation Commission and the author of eight books.
Dr Dvir Abramovich
JNF AUSTRALIA
As we approach Rosh Hashanah 5786, a time of reflection, renewal and hope, JNF Australia is supporting two powerful initiatives in Israel that demonstrate a profound truth: environmental rehabilitation is human rehabilitation.
In the aftermath of trauma and displacement, these projects show how tending to the land can also nurture the spirit, rebuild communities and restore resilience.
Kibbutz Malkiya: healing through a community greenhouse
For decades, Kibbutz Malkiya’s 400 residents have lived under constant threat. The recent war and forced evacuation further tested their strength.
As families return, JNF Australia is supporting three projects designed to restore land and community. Together, these initiatives create a holistic vision of renewal in which agriculture, animal care and environmental responsibility come together.
• Community greenhouse: A 200-square-metre greenhouse will provide a therapeutic environment where residents can process trauma through cultivation, while producing sustainable food, reviving agricultural traditions and creating an intergenerational gathering space.
Rosh Hashanah 2025 Blue Box campaign
• Animals heal – a place of compassion and rehabilitation: This unique project will combine an advanced dog park with meeting areas for animal-assisted therapy, promoting social connection, education and emotional healing. It will also expand green space within the kibbutz, encourage active living and foster awareness of animal welfare.
• Bringing back life – from waste to hope: An advanced recycling centre will dramatically reduce landfill waste, generate green income for the kibbutz and provide educational programs for schools. The project will not only improve soil and water quality in the region, but also embed
environmental awareness into the community’s rehabilitation process.
Netiv HaAsara: “Between the Olive Trees” healing garden
On the southern border, Netiv HaAsara was devastated by the terror attack of October 7, 2023. Families endured enormous loss and months of uncertainty. Now, as they return home, they face not only the practical task of reconstruction, but the deeper challenge of restoring a sense of peace and belonging.
At the entrance to the moshav lies a barren, sandy area – empty ground that residents now see as an opportunity. Their vision is to transform it into “Between the Olive Trees”, a community healing
garden. This green sanctuary will feature fruit trees, native plants, shaded seating areas and pathways designed for quiet reflection. The first two olive trees have already been planted, symbolising roots of resilience and anchors of hope. When complete, the garden will offer calm and beauty to those entering the community, while also providing a visible reminder that renewal is possible, even after the darkest of times. By turning neglected land into a flourishing, welcoming space, Netiv HaAsara is reaffirming life, unity and the enduring power of growth.
Though separated by geography, Malkiya’s greenhouse and Netiv HaAsara’s healing garden share the same mission: to restore communities by restoring their environment. When Israelis living on the periphery cultivate their land, they are also cultivating resilience, dignity and hope.
This Rosh Hashanah, through the Blue Box campaign, JNF Australia invites you to be part of this journey. Together, we can help ensure that environmental rehabilitation becomes human rehabilitation, bringing strength, renewal and healing to communities across Israel.
Donate today at https://jnf.org.au/ vic-bbrh25 or call 1300 563 563.
CONSIDERED OPINION
DAVID SCHULBERG
Dr Andrew Thomas is a lecturer in International Relations and Middle East Studies at Deakin University, specialising in Middle East politics and non-Western international relations theory.
David Schulberg spoke with him after the Australian government declared it would recognise a Palestinian state.
David: Andrew, was this the best time for Australia to declare that it will recognise a Palestinian state?
Andrew: We don't know what we don't know in terms of the other considerations that Australia is making right now. I'd say there'd be a lot of geostrategic ones, some of them concerning how involved is the United States going to be in Australia's defence policy over the next three to four years? Does Australia want to actually put pressure on the United States through this? Do we want to pivot more to Europe, which I think is certainly something? Do we want to pivot more to countries like Indonesia, Malaysia and Singapore? But putting that aside, there would be some that would say that if Australia really supported a twostate solution, why hasn't it recognised a Palestinian state long ago? I don't know whether we could say this is the right time. Certainly, there does appear to be an escalation in a couple of things that probably pushed Australia to that conclusion, including growing humanitarian concerns and obviously some of the pronouncements by Benjamin Netanyahu that he intends to reoccupy the Gaza Strip.
These factors are putting considerable political pressure on Australia from their allies to the north. What Foreign Minister Penny Wong has said about this being the right time to build momentum adds to the question: build momentum to what? The closer we get to something like the Oslo Accords, maybe that's good. Maybe after the violence transitions into political discussion, maybe that's a good thing.
But then the same questions keep popping up. What happens to Jerusalem? What happens to the territory already settled in the West Bank? Are we talking about moving more people? Are we talking about moving Israelis? Are we talking about moving Palestinians? That sort of nitty-gritty has always been the problem with the two-state solution. That is why the Oslo Accords fell apart in the second Camp David meeting with Yasser Arafat and the Israelis, because they couldn't figure out how to work out the minutiae. That is the jump from the momentum – trying to build a political solution to this conflict to the reality of where that momentum is taking us.
The Foreign Minister can't really speak to that because it's not really Australia's decision. That's a mediation decision that the Israelis and the Palestinians have to come to. On the one hand, that recognition is important, but it's still not
Recognising a Palestinian state
clear exactly what Australia wants to get out of that momentum, if that makes sense.
David: Can I remind you of the UN General Assembly resolution that demanded Israel withdraw from all the occupied Palestinian territories that they have allegedly been illegally occupying. Doesn't that seem to suggest where Labor is going to go?
Andrew: The Australian government doesn't really have much power to enforce that. Anyway, the General Assembly is basically just a guidance body. I suspect that Australia wouldn't actually say that publicly.
David: They signed on to that declaration at the UN.
Andrew: Sure, but at the same time, making that policy, making that like a coherent foreign policy of the Australian government, that is another step to ask Israel to withdraw from those territories. Israel is still a sovereign state. Israel still has control over its borders. It has control over who it conducts its relations with, just like Australia has control over whom it has relations.
If it chooses to recognise a Palestinian state, then so be it. I would say it goes beyond symbolism because it is designed to re-establish Australia as a moral middle power in the region. We are about the national security of our region. We are about the values of our region,
talked about how (French) President (Emmanuel) Macron has said that Palestinian statehood can no longer be a consequence of good behavior from both parties; it has to be used to put pressure on the parties to come to an agreement.
Australia is following that lead and is probably working very closely with France on the messaging regarding this. I genuinely think it's that coordinated. You can tell that Australia doesn't really know what to do if the conditions required of the Palestinian Authority aren't met. A couple of those conditions effectively have already been met. One of them is the Palestinian Authority officially recognises Israel. The current Fatah government has no interest in having anything to do with Hamas.
If only we can get to the point where we're talking about a peace deal like Oslo with the two parties sitting down together. I don't think the current Israeli government will end up doing that, but maybe a future one will.
Demilitarisation is going to be one of the big sticking points. Would the Palestinian state still be allowed some kind of national guard? Is it more like a Japan situation – where it's not allowed to have a foreign Asian force. Can it have a national guard to protect itself? Can it have nothing to protect itself? And then that comes down to whether you're a state, if you can't protect yourself.
pointing to, again, Indonesia, Malaysia, Singapore and the other ASEAN nations, but also recognising certain geopolitical realities that they probably need to jump on Europe's bandwagon a little bit more and not keep assuming the United States will support Australia's interests. There is a coherent policy element to this, not just symbolism, but that is adjacent to what's happening in Gaza and, obviously, the humanitarian crisis there.
David: What do you make of the government's decision to recognise a Palestinian state with conditions that can only be met after recognition is declared by Australia at the special UN conference taking place in September?
The government maintains that the Palestinian Authority has agreed to Australia's conditions of recognition, which include Palestine recognising Israel's right to exist, that it will demilitarise, that elections are held and Hamas will have no role in a future government. Isn't Labor, in fact, putting the cart before the horse?
Andrew: It is putting the cart before the horse, but this is a coordinated move by a lot of different countries. That is the strategy in the article ‘A twostate solution is gaining momentum again for Israel and the Palestinians. Does it have a chance of success?’ that I wrote for The Conversation, that
Not to get too academic, but in the Weberian context of a state, it has a monopoly on the use of force. I think it does come down to the strategy: putting the cart before the horse here. The strategy is trying to lead Israel into recognition or trying to lead the international community into recognition. Again, those unanswered questions still kind of haunt this decision. They really do still loom large over all of this.
David: How will Hamas be made to relinquish control in Gaza? Who can do that other than Israel? Labor has insisted that Hamas can play no role in a future Palestinian state, but that appears to have gone from being a requirement to being little more than wishful thinking now.
Andrew: Yeah. With the proviso that a lot of foreign policy is wishful thinking. Foreign policy in this context is projection, right? It is basically saying, this is what we want to see.
We can't make it happen. This is up to other people. We're trying to lead people to that eventual outcome. But basically, they can't.
Moreover, there are some reports that Hamas has actually consolidated a lot of their fighting power inside Gaza City.
This is a slightly modified extract from an extensive interview with Dr Andrew Thomas who was speaking to David Schulberg on ‘The Israel Connexion’ program on J-AIR Community Radio.
Dr Andrew Thomas
THE COMMUNITY
KATHY KAPLAN OAM DIRECTOR BET OLAM AROUND
Our tradition teaches that on Rosh Hashanah, each of us is inscribed in the Book of Life. What a powerful image: one that calls us to pause and reflect. What has been written in our own book this past year? What story are we still shaping with the choices we make, the kindness we offer and the love we share?
At Bet-Olam Jewish Funerals, we are privileged to walk alongside families during some of their most vulnerable moments. It is then that it becomes clear that the “Book of Life” is far more than a
integrity and our willingness to show up when others need us? Will our presence echo in the lives of those around us? Memory, itself, is sacred. Remembering is not simply recalling the who, what, when and how. Remembering is about giving life to the past in ways that transform the present and inform the future. Funerals, therefore, are not endings, but bridges between generations: bridges built to ensure our values and stories live on, that the “Book” remains open.
As 5785 clicks over to 5786, let us write the next chapters of our lives deliberatively and with care. The Days of Awe remind us that while life is fleeting,
At Bet-Olam Jewish Funerals, it is our privilege to help families celebrate those stories and to ensure memory has its rightful place. For some, part of that legacy is to ease the burden for their loved ones when the time comes by pre-planning or, even, pre-paying their
Friends, from all of us at Bet-Olam, we wish you and those you love, Shanah Tovah U’Metukah – a good and sweet new year, filled with happy memories of
May your new year be filled with sweetness, enriched by the love of your family, friends and our community.
If I ever want to know what the world was like more than 100 years ago, I don’t have to Google it. I can just walk a few doors down and talk to my neighbour, Mr Berysz Aurbach.
On 17th August, Mr Aurbach turned 105. Yes, that’s right, one hundred and five years old! That number alone is hard to wrap your head around, but when you know his story, it feels nothing short of miraculous.
Mr Aurbach is not just a local icon in Caulfield (in the heart of Melbourne’s Jewish community), he’s an institution. A regular presence at Caulfield Beth Hamedrash, where he once served as president, Mr Aurbach is wheeled to shul each week, impeccably dressed, full of warmth, wit and history. His mind is sharp. He remembers details from his early childhood with astonishing clarity. He tells stories about growing up in Poland before the war, escaping the Warsaw Ghetto uprising while the ghetto was on fire and rebuilding his life in Australia after the Holocaust.
He has lived through things that most of us will never be able to imagine. His mother died of tuberculosis when he was just three months old. His father and three brothers were murdered during the Holocaust. Only one sister, who had moved to British Mandated Palestine, survived the war. However, despite the hardships, Mr Aurbach doesn’t dwell in bitterness. He carries a profound will to live.
Each year, on the anniversary of his mother’s death, he recites Kaddish. It’s something he’s been doing his whole life. To think of a man reciting Kaddish annually for a mother he never got to know is deeply moving. That alone might be a world record. His story is now on display at Melbourne’s Holocaust Museum and it should be.
Mr Aurbach still lives in the same home he’s lived in for decades, with his devoted son, Moshe, who takes care of him. And every time I see Mr Aurbach, I’m reminded that he is one of the last living links to the old world of European Jewry, a world that was shattered, but not extinguished. He is living proof. My kids know that we have an “old neighbour”. They talk about it without irony, saying things like, “He’s more than a hundred years older than us!” Which is true. But it’s also such a strange, wonderful thing for them to grow up knowing that history is not just something you read about, rather, it lives here. On our street.
Each year, when Mr Aurbach celebrates his birthday, he doesn’t do it quietly. He orders one of the biggest cakes you’ve ever seen from Haymishe kosher bakery in East St Kilda and invites the whole street and his entire synagogue to celebrate.
He holds court from midday until well into the night, telling stories of his childhood, his family and of his brother, Mordechai, who did not survive the
At 105, a living treasure
Holocaust, but organised for Mr Aurbach to be saved from the ghetto.
He tells the history of the Jewish community in Poland, what life was like before the war, how his family was from Biala Podlaska and had connections to the Gerer Hasidic rabbinic dynasty. And he does it all with the energy and passion of someone far younger.
You sit in his presence and you forget, for a moment, that this is a man who was born in 1920. There’s a French term, joie de vivre (joy of life) and if ever anyone embodied that, it’s Mr Aurbach. He’s not defined by what was taken from him, but by what he built afterwards.
He’s not interested in pity or platitudes. He believes in life. He knows that his children and grandchildren are lucky to grow up in Australia.
Sometimes I think about how surreal it is that our lives intersect … that my kids get to grow up a few doors down from someone who survived the Warsaw Ghetto.
That he gets to see another generation of Jewish children walking freely down a suburban street in Melbourne.
When you turn 100, you receive a letter from the British monarch. In 2020, Mr Aurbach received one from Queen Elizabeth. This year, another from King Charles. Mr Aurbach may have lived through empires rising and falling, but he still appreciates a nicely worded royal letter. This article first appeared in the Herald Sun.
From left: Tali Jackson (one of Berysz’s four grandchildren), Hadassa Aurbach (one of Berysz’s two daughters), Berysz Aurbach, Moshe Aurbach (Berysz’s son) and Dani Jackson (another one of Berysz’s grandchildren) celebrating Berysz’s 105th birthday
THE KING DAVID SCHOOL AROUND THE COMMUNITY
This term, Year 7 students at The King David School have immersed themselves in a range of inspiring and enriching learning opportunities, which have included curricular and co-curricular programs.
In Jewish Life and Learning, they celebrated Kabbalat Mitzvah, as they began taking their first steps into Jewish adulthood. Kabbalat means “acceptance”, and this ceremony focused on embracing mitzvot and Jewish commandments, as a meaningful part of life for students and their families. Students took the lead in sessions, teaching their families about the mitzvot of T'fillin, Tzitzit and Mezuzah, and the recitation of the Shema morning and night.
A fast-paced, exciting learning initiative with a focus on innovation, Project Slingshot was another highlight for Year 7s this term. The slingshot relates to the biblical story of King David defeating Goliath, presenting a message of resilience and grit that the school encourages in its students.
Over two days, students honed the valuable skills of creativity,
The way forward towards Jewish adulthood
collaboration, critical thinking and communication.
The Rube Goldberg challenge saw students working in groups to make their own Rube Goldberg machines. These involved building overly complex machines using everyday objects to complete simple tasks. Students loved seeing their creativity and collaboration come to fruition as the machines sprung to life.
For those who mean the world to you, only the finest will do.
Ian Sharp Jewellery Craftsmanship iansharpjewellery
Hear firsthand inspiring stories of survival from October 7
Date & Time: Thursday 16 October, 6.00pm-9.00pm Free event. All welcome. Registration essential.
Sascha and Nina during a tzitzit activity at a Kabbalat Mitzvah ceremony
Max and Natey presenting to families at the Kabbalat Mitzvah ceremony
Frankie demonstrating her team's Rube Goldberg invention
CONSIDERED OPINION
RAMONA FREEDMAN ALIYAH ADVENTURES
Recently, I had the most quintessentially Israeli day. Unsurprisingly, it started dramatically.
The Jewish world is hyper aware that our collective exasperation and desperation increases with each minute that our precious hostages are not back home.
Advocates on their behalf declared it a day of disruption. With fear growing that they are running out of time, I appreciated that frustrated organisers wanted to ensure every single person knew. Oh, we knew all right!
On a good day, there is a ridiculous amount of heavy traffic on many highways across the length and breadth of Israel. On that assigned day of disruption, it reached another level early on. It began with unparalleled traffic chaos – tyres were deliberately burnt on roads. Manpower blocked intersections. Some hostage families were for all this. Others distanced themselves from it.
On a day such as this, the wise move would be to stay local and not schlep anywhere too far. Limit travel. Well, normally I would willingly adhere to this unspoken rule, but that day happened to be the day my dear friend was making a wedding for her delightful daughter in Jerusalem.
With my whole heart I wanted to be there early for the chuppah, as these were friends I had met at my sensational shul, Kehillat Lev Ra’anana (KLR) on the eleventh day after I made Aliyah. Apparently, I told them this precise number and was verbose in conveying all my emotions across the previous fortnight.
This family is incredible and warmly welcomed me into their world. They are Israeli, but all impressively bilingual in both Hebrew and English. We have this funny thing going where Orli, the mother, messages in Hebrew and I reply mostly in English. Yes, I admit I throw a bit here and there into Google Translate. Yet, quicker than you can say ‘pass the hummus’, we are communicating with ease.
Well, up until this point, having now been in the Holy Land for over one year, I had been harbouring a genuine fear about driving in Jerusalem and had successfully avoided that. With my husband, Oliver, working in Australia and New Zealand for a short while, he was unable to attend the wedding and therefore unable to drive there. I thought I was very sensible and organised a lift with another family I loosely knew. But that arrangement fell through and I was left in a quandary. Do I stay home and avoid it all and miss the wedding or be brave and get behind that steering wheel on the left-hand side and give it a go.
Deep breath. Over the past few months that bride-to-be became very close to my heart. She looks like a young Elizabeth Taylor and shines brightly both physically and spiritually. I wanted to be there, so I put the wedding venue location into my navigation system.
Day of disruption
The first win of the day was that WAZE wasn’t scrambled by the government telling me cryptically I was in Cairo or a remote location within Jordan. Oh yes, that happens more than you might think! I pulled over and needed to fill up with petrol by myself for the first time. Who knew that was a little test on its own, given all instructions were in Hebrew words I hadn’t learnt in Ulpan? Naturally, it took a while longer than it should have. Again, I needed help with the translation of key words, but I got there.
With a full tank of petrol and happily heading in the right direction, I was dressed up and determined to make it in time, traffic or no traffic. Well, after the hideous predictions for that afternoon, most drivers must have heeded the warnings and stayed home. It wasn’t too bad, after all.
As I veered off the main highway on the outskirts of Jerusalem, I was suddenly within the Arab Israeli town of Abu Ghosh. The roads were winding up a hill and were unfamiliar to me.
I took a moment to marvel at the landscape and at the realisation that I lived so close to these biblical Judean hills. I was listening to Israeli songs on the radio, attempting to sing out loud and practice this new (but ancient) language. A minute later, the music stopped and via both the radio and my phone, a piercing siren blared. Critical alerts began pinging on my phone with notifications of an incoming missile.
Now, standard practice when you are driving and this happens is to swiftly pull over. You are then supposed to get out of your car, crouch down and place your hands over your head. Yes, I know what you are thinking. Are they really serious? Apparently, yes, this is supposed to help you.
At this point, I was conflicted. On the one hand, I am the eternal A student and always want to do the right thing, even if it seems a tad ridiculous. On the other hand, let’s just say I wasn’t in comfortable surroundings. I wasn’t sure if the right thing was to get out of my car at all.
Do I stop and risk another type of challenge in an unfamiliar area, alone on the side of the path (it was barely a road) or do I take my chances and keep driving?
By that point, even with the air conditioner blasting, I was perspiring. I looked out at the vista and thought, “well, I don’t see any rockets in the air” … so I kept driving. The missile was intercepted. Emergency over.
I made it to the wedding venue. I allowed myself to sit alone in my car for a few minutes just to regroup. I duly changed out of my Israeli Teva sandals to strappy heels (now only trotted out for really special occasions) and in I went, to wish them all a huge mazel tov.
Those alarming alerts occurred exactly one hour before the chuppah commencing. I ate some chocolate
in the car, squared my shoulders and walked into the stunning space. The drama of the day melted away. The bride was exquisite. The groom was attentive to her, in the most gentle and caring way. The chuppah was held atop a mountain. There were a few clouds, but no chance of rain. The sun was peeking through. It was a photographer’s dream. A string quartet was playing. None of the guests seemed to mention or register the drama a short 60 minutes earlier.
Israelis have the extraordinary ability to live fully in the present: to dance, to smile, to laugh, to revel in the here and now. I am learning so much from them. Oh, and by the way, I managed to drive all the way back to Ra’anana alone, despite there being no streetlights on that mountain.
That day of disruption came to an end, with another one planned the following week. This tiny country has an uncanny ability to juggle many realities in real time. War, fear and hostages. Joy, happiness and hope.
It seems impossible and yet, miracles abound here. After all, Israel’s very existence is a blessing and we build on that fabulous foundation, one simcha at a time.
Wishing all Shana Tova. May it be a year when all our prayers are answered. I have so much more to share with you, but for now, it is over and out from Ramona in Ra’anana.
Hila Holland and Erel Baron were married in the Judean Hills, in central Israel
Magen David Adom’s Youth Volunteer Organization comprises 15,000 15- to 18-year-olds who learn lifesaving skills to become first responders and thereby play a vital role in Israel’s emergency medical services.
Youth volunteers serve on ambulance shifts with emergency medical technicians and paramedics, helping to provide CPR and first-aid training to half a million Israelis annually. But their function extends far beyond that. They collect food and supplies for people in need, conduct holiday parties and organise blood drives.
Earlier in 2025, for the 21st successive year, in coordination with welfare bodies, thousands of youth volunteers from all over the country collected food products for low-income families during a month-long operation. From the hundreds of thousands of donated foods, the volunteers put together 18,000 food packages and delivered them.
Also each year, youth volunteers embark on a journey to Poland before Yom HaShoah (Holocaust Remembrance Day). This year, the delegation included 30 teens who toured the concentration camps Treblinka, Majdanek, Plaszow
Youth volunteers play integral role in Israeli society
and Auschwitz-Birkenau. They also visited graves and monuments in Poland, including the Jewish cemetery in Kielce, where 45 children were murdered, and the memorial to the Jews killed in the pogrom in that city.
As on every journey, the delegation visited Block No. 10 in Auschwitz, where Nazi doctors conducted experiments on Jewish prisoners. The youth volunteers held a special ceremony to commemorate the victims. "Standing in a place where doctors have used their professional knowledge to cause suffering is a terrible feeling,” said Daniel Harritt. “As a teenager who volunteers at MDA, an organisation that sanctifies life and saves it, I felt the true meaning behind the delegation – to remember and tell the stories of the Holocaust and to always act for life.”
MDA’s Youth Volunteer Organization fosters civic engagement, community safety and resilience, with many volunteers advancing to leadership roles within MDA and in other bodies and businesses. Many pursue careers in emergency response, including serving as medics in MDA and in the Israel Defense Forces.
ISRAEL ON ALERT
MDA youth volunteers visit Poland
MAGEN DAVID ADOM
CONSIDERED OPINION
AB
History does not come to us as tidy chapters, but as echoes, returning again and again, with uncanny familiarity. Sometimes the echo is faint, but on other occasions it resounds with such force that only wilful deafness can miss it. The massacres of October 7, 2023 were such a sound: a medieval ferocity, relayed in real time on modern devices. Homes invaded, families obliterated, children set alight – all broadcast as though horror itself were a form of triumph.
Such moments should stop the world in its tracks. They ought to disqualify any political project from the stage of legitimacy. Once, the principle was obvious enough: sovereignty cannot be conferred on those who revel in massacre.
And yet, within months of this bloodletting, the air in Western capitals was filled again with solemn talk of recognising a Palestinian state. As if the horror were incidental, as if the graves could be hastily covered with the paper of diplomacy.
That is not pragmatism. It is an inversion of moral sequence. To
The precedent of rewarded atrocity
recognise a state now is not to lay the foundation for peace, but to crown atrocity with reward.
Advocates of recognition phrase their argument with compassion: the Palestinian people must not be punished for Hamas. And yet, the suffering of civilians cannot obscure
the role of those who claim to lead them. In Ramallah, the Palestinian Authority, hailed abroad as the “moderate” partner, could not find the words to condemn the slaughter (until pressured). Party factions applauded it. State media glorified it. Crowds danced as though massacre were vindication. The silence of mourning was drowned out by the noise of celebration.
It is here that the echoes are most haunting. One thinks of the pogroms of Eastern Europe, when the murder of innocents was not hidden, but paraded, sanctified by songs, cheered by crowds that mistook annihilation for justice.
Then, too, the distinction between ruler and ruled blurred in the intoxication of violence. The past is not repeating itself in form, but its rhythm is recognisable: cruelty sanctified, memory erased, legitimacy claimed on the very grounds of slaughter. So, who is to be recognised?
A polity that has never mastered the art of self-government, never disarmed its militias, never embraced the ordinary obligations of sovereignty? Nations-in-waiting are judged not only by their grievances, but by the
institutions they create, the discipline they enforce upon their militias, the willingness they show to imagine coexistence. None of this has yet been forthcoming.
What is being asked of the world is recognition of a flag without the responsibility that gives it meaning. To proceed is not neutrality.
It is capitulation, dressed as magnanimity. It tells every movement that the hard disciplines of law and order are unnecessary. Make your grievance fashionable enough and even massacre can be overlooked.
And to Israel, the signal could not be more wounding: that its murdered children, its violated women, its incinerated families are but an obstacle to be negotiated away. History is watching. And it will not forgive the attempt to purchase tranquillity with the currency of slaughter.
This is not peace. It is precedent. And precedent, once set, is as immovable as stone. It endures like a scar: silent, heavy, waiting to be remembered.
BOSKANY
Ab Boskany BOOK HERE
AROUND THE COMMUNITY
Next year in Jerusalem
As a nation, we speak of, dream of and pray for Jerusalem. Each year, as Yom Kippur ends, together we declare: L’Shanah HaBa’ah B’Yerushalayim (next year in Jerusalem). For generations, Jerusalem has been a symbol of our shared vision of unity, peace, home and for the right to live freely and proudly as Jews.
With the help of UIA, this vision becomes a reality. Through the support of the Australian Jewish community and UIA’s strategic partner The Jewish Agency for Israel, UIA is helping Jewish families from around the world make Aliyah, find safety and start new lives in Israel.
This year, that dream came true for Tadela and Sarah. Tadela made Aliyah from Ethiopia 27 years ago. Her daughter Sarah, just a child at the time, was forced to stay behind. Across continents and decades, mother and daughter remained in contact, holding onto hope, praying for the day they could be together again.
That moment finally came this year. Sarah, now an adult and qualified
doctor, arrived in Israel in an emotional reunion at Ben-Gurion Airport. It was a miracle made possible by the generosity of UIA supporters – people who understand that no family should ever be separated by politics, poverty or persecution. For the first time in nearly three decades, mother and daughter embraced on the soil of the Jewish homeland. But their journey isn’t over. Now, their road to absorption and integration into Israeli life begins.
This Rosh Hashanah will be Tadela and Sarah’s first Yom Tov together in almost 30 years. With your help, UIA can make it not only memorable, but dignified. By sending a UIA e-card to friends or family, your donation will directly support new olim through food vouchers and Yom Tov dinners at UIA-supported absorption centres. In this way, our community can bring comfort and celebration into the homes of those starting fresh in Israel. All donations are tax deductible. In a time of global uncertainty, here is something real and hopeful our community can do. Make their Yom Tov, and your Yom Tov, extra meaningful. Send a UIA e-card today.
Go to https://uiaaustralia.org.au/ecards
New tech by MDA turns traffic lights green, improving response time
A new smart traffic system is being piloted in Israel, cutting valuable seconds off the time it takes ambulances to arrive on the scene of an emergency. It would be a game changer in Israel at any time, but especially today, when paramedics are responding to a regular onslaught of terrorist violence, along with car crashes and medical emergencies.
This innovative project was developed by Magen David Adom, together with the Israel Ministry of Transportation, Israeli transportation engineering company Netivei Ayalon and Sheba Medical Center in Ramat Gan, near Tel Aviv.
GPS tracking and connected traffic lights create a seamless “green wave” for emergency vehicles. When an MDA
The UIA family wishes you and your family a healthy, happy and sweet year. We pray for our hostages, our soldiers, Am Yisrael and for a safe 5786 globally. Thank you for your ongoing support for the People of Israel.
UIA
New olim supported by UIA
MAGEN DAVID ADOM
ELIAS CONSIDERED OPINION
As we approach Yom Yippur and reflect on the Jewish concept of atonement, it is pertinent in this column to consider the concept from a psychological perspective.
Atonement refers to the process of making amends or seeking reconciliation after committing a wrongdoing. It encompasses various dimensions –moral, social and emotional – and plays a crucial role in individual and relational healing.
At its core, atonement involves recognising one’s actions, understanding their impact on others and taking responsibility for them. The psychological significance of atonement can be traced back to theories of moral development, such as those proposed by Lawrence Kohlberg. According to Kohlberg, moral reasoning evolves through a series of stages, ultimately leading individuals to understand the importance of justice, empathy and personal responsibility.
Atonement is closely tied to these concepts, as it requires people to reflect on their behaviour and its consequences, thus fostering moral growth. The act of atonement can lead to significant emotional benefits for the wrongdoer and the victim. For the person
The psychology of atonement
seeking atonement, acknowledging wrongdoing and expressing remorse can alleviate feelings of guilt and shame. Guilt, in particular, can be a powerful motivator for change. Brené Brown, a well-known researcher on vulnerability and shame, emphasises that guilt can drive individuals to make amends and improve their behaviour, while shame tends to lead to withdrawal and defensiveness. Therefore, the act of atonement can serve as a pathway to emotional healing and personal growth. Moreover, atonement has broader implications for relationships and social dynamics. Relationships thrive on trust and mutual respect. When one
party violates that trust, the process of atonement is essential to try to restore the relationship. John Gottman, a prominent relationship researcher, highlights the importance of repair attempts in relationships. He suggests that genuine expressions of remorse and the willingness to make amends can significantly increase the likelihood of relationship recovery after a conflict.
In the context of group psychology, atonement can also play a vital role in societal healing. Collective atonement, where groups or communities acknowledge historical wrongdoing, is crucial for reconciliation. The psychological impact of such collective
Film franchise
from eager
Magen David vs. pentagram?
Wife of Indiana 20. Org. with Kangaroos and Magpies 21. Brew letters
Leaves full
Fold-up bed
USC rival
Game-winning trio 29. One in charge of kiddushin? (with "The")
33. "...___ is not this day!", memorable line from 29-Across
2023 Cy Young winner Blake
"Gladiator" garb
Judaism, e.g. ?
Alternative to an iPhone, once
Snitches, slangily
44. Sam who made "Spider-Man"
46. Competitions on 10 Tevet?
51. + word 52. "...the ___ for speed!" 53. Full of flavor 55. One with a long, long sentence 57. Ghost word 59. Martin Kove's Cobra group 60. Cover stories
62. Nickname for one who loves lighting Chanukah candles? 64. Stiller's co-star in a comedy franchise
atonement can foster a sense of closure and facilitate healing among affected communities.
The journey of atonement, however, is not always straightforward. It may be met with resistance from victims, who might struggle to forgive or trust again. Additionally, the effectiveness of atonement can be influenced by the sincerity of the remorse expressed. Atonement requires genuine empathy and understanding of the victim’s feelings. If the wrongdoer is perceived as insincere or self-serving, the process is likely to fail, leading to further resentment and conflict.
So, atonement encompasses a multifaceted process of acknowledging wrongdoing, taking responsibility and seeking to restore relationships. It has profound implications for individual emotional well-being and relational dynamics. By fostering moral growth and promoting healing, atonement serves as a vital mechanism for personal and collective reconciliation, contributing to healthier relationships and societies. Understanding the psychological underpinnings of atonement can enhance our ability to navigate conflict and foster a culture of accountability and empathy.
Anne-Marie Elias is a psychologist in clinical practice for 25 years.
11. Andy Dufresne or Hannibal Lecter, for a time
12. That, in Lima
13. Last name in some 17-Across films
18. Last name in some 17-Across films
22. YU, e.g.
24. Jerry of "Beauty and the Beast"
25. Said
27. Take a long, longing look
28. Capital in "Czechoslovakia"?
30. Like Aleve, briefly
31. Alpine evergreen
32. Soon enough
35. Demolition compounds, casually
36. Diamond Head is here
37. 1984 Spielberg-produced hit with a mogwai
39. Conductor's asset
40. Do some work at the City of David, maybe
43. Pontiac car, once
45. Birkat follower
47. "Schindler's List" lead in some 17-Across films
48. ___ toshav
49. Inuit, formerly
50. Dash of "Clueless"
54. "Gadzooks!"
56. African wading bird
57. Fett from 17-Across
58. ___ Shalom (synagogue name)
60. Rights org. founded by B'nai B'rith
61. Christopher of 17 and 29-Across
62. It's used on the radar in "Spaceballs"
63. Financial daily paper, for short
ANNE-MARIE
65. Hoops org. of old 66. "Hook" role
Abate
"Top Gun" name, for short
Delights Down
Like the Dodger in "Oliver!" 3. Bridge over the Grand Canal 4. Obsolete program saver, for short 5. One may be on the wing 6. Writer Horn 7. They're included in some streaming services
Hot candy 9. Major Cameron films
Petty
AROUND THE COMMUNITY
SHIR: SONGS OF STRENGTH
Led by Deborah Conway AM and Willy Zygier, the SHIR Australian Jewish Music Festival will debut in Melbourne on 30th September. For the pair of the acclaimed musicians, it will be a homecoming of sorts. A decade ago, they brought the original Shir Madness festival to the city. Now they return to lead its reimagined national incarnation – the biggest night of Jewish music in years – with a renewed sense of purpose.
Joining them will be Brett Kaye and Montana Sharp, Ben Goldstein (a finalist in The Voice Australia and X Factor Israel), Lara Goodridge and Sasha Fisher. Also on the program will be Danielle Bavli, Amit Benita, violinist Daniel Weltlinger and award-winning klezmer fusion band CHUTNEY.
Guiding audiences through the evening as emcee will be noted journalist and author, Rachelle Unreich, who said music is integral to us as a people. “I think about my mother telling me that when her family sat around singing zemirot on Shabbat in Czechoslovakia in the 1930s, ‘the walls were trembling with the beauty of our song.’ That’s how I feel about Jewish
Melbourne’s night of Jewish music set to empower and inspire
music. It’s deep and spiritual, moving and life-affirming,” Ms Unreich said.
The program combines liturgical reworkings, contemporary Israeli pop, original songs and musical theatre, performed with the ruach and neshama that defines Jewish music at its best.
SHIR artistic director Ben Adler said that after October 7, 2023, bringing Jewish music into the public domain “with joy, pride and professionalism” became urgent. “This will be a concert unlike any other. With 1,800 people coming together just ahead of Yom Kippur, when our souls are at their most raw, it is our chance to embrace the release that only music can bring,” Mr Adler said.
Against a backdrop of protests, attacks on institutions and attempts to silence artists, the message from the music festival is clear: we will create, we will unite and we will rise above.
For tickets, go to www.shir.com.au
SHIR is a non-religious, non-political celebration of Jewish culture.
Willy Zygier and Deborah Conway AM (photo by Jeff Busby)
CONSIDERED OPINION
SARAH PACHTER COURTESY: AISH.COM
Miss Israel, Noa Cochva, never dreamed of pageants – but now she’s using her crown to share Israel’s beauty, courage and unity with the world.
“Mum, I got an email about a Miss Israel Pageant. Should I try out?”, Noa asked her mother after receiving a mysterious acceptance email. “Oh yeah, I already signed you up!” her mother casually replied. Noa had never dreamed of entering a pageant, let alone that she could become Miss Israel.
Growing up, she was never into makeup or anything beauty driven. Noa grew up on a moshav in Israel, surrounded by nature. She’d walk around barefoot amongst animals and go on camping trips with her family. Physical beauty or glamour were not part of her childhood. “I was actually pretty nerdy and shy,” she confessed.
As a child, Noa was part of a special program that only the top kids in Israelis school could participate in. The program had a strong focus on technology and biology. She loved to explore and learn. She was also paralysed by her shyness and could barely speak to people. But when she joined the IDF, everything changed. “The military really opens you up and changes your personality. You basically turn into an adult overnight.”
Noa started gaining confidence, but after her release from the Army, she went through a tough break-up with her boyfriend. She was 22, COVID had hit the country and she was heartbroken. “I was crying in my bed and my mum,
The unlikely Miss Universe of Israel
trying to cheer me up, decided to sign me up for the Miss Israel Pageant without me knowing. I wasn’t into those types of things. I wanted to learn biology.”
Her mother would always tell her she was beautiful, though, like every mother does. “Every mum thinks their daughter is beautiful. My grandmother used to call me ‘the beauty queen.’” At first Noa didn’t want to enter the contest. “I thought they would reject me and it would hurt my self-esteem. But my mum said, ‘Just go – for me.’ So I went, just to prove her wrong. I didn’t think I’d pass even one audition, but I kept moving forward, stage after stage. It was so
weird – I was surrounded by models. I was just this nerdy, shy girl who didn’t even know she was pretty.” Noa eventually competed in and won the Miss Israel Pageant. “It’s not where I ever planned to be, but here I am.” She became Miss Universe Israel at the end of 2021, at the age of 23. Then she found out that the Miss Universe competition would take place in Israel in 2022. Eighty-two women from around the world were coming, many with millions of followers. “My job was to show them what it means to be Israeli, what it means to be a woman who served in the military. I wanted to show them that
I grew up surrounded by people very different from me, but we lived together in peace.
“Other queens talk about peace, but in Israel, we live it. I feel like I’m a strong woman because I went to war. Not many women do that. That made me unique.” All the contestants arrived in Israel on the first night of Chanukah. Noa told them the story of the holiday – why Jews light candles and what miracles happened. “They had no idea. I realised at that moment that my goal wasn’t to win. My goal was just to teach them everything I can about Israel and the Jewish people and give them a real experience. Not what they see in the media.”
Noa believes she succeeded. The contestants were posting daily positive messages about Israel. Afterwards, many of the contestants messaged her saying they couldn’t wait to return to Israel with their families. Miss India, who won the competition, reached out. “Every girl had the best time in Israel.”
Why she was chosen
Noa believes she was selected to be Miss Israel because of the Zionistic values she grew up with. Her mother served in the military for 16 years as a psychologist; her father for 40 years in the Israeli Air Force as a pilot and squadron commander. Her grandparents were Holocaust survivors. “We were the biggest Zionist family. That’s what mattered to me – to love Israel.” Judges were drawn to the fact that she came from the countryside, unaffiliated with pageant life. “It wasn’t
Continue to page 22
Noa Cochva
DR YVETTE ALT MILLER COURTESY: AISH.COM
Eliza Davis refused to accept the antisemitism of her age and changed the course of literary history.
When Eliza Davis was born, in 1816, antisemitism seemed like a fact of life. Raised in a large Jewish family, she grew up in Jamaica’s vibrant Jewish community. At the time, Jews had fewer political rights than Christians in Jamaica – a condition common throughout much of the world. Eventually, Eliza moved to London and married a distant relation, James Phinneas Davis, who was building a successful legal career, despite the rampant antisemitism of the day. Together, Eliza and James immersed themselves in London’s Jewish community, raising a family and supporting local Jewish institutions. They would go on to have ten children.
In contrast, Charles Dickens’ life was marked by early misfortune. At age 12, his father, John Dickens, was sent to debtor’s prison, forcing young Charles to leave school and work in a boot-blacking factory, with other impoverished children. The exploitation he experienced there deeply informed his later writing, inspiring his memorable portrayals of abused and neglected children.
By the time Eliza was raising her family, Dickens was becoming one of England’s most celebrated authors. His literary career took off in 1836 with the serialised comic tale The Pickwick Papers, a runaway success that unfolded in 19 instalments, before being published in book form in 1837. He followed it with a much more ambitious project: Oliver Twist, a dark indictment of child exploitation, drawn from his own traumatic experiences. The book introduced one of English literature’s most infamous characters: the Jewish criminal Fagin.
Creating the demonic Jewish character Fagin
Over 24 magazine instalments published over two years, Dickens told the story of Oliver Twist, a pitiful orphan caught in a web of crime and abuse. Central to that web was Fagin, a Jewish criminal who kidnapped and exploited the innocent Oliver. In a later preface, Dickens explained that the story illustrated “the principle of good surviving through every adverse circumstance and triumphing at last.” Much of that adversity came in the form of the demonic figure of Fagin.
British barrister and author Anthony Julius, in Trials of the Diaspora: A History of Anti-Semitism in England, calls Oliver Twist a “Christian fable” and likens Fagin to a vampire: “He rules over [the boys] as a life-giving and life-forfeiting sovereign … Fagin corrupts the boys, draining them of life as he morally drains them … His infant captives have no future; they live hand-to-mouth, day-by-day. In this living death, Fagin is something akin to a vampire. He is a slayer of children, the suppressor of a new generation, the destroyer of fresh life and the thwarter of its promise …”
Dickens describes Fagin as nearly supernatural in his evil: “He glides stealthily along, creeping beneath the shelter of walls and doorways.” “Like some loathsome reptile.” “Some hideous phantom, moist from the grave, and
The Jewish woman who changed Charles Dickens’ mind about hating Jews
worried by an evil spirit.” In early editions, Fagin is referred to almost exclusively as “the Jew” – a total of 257 times in the first 38 chapters. By contrast, the non-Jewish villain, Bill Sikes, is never described by his ethnicity.
Oliver Twist was an immense success. It has never been out of print – and its portrayal of the evil Jew Fagin has embedded antisemitic stereotypes in English literature and beyond.
English fiction’s Jewish-hatred problem
As Dickens’ fame grew, he continued to include anti-Jewish tropes in his work. In The Old Curiosity Shop (1840–41), the villain Quilp declares, “He’s richer than any Jew.” In Barnaby Rudge (1841), the character Gashford equates Jews with money and beards. Montagu Tigg in Martin Chuzzlewit (1843-44) sneers at a pawnbroker needing to “weigh out his pound of flesh”. Similar slurs appear in Hard Times, Great Expectations, short stories and nonfiction.
This literary antisemitism reflected a wider English cultural norm. Pamphlets, books and cheap literature routinely depicted Jews as filthy, dishonest and bloodthirsty. In the 1860s, Eliza’s husband, James, was targeted in one such smear: a popular penny pamphlet titled The Vampires of London, by John Colborne. Meant to expose so-called “usurers” and “moneylenders”, the piece portrayed Jews as deceitful predators and named its villain – the “arch-vampire” – Davis.
The Davises sued for slander in 1865. The trial attracted considerable attention and the courtroom was packed. After just 30 minutes, the judge ruled in James’ favour, but fined Colborne only a token amount. As he left the courtroom, Colborne received applause. The message was clear: literature held immense power to reinforce antisemitic lies and the public was all too receptive.
Selling Dickens’ house to a Jewish family – and warning the neighbours
During his most productive years, Dickens lived with his family in Tavistock House in London. By 1858, however, he separated from his wife, Catherine, and took up with a younger woman. Catherine moved out with one of their ten children and Dickens moved to
Kent, putting Tavistock House up for sale. The buyers were none other than Eliza and James Davis. Despite their integrity, Dickens indulged his prejudices in a letter to a friend: “If the Jew moneylender buys (I say ‘if’ because, of course, I shall never believe him until he has paid the money) …” But once the deal was completed, Dickens praised Eliza warmly in another letter: “Mrs. Davis appears to be a very kind and agreeable woman. And I have never had any money transaction with anyone more promptly, fairly and considerately conducted than the purchase of Tavistock House has been.”
A budding friendship
Three years later, Eliza wrote to Dickens again. The prominent Jewish philanthropist Lady Judith Montefiore had recently died and Eliza was helping raise funds for charitable works in her memory. Aware of Dickens’ philanthropic legacy, she wondered: would he give to a Jewish cause?
She began by praising his contributions to social justice: “It has been said that Charles Dickens, the large hearted, whose works plead so eloquently and nobly for the oppressed of his country… may justly claim credit (for) the fruits of his labour, the many changes for the amelioration of the condition (of the) poor now at work.”
Then she addressed the elephant in the room: “Fagin, I fear, admits only of one interpretation,” she wrote, charging that Dickens “has encouraged a vile prejudice against the despised Hebrew.” She concluded by urging Dickens to contribute to the Judith Montefiore Memorial Fund as a gesture of justice and atonement.
Dickens waited 18 days before replying. He sent a donation – and a defence of Fagin: “It unfortunately was true of the time to which that story refers that that class of criminal invariably was a Jew.” He added that he would have written a villain as a “Spaniard”, “Roman Catholic”, or “Chinaman” if criminals at the time belonged to those groups. He also rebuked the Jewish community, writing that if they were offended by Fagin, “they are a far less sensible, a far
less just and a far less good-tempered people than I have always supposed.”
Despite this, Eliza persisted. She continued writing, pointing out that while Dickens created both good and bad Christian characters, his only Jewish character was a villain. She explained that due to systemic exclusion, Jews were often confined to marginal professions: second-hand clothes sales, rag picking and informal moneylending. In letter after letter, Eliza explained how painful antisemitic portrayals were to her and other Jewish readers: “I hazard the opinion that it would well repay an author to examine more closely into the manners and characters of the British Jews and to represent them as they really are.”
Altering Oliver Twist
Gradually, Eliza’s arguments took root. Dickens halted a reprinting of Oliver Twist mid-production to make changes. The first half of the book had already been printed, but in the second half, he replaced references to Fagin as “the Jew” with simply “Fagin”. (This accounts for the 257 occurrences of “the Jew” in the first 38 chapters and the drastic decline thereafter.)
Creating a positive Jewish character
Dickens’ final novel, Our Mutual Friend (1865), appears crafted in part to reassure Eliza. It introduced Mr Riah, a kindly Jewish character whose name means “friend” in Hebrew. Though he is slandered and abused as a greedy moneylender, Mr Riah proves generous, gentle, and heroic – helping the novel’s female protagonists escape peril.
In one of the book’s most poignant passages, Mr. Riah laments: “Men say, ‘This is a bad Greek, but there are good Greeks …’ Not so with the Jews … They take the worst of us as samples of the best … and they say ‘All Jews are alike.’” Eliza was deeply moved. She sent Dickens a treasured gift: a copy of the Hebrew Bible in English, translated by Dr. Abraham Benisch. This edition likely matched the one Eliza studied herself – a profoundly personal and generous gesture.
Charles Dickens died in 1868. He and Eliza Davis remained in correspondence until the end. Eliza lived another 25 years, long enough to witness the lasting popularity of Dickens’ work and the real change she helped inspire.
A model for today
Eliza Davis’ determination is a model of moral courage. Surrounded by antisemitism, she refused to remain silent. Letter by letter, she chipped away at Dickens’ prejudices. She could have easily dismissed herself as a mere housewife, unfit to debate a literary giant. Instead, she embraced her responsibility.
Her efforts call to mind the words of Rabbi Tarfon: “It is not your duty to finish the work, but neither are you free to neglect it” (Ethics of the Fathers, 2:16). In today’s fight against rising Jew-hatred, Eliza Davis reminds us that even one voice – persistent, principled and patient – can change the world.
Charles Dickens
AUSTRALIAN FRIENDS OF THE HEBREW UNIVERSITY
As generative AI tools like ChatGPT become embedded in daily life, one Hebrew University legal scholar is raising an urgent concern: these systems may be quietly narrowing our worldview.
In a new article published in the Indiana Law Journal, Professor Michal Shur-Ofry of the Hebrew University of Jerusalem warns that the outputs of large language models (LLMs), the advanced AI systems behind chatbots, tend to reflect mainstream, standardised perspectives. While this may make them accessible and efficient, it also means users risk being exposed to fewer diverse voices and ideas.
“If everyone is getting the same kind of mainstream answers from AI, it may limit the variety of voices, narratives and cultures we’re exposed to,” Professor Shur-Ofry told The Jewish Report. “Over time, this can narrow our own world of thinkable thoughts.”
Her study highlights that when asked to name important figures of the 19th century, ChatGPT predictably offered Abraham Lincoln, Charles Darwin and Queen Victoria – plausible but repetitive Anglo-centric answers. Similarly, when asked to list the best television series, the model returned a handful of AngloAmerican hits, leaving out a vast cultural landscape of non-English works.
Hebrew University scholar issues timely warning about AI
The problem lies in the way these systems are trained. Built on enormous datasets, much of it in English and dominated by Western culture, LLMs rely on statistical frequency. Popular names and narratives rise to the top, while less common perspectives are sidelined. Over time, a feedback loop develops: outputs from one generation of models become the training material for the next, further concentrating what users see. Professor Shur-Ofry argues this “narrowing effect” could have profound
consequences. It risks marginalising minority cultures, reducing cultural diversity, weakening democratic discourse and, even, eroding collective memory – the way communities preserve their shared past.
To counter this, she proposes a new principle for AI regulation: multiplicity. Instead of offering one dominant “most likely” answer, AI systems should present users with multiple perspectives and highlight that alternative answers exist.
She suggests two steps. First, building
multiplicity into AI tools, for example by letting users adjust the system’s “temperature” to increase variety or flagging that there are other possible responses. Second, fostering an ecosystem of diverse AI platforms, so that people can easily seek a “second opinion”, rather than relying on a single provider.
Equally vital, she says, is AI literacy. “If people understand how these systems are built, they will ask better questions, compare answers and think critically. AI should not be seen as a single source of truth, but as a tool that reflects the richness of human experience.”
Professor Shur-Ofry is now collaborating with colleagues, including Dr. Yonatan Belinkov and Adir Rahamim of the Technion and Bar Horowitz-Amsalem of the Hebrew University, to test practical ways of increasing diversity in AI outputs.
As the Hebrew University marks its centenary, the study underscores its continued role at the cutting edge of global research.
“If we want AI to serve society, not just efficiency, we have to make room for complexity, nuance and diversity,” Professor Shur-Ofry concludes. “That’s what multiplicity is about – protecting the full spectrum of human experience in an AI-driven world.”
Professor Michal Shur-Ofry
Professor Tal Dvir AROUND THE COMMUNITY
DAVID SOLOMON, CEO AUSTRALIAN FRIENDS OF TEL AVIV UNIVERSITY
As Rosh Hashanah – a time for reflection and new beginnings – approaches, Israel is preparing for a medical milestone that could change lives worldwide: the first attempt to repair a human spinal cord using tissue engineered from a patient’s own cells. The surgery, expected in coming months, offers the possibility that people living with paralysis might walk again. According to the World Health Organization, more than 15 million people worldwide are living with spinal cord injuries. It is one of the few human injuries where the body has no natural regenerative ability. Neurons are cells that do not divide and do not renew themselves naturally, and the tissue is both structurally complex and extremely sensitive. At the centre of this extraordinary development is Professor Tal Dvir, Head of the Sagol Center for Regenerative Biotechnology and the Nanotechnology Center at Tel Aviv University (TAU). He also serves as Chief Scientist of Matricelf, a biotech company founded in 2019 to bring this groundbreaking research from the university laboratory to the clinic.
“This is undoubtedly a matter of national pride,” says Professor Dvir. “The technology was developed here in Israel, at Tel Aviv University and at Matricelf.”
The new year provides a new chance to walk – a global first in paralysis treatment
The beginnings
Three years ago, in Professor Dvir’s TAU lab, his team succeeded in creating a personalised three-dimensional spinal cord. In preclinical trials, mice with severe paralysis regained the ability to walk after receiving the engineered implant.
The results, published in Advanced Science, were hailed internationally as a major advance in regenerative
medicine. The science, while complex, is based on a simple idea: use the patient’s own biological material to build replacement tissue that the body will accept. Scientists at TAU and Matricelf collect blood and fat cells from the patient, reprogram them to behave like embryonic stem cells and then grow them within a customised hydrogel made from the patient’s own tissues. This produces a spinal cord engineered to
fit the individual perfectly. If successful, the procedure will repair the broken “electrical cable” of the spinal cord, reconnecting the brain’s signals to the body. The scar tissue that normally prevents healing is replaced with living, functional nerve tissue.
Next
steps
Marking a historic step for Israeli science and medicine, the Israeli Ministry of Health has given preliminary approval for up to eight patients to undergo “compassionate use” trials.
For Tel Aviv University, the project reflects its growing reputation as a global leader in regenerative biotechnology. From pioneering organ engineering to advancing nanotechnology, TAU researchers are not only expanding scientific frontiers, but also offering real hope to people facing conditions once thought untreatable. Professor Dvir says, “Our goal is to help paralysed patients rise from their wheelchairs. The animal trials showed extraordinary success and we are hopeful that the results in humans will be just as promising.” This Rosh Hashanah, that hope resonates more strongly than ever. A season of renewal for the Jewish people may soon bring new beginnings for those that have lived too long without the ability to walk.
The gift of a lifetime.
No matter your stage in life, now is the perfect time to plan for your values to be represented long after you are gone. What do you want your legacy to be?
Supporting Israel’s greatest natural resource - its people - and contributing to the education of future generations, is one of the most inspiring gifts you can give. It’s a promise today for Israel’s tomorrow.
Making a gift in your will to Tel Aviv University will ensure your legacy lives on with Israel, forever.
AROUND THE COMMUNITY
YOASH DVIR CEO TECHNION AUSTRALIA
Sometimes history has a way of circling back. More than a century ago, the Technion was established in Haifa as a place of refuge and learning for Jewish students who had few safe spaces in Europe. Now, in 2025, that same spirit of sanctuary is alive again.
This month, the Technion launched a new program for international students who no longer feel safe on their own campuses. The ugly rise of antisemitism across universities abroad – whether in North America, South America, Europe and, as we all experienced and saw, in Australia – has forced too many young Jews to ask themselves an impossible question: Can I learn here and still be myself?
The President of the Technion, Professor Uri Sivan, put it best: “The program is about much more than classrooms and degrees. It is about creating a haven: a place where students can grow academically while also knowing they are welcomed, supported and free to
Technion opens its doors to students seeking safety and belonging
ulpan that promises to challenge and connect them. Soon enough, they’ll be fully integrated into the Technion’s
he still hasn’t decided what field to pursue, but he’s thrilled at the chance to learn Hebrew so he can chat with his
the Technion wasn’t just an academic decision – it was about peace of mind. In Haifa, she found not only a prestigious institution, but also a safe community, where she can study without looking over her shoulder.
What the Technion has done is extraordinary. It’s easy to talk about combating antisemitism in abstract terms, but much harder to respond with something so concrete, so human and so hopeful. This program says to Jewish students worldwide: You belong. You have a future. And if you can’t find it where you are, Israel is waiting with open doors.
It also reminds us of the enduring role Israel’s universities play – not just as engines of innovation and discovery, but as protectors of dignity. In the midst of rising hate, the Technion has chosen to lean into its history and say, “We’ve been here before and we will be here for you again.”
This isn’t only about building the next
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The Combustion and Diagnostics Laboratory in the Faculty of Aerospace Engineering at Technion (photo by Sivan Shachor)
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The unlikely Miss Universe of Israel
From page 16
about talent. The competition was based on interviews, the way you speak and what your message is.”
Jewish identity and spiritual awakening
Noa’s father grew up in a religious home and raised Noa with strong Jewish traditions. “We said kiddish on Friday night, but everyone does that in Israel. To be honest, I was completely disconnected. I wasn’t even sure I believed in God.”
That all changed after October 7, 2023. During the first two weeks of war, the local moshav rebbetzin gave her a card with the Wayfarer’s Prayer and told her it would protect her. Noa carried a tiny Book of Psalms in her army uniform as well. “Even when I wasn’t religious, I felt like something was watching over me. Something inside me changed. I felt like something in my heart was softer … it’s something I can’t explain in words.”
Then, when she actively went to serve on the Gaza border, the feelings only grew stronger. She was a medic, but it was her first time actually treating anyone. It was also her first time seeing blood.
Just five hours after the October 7th attacks began, she got a call – they needed more medics immediately. She would be deployed into the field. She froze the first time she was placed in a real-life situation. The soldier she treated was bleeding out from shrapnel in his leg.
“I froze. I had a blackout. Everything I learned – gone. My doctor snapped me out of it, ‘Noa, wake up!’ He clapped in my face! Then I just went on autopilot. I don’t remember anything. I just did and kept doing.” She recalls another emotional moment, treating a young, 19-year-old soldier. “He had the same green eyes as my brother. I was holding his life in my hands and I was watching his eyes open and shut, fighting the pain. I realised it could have been my brother. I still carry that moment and cannot shake it.” As she served on the Gazan border, her spiritual connection grew.
“When RPGs and rockets are falling all around you, it’s terrifying. One day, they threw an RPG at our white ambulance.”
It missed. “Usually, the miracles you see are things like, ‘Oh, I got a promotion at work’, or ‘Something happened to me in the hospital and it led to my recovery.’
But this…this was so much bigger than me. “When I saw miracles happening to other people, right in front of my own eyes, I was in a position where everything felt so much bigger.
This is bigger than myself. When you see a 19-year-old kid fighting for his life, you realise you’re such a small piece. There are so many other miracles happening. It’s not about you anymore.
“I felt something shift. I realised I needed to take small steps back – back to Shabbat, back to lighting candles, saying Modeh Ani … I used to not care if I missed kiddush. Now, I do it, even if I’m alone. Every small thing brings you closer.”
Forever fighting
One of the most powerful influences in Noa’s life was her grandmother, Nili, an Auschwitz survivor. Nili and her two sisters were on the selection line at a Nazi labour camp. Nili had become dangerously ill with tuberculosis and was selected to be sent to the gas chambers. “The Nazi guard pointed at my grandmother and said, ‘You. It’s time. You will go there.’ … and pointed to the gas chambers.” Nili’s sister, Leah, jumped out of the selection line and shouted, “If she’s going, I’m going too.”
A moment later, their third sister, Eva, also stepped out and joined them.
The Nazis were stunned. Leah was their fastest worker and she knew they needed her. The soldiers paused and then gave a choice: “We’ll spare your sister, but then you have to do double the work. Since she’s too sick, you have to do her work for her.” That act of courage saved Noa’s grandmother’s life and shaped her entire family’s future. “Without Leah saying that, my grandmother wouldn’t be alive and neither would I.”
Nili later became a phenomenal cook, known for her warmth and generosity. Noa hopes to honour her memory through a cookbook featuring her recipes. “Food is love, especially in the Jewish community. My dream is to share her food and her story with the world.”
A new mission
Noa says her biggest realisation is that her connection to God is personal. “It’s not all or nothing. Everyone mitzvah helps you feel close to God.” Her message to the world is simple, yet powerful. “Everyone talks about sinat chinam – baseless hatred. But we need ahavat chinam – baseless love. Be kind. Say ‘thank you’. Smile. You can change someone’s whole day.” Today, Noa takes baby steps forward in her observance. “I want my future family to keep Shabbat. There’s nothing more beautiful than disconnecting from the world and honouring it together.”
What she loves most about Judaism is the sense of family and interconnectedness that comes along with the religion.
“No matter where you are in the world, you have the Jewish community. You feel at home.
I moved to New York five months ago to continue my advocacy work and share my story with Jewish communities across America. When I moved to New York, away from my family, the Jewish community was so welcoming; it was like they gave me a giant hug. There’s no other group of people like this in the world.”
How many common words of five or more letters can you spell using the letters in the hive? Every answer must use the centre letter at least once. Letters may be reused in a word. At least one Jewish word will use all seven letters.
Proper names and hyphenated words are not allowed. Score 1 point for each answer and 3 points for a Jewish related word that uses all 7 letters.
Rating: 10 = Good; 13 = Excellent;17 = Genius
Yoni Glatt has published more than 1,000 crossword puzzles worldwide, from the LA Times and Boston Globe to The Jerusalem Post. He has also published two Jewish puzzle books: "Kosher Crosswords" and the sequel "More Kosher Crosswords and Word Games".
Noa Cochva
RABBI DR BENJI LEVY RABBINIC THOUGHT
As parents and children, citizens and Jews, we are again entering the High Holy Days in a world filled with challenge and uncertainty. The headlines remind us daily of wars, rising antisemitism and instability across the globe. Yet, Rosh Hashanah comes to remind us of something eternal: while we cannot always control our surroundings, we can control our response. We can choose how we gather, how we celebrate and how we hold onto one another.
Traditionally, these days are filled with large family meals, crowded synagogues and the warmth of communal gatherings. For some, those spaces will still feel full and vibrant. For others, this year may be tinged with absence, fear or disconnection. Wherever we find ourselves, the question is not only how we will celebrate as individuals, but also how we will strengthen our sense of community.
A few years ago, during the pandemic, I shared an initiative that began in Sydney, named “Together – Never Apart”. The idea was simple but powerful: before Yom Kippur, take the time to connect with someone you have not spoken to in a while, or someone you know could use a word of kindness. Send a message of gratitude, reconciliation or encouragement. In a world that often feels fragmented, a small act of connection can help weave us back together. The following day, on Yom Kippur itself, the initiative invited us to pause – wherever we
Together – never apart: Rosh Hashanah 2025
were – for a shared moment of reflection at noon. It didn’t matter whether you were in a packed synagogue or sitting alone at home. What mattered was that Jews across the globe were pausing together. That moment of unity reminded us that we are part of something larger than ourselves.
I remember vividly how, during the pandemic, my family and I stood on our balcony in Jerusalem on Seder night as voices rose from around the city, singing Ma Nishtana. At first, it was only my daughter’s voice, then we joined and soon an old man on his balcony, a young family around the corner and more and more voices from the neighbourhood were heard. A chorus filled the streets of Jerusalem and later we learned it filled the entire country. That moment reminded us that while we cannot always choose our situation, we can always choose how we react. Now, in 2025, we are no longer confined by lockdowns. But the need for intentional connection is just as urgent – perhaps even more so. Our people face new tests and the temptation is to retreat inward. Instead, let us lean outward. Let us reach across divides of distance, opinion and experience, and remind one another that we are never truly apart.
Rosh Hashanah is a time of introspection and rejuvenation. As we crown God as King, we also crown our relationships with renewed attention. This year, may we recommit to reaching out, to pausing together and to reminding ourselves and each other that though times may change, the truth remains: we are, and always will be, together – never apart.
Honouring Sir John Monash
for his soldiers, his determination to innovate and his almost obsessive focus on the importance of education.
Recently, I attended a commemorative service for General Sir John Monash at Parliament House in Melbourne. I was representing St Kilda Shule, honouring one of our most distinguished former members. It was an occasion filled with reverence, gratitude and a strong sense of history. I was deeply moved, standing in the very place where leaders, military representatives and members of the wider community came together to recognise the legacy of a man who continues to inspire Australia today.
General Sir John Monash was not only a brilliant soldier, but an engineer, thinker and nation builder. He served on the board of St Kilda Shule for 11 years, until his passing in 1931. To this day, we remain proud of his association with our community. His contributions on the battlefield during World War I and later to civilian life in areas of infrastructure, education and public service, continue to remind us of the values of leadership, vision and service to others.
The program included a formal welcome, the laying of wreaths, military honours, memorial prayers and reflections on Monash’s remarkable life. Each moment seemed to build on the last, creating a sense of solemnity that was felt by all. What struck me most was not only the acknowledgment of Monash’s military genius, but also the emphasis on his humanity and his care
It was especially heartening to see so many school students attend the service. Their presence gave me hope that future generations will continue to draw inspiration from his story, understanding the sacrifices of the past, while recognising the opportunities and responsibilities of the present.
The emcee’s introduction was clever and relatable. He told the students: “If you're lucky enough to have a hundreddollar bill, you'll see the face of a stern looking man on it. His name is Sir John Monash.” I was also delighted to see so many Jewish community leaders. Their presence was a reminder of the deep and ongoing connection between Monash’s legacy and the Melbourne Jewish community. It is something we at St Kilda Shule cherish greatly
I was pleased so many of the speakers referred to the fact that Monash was a proud Jew. Given everything that’s going on in Australia now, I loved that this part of Monash’s story was articulated so prominently throughout the service. It reminded me to continue wearing my Jewishness as a badge of honour and to inspire others to do the same.
I ended up discussing Monash’s legacy with the Opposition leader Brad Battin MP. I told him that taking pride of place in my office at the shule is Monash’ desk – his presence being an enduring legacy.
RABBI YAAKOV GLASMAN AM
From left, Opposition leader Brad Battin MP with Rabbi Yaakov Glasman AM
RABBINIC THOUGHT
Living Judaism with pride
What does it mean to choose Judaism?
For many of us, it is something we inherit at birth. We grow up with the melodies, the traditions, the holidays and the food. It is sometimes so familiar that we barely notice it. Yet to see Judaism through the eyes of someone who has chosen it is to be reminded of its beauty, depth and transformative power.
This was the gift of welcoming Adina Shoshana, known to so many in our community as the Now Jewish Nanny. Her journey began almost by accident, working as a nanny for Orthodox families in Florida and sharing snippets of Jewish life online with humour and curiosity. But what started as observation became participation and eventually devotion. She didn’t just admire Judaism from the outside. She stepped in. She studied, she wrestled, she committed and she emerged with a new identity: proudly, happily Jewish.
When Adina spoke at the various events at Caulfield Shule, I was struck not only by her story but by the energy with which she told it. She connected instantly with Year 12 students, who saw her as a role model of pride and courage. She sat with young adults and spoke candidly about the challenges and delights of her journey. She radiated a gratitude for
Judaism that was contagious. Listening to her, I couldn’t help but feel inspired to choose my own Judaism more consciously.
In a climate where antisemitism can make some hesitant to show their Jewishness, her message landed with power. Here was someone who had every reason to walk away from Judaism’s struggles, yet instead she
chose to lean in fully. Even after October 7, when the Jewish world was reeling, she said: “These are my people too.” To claim Jewish identity not as a burden, but as a badge of belonging is a lesson to us all.
The Torah calls us to this same position. Moshe’s timeless charge, “Choose life”, is not only about survival. It is about intentionality. Judaism is not meant to
Embracing Jewishness anew
Educate a child according to their way; even when they grow old, they will not depart from it.” – Proverbs 22:6
If you ask a Jewish grandparent what success looks like, they might say it’s having children who are doctors or lawyers, or who have achieved more than they ever dreamed. But if you sit with them a little longer, often the answer deepens and they may answer that success is having Jewish children and grandchildren.
For thousands of years, our tradition has been obsessed, in the best way, with continuity … with raising the next generation to know that their Jewish identity is precious, relevant and worth holding onto. There are entire organisations built around this.
And yet, it’s still common for parents to quietly worry that their children might drift away from Jewish life, whether that means opting out of community, marrying out, or simply feeling indifferent to their Jewishness.
When people come to me, anxious about this very thing, I always encourage them to flip the narrative. Instead of relying on fear, on stories of antisemitism or persecution, or telling our children, "You should care because your grandparents suffered”, what if we gave them reasons to stay Jewish that
were rooted in love?
Our children live in a world that values connection, joy and belonging. If Judaism is framed as a burden, they will quietly (or not so quietly) walk away. But, if we show them, through our own lives, that being Jewish is a privilege, an anchor in a chaotic world, a source of joy and a moral compass, they may begin to see its true worth. To be Jewish is to inherit values that shape a deeply meaningful life. In Judaism we honour
be lived by default. It is intended to be embraced as a conscious, joyful decision. Lighting candles, giving tzedakah, supporting Israel, teaching our children – it all carries more meaning when undertaken as an active choice, not a passive habit.
Those who join our people remind us of this truth in the most vivid way. They see, with fresh eyes, the richness of mitzvot, the sweetness of Shabbat and the privilege of belonging to Am Yisrael. And they challenge those of us who were born Jewish to rediscover that same sense of wonder.
Adina’s story is more than her own. It is a mirror. It invites each of us to ask: if I had to choose Judaism today, would I? What would that choice look like in practice? For some, it may mean stepping into shul more often. For others, teaching children not just the “how”, but the “why” of our traditions. For all of us, it means living with pride and conviction in a world that needs Jewish voices of courage and light.
As we enter a new year, Adina’s journey gives us a gift: the reminder that Judaism is not static. It is alive, dynamic and waiting to be chosen anew each day. Whether we were born into it or discovered it later, the invitation is the same, to choose it with love, to live it with strength and to pass it forward with pride.
learning, justice, hospitality, generosity, resilience, family, questioning and repair. These aren’t abstract concepts; they are embedded in how we live and how we love. In a post–October 7 world, where moral clarity can feel scarce, Judaism gives us a framework for truth and purpose.
So how do we pass this on?
By modelling it. Children are sharp. They pick up on what matters to us. If they see that Jewish life is something you
do only once a year, or only for their bar or bat mitzvah, they’ll assume it’s not central to your beliefs and practices. But if they see you prioritising community, Shabbat dinners, helping others, going to shul and marking time Jewishly, they’ll understand that this tradition is alive and worth inheriting. Because we all know it is.
Being in a Jewish home gives our children not just a place in the world, but a place in history. It’s not limiting; it’s expansive. It’s joyful. It’s powerful to know that when you stand under a chuppah, you are part of a love story that stretches back generations. And when you raise children in that same tradition, you’re offering them something deeply grounded, an identity that’s rich, rooted and full of meaning. It is one where people are encouraged to give of themselves to improve the world around us … to give charity and help the sick and poor. In short, one where you are commanded to leave the world in better shape than you found it.
The Jewish New Year is built on renewal, growth and return. So, here’s my invitation to come back. Bring your kids. Bring your grandchildren. Show them that Jewish life is something to be embraced. When you show your children that you care, they will learn to care too. Wishing you and your family a sweet, strong and joyful New Year.
RABBI GABI KALTMANN
Rabbi Gabi Kaltmann
RABBI DANIEL RABIN
From left, Rabbi Daniel Rabin, Rebbetzin Sarah Rabin and Adina Shoshana
RABBINIC THOUGHT
RABBI ARON MOSS
Question:
I have become anxious since the proPalestinian (or, simply, anti-Israel) protest on the Harbour Bridge. I pass by there every day on my way to work. But since the massive march, I’ve avoided it. I know it’s irrational, but I feel the bridge is now contaminated by hatred. Is there some kind of cleansing ceremony we can conduct to restore the energy –maybe parading across the bridge with Torahs? I don’t know what could change the minds of all those haters. They seem to be everywhere. Maybe I should just stay home.
Answer:
Put the Harbour Bridge aside for a moment. Let’s talk about another bridge, the one mentioned in a famous Jewish song: The whole world is a very narrow bridge.
But the main thing to recall is to have no fear, have no fear at all.
Should we boycott the bridge?
That seems like a tall order. If life is a very narrow bridge, how can we have no fear at all? What if our bridge is shaking? What if bad actors are trying to knock us off? Is it realistic to feel no fear at all? The original source for this song’s lyrics is a teaching of the great mystic, Rabbi Nachman of Breslov: Know that a person must cross a very, very narrow bridge. And the most important rule is: don’t let yourself become fearful at all. Notice the nuance. It doesn’t say “have no fear”; it says, “do not let yourself become fearful”. That is
CORNER
I went to the local Harris Farms in Lindfield and they helpfully butterflied and deboned two red fish. The “One that got Away” in Bondi can offer the same service. Please don’t forget to score the fish skin with a sharp knife about one centimetre deep.
Ingredients:
1 butterflied head-on whole fish descaled, with fins removed
2 lemons
2 tablespoons MasterFoods Tuscan Spice
Stuffing:
1 cup thinly sliced leeks
½ cup thinly sliced celery
½ cup thinly sliced carrots
½ cup frozen or fresh pomegranate rubies
10 thinly sliced dates
1 Granny Smith apple, thinly sliced in rounds and cored
Method:
1: Preheat the oven to 220C
2: In a medium size pan on medium to high heat, pour in 50 ml oil. When hot, add the leeks and stir-fry. Cook until soft and slightly brown. Add the celery and cook for two minutes. Add the carrots and cook for a further two minutes. Then, add the rubies
different. It means fear exists, frightening things happen, but the decision whether to surrender to fear is ours alone. Nothing can make me afraid unless I give it permission.
Since our inception, the Jewish people have been crossing a very narrow
bridge. Our history is one long crossing. The bridge is often shaky, stormy winds of hate blow at us, enemies shout from the sidelines trying to push us off. And yet, somehow, we never fall. Because we know the secret to crossing a narrow bridge: don’t look down, don’t look to the side, just look forward and keep walking.
You can’t allow bullies and noisemakers to shake you. Their only weapon is intimidation. Ours is confidence and faith. They won’t rattle us, if we don’t let them. When we allow their shouting to dictate our movements, we hand them a victory they don’t deserve. But when we continue walking proudly, living openly as Jews and carrying on with our routines, we show that their hatred is powerless.
The Harbour Bridge is just steel and stone. What matters is the bridge inside you, the path of faith, courage and conviction that no protest can contaminate. Keep walking that bridge with strength. Our people always have and that is why we are still here.
Work on your faith, steady your stride and remember that G-d walks with you. As for your daily commute across the Harbour, well, we’ll cross that bridge when we come to it.
Whole line fish with simanim stuffing
and dates and remove from the heat. Set the pan aside.
3: Take the butterflied fish. Open it up and carefully rinse off under cold water, before patting dry. Season the flesh with a little salt or fish seasoning.
4: Spoon the stuffing on one half of the open fish. Then, neatly spread the rounds of apple over the stuffing. Fold over the top of the fish and make sure everything is tucked in.
5: Score the skin of the fish three to four times each side. Give it a good spray with cooking oil and sprinkle over the Tuscan spice, rubbing it into the score lines.
6: Place the fish on an oiled baking sheet and then place it in the middle of the oven.
7: Bake for 45 minutes or until cooked through. As it comes out of the oven, squeeze the juice of the lemons over the fish.
Cook’s tip:
If you don’t want the hassle of a whole fish, then use small pieces of fried fish cocktails placed on a platter. Cook the stuffing recipe without the apple. Then, when cooked, add some red wine, honey and lemon juice mix in a bowl. Season to taste and pour over the cocktails. It makes a great fish dressing.
ALAN BENDER
SOUL GOURMET FOODIE
Spelling bee answers
CANDLE LIGHTING TIMES
CANDLE LIGHTING TIMES
CANDLE LIGHTING TIMES
Friday, Nov 22, 2024
Friday, Nov 22, 2024 8:00 PM
Shabbat ends, Nov 23, 2024
Shabbat ends, Nov 23, 2024 9:04 PM
Jewish Answer: SHTAYIM. Here is a list of some common words (“yes”, we know there are more words in the dictionary that can work, but these words are common to today’s vernacular): ASSAY, ASSAYS, HASTY, MAYIM, MISSY, MISTY, MYTHIST, MYTHISTS, MYTHS, SASHAY, SASHAYS, SASSY, SHIMMY, SHTAY, STAYS, TASTY, TATTY and YAMIM.
Friday, Nov 29, 2024
Friday, Nov 29, 2024 8:07 PM
Questions/comments/compliments: email Yoni at koshercrosswords@ gmail.com
Shabbat ends, Nov 30, 2024
Shabbat ends, Nov 30, 2024 9:12 PM
Crossword answers
Friday, Dec 6, 2024 8:13 PM
Friday, Dec 6, 2024 8:13 PM
Shabbat ends, Dec 7, 2024 9:19 PM
Shabbat ends, Dec 7, 2024 9:19 PM
Friday, Dec 13, 2024 8:19 PM
Friday, Dec 13, 2024 8:19 PM
Shabbat ends, Dec 14, 2024 9:25 PM
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Except where expressly stated otherwise, content in The Melbourne Jewish Report is provided as general informations only. The articles in this paper have been contributed by a third party. The opinions, facts and any media content here are presented solely by the author, and The Jewish Report assumes no responsibility for them. It is not intended as advice and must not be relied upon as such. You should make your own inquiries and take independent advice tailored to your specific circumstances prior to making any decisions. We do not make any representation or warranty that any material in the papers will be reliable, accurate or complete, nor do we accept any responsibility arising in any way from errors or omissions. We will not be liable for loss resulting from any action or decision by you in reliance on the material in the papers. By reading the papers, you acknowledge that we are not responsible for, and accept no liability in relation to, any reader’s use of, access to or conduct in connection with the papers in any circumstance. Photographs submitted by individuals or organisations are assumed to be their property and are therefore not otherwise credited. All articles in this paper have received the expressed consent of the author to publish in this paper.
Except where expressly stated otherwise, content in The Melbourne Jewish Report is provided as general informations only. The articles in this paper have been contributed by a third party. The opinions, facts and any media content here are presented solely by the author, and The Jewish Report assumes no responsibility for them. It is not intended as advice and must not be relied upon as such. You should make your own inquiries and take independent advice tailored to your specific circumstances prior to making any decisions. We do not make any representation or warranty that any material in the papers will be reliable, accurate or complete, nor do we accept any responsibility arising in any way from errors or omissions. We will not be liable for loss resulting from any action or decision by you in reliance on the material in the papers. By reading the papers, you acknowledge that we are not responsible for, and accept no liability in relation to, any reader’s use of, access to or conduct in connection with the papers in any circumstance. Photographs submitted by individuals or organisations are assumed to be their property and are therefore not otherwise credited. All articles in this paper have received the expressed consent of the author to publish in this paper.
Except where expressly stated otherwise, content in The Melbourne Jewish Report is provided as general informations only. The articles in this paper have been contributed by a third party. The opinions, facts and any media content here are presented solely by the author, and The Jewish Report assumes no responsibility for them. It is not intended as advice and must not be relied upon as such. You should make your own inquiries and take independent advice tailored to your specific circumstances prior to making any decisions. We do not make any representation or warranty that any material in the papers will be reliable, accurate or complete, nor do we accept any responsibility arising in any way from errors or omissions. We will not be liable for loss resulting from any action or decision by you in reliance on the material in the papers. By reading the papers, you acknowledge that we are not responsible for, and accept no liability in relation to, any reader’s use of, access to or conduct in connection with the papers in any circumstance. Photographs submitted by individuals or organisations are assumed to be their property and are therefore not otherwise credited. All articles in this paper have received the expressed consent of the author to publish in this paper.
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THEATRE REVIEW
Laugh … and then laugh some
If you are into slapstick humour, you are going to have a ball.
This riotous theatrical disaster is stumbling its way around Australia and has just opened in Melbourne.
The premise is straight forward enough, but its execution something else entirely.
The Cornley Polytechnic Drama Society is attempting to stage a 1920s Agatha Christie-style murder mystery, titled The Murder at Haversham Manor. But virtually everything that can go wrong does.
Nevertheless, these accident-prone thespians are troopers and battle on against the odds to get their final curtain call.
The play was written by Mischief Theatre founders Henry Lewis, Jonathan Sayer and Henry Shields and first performed in London in 2012.
It won an Olivier Award for Best New Comedy, a Tony Award for Best Scenic Design and the Molière Award in France for Best Comedy.
An extended extract from the production featured in the Royal Variety Performance in the UK.
Sight gags are the cornerstones of this play to end all plays.
But there are also the one-liners, including those from the faux director of The Murder at Haversham Manor in introducing the show. And, again, when he returns, engaging the audience ahead of Act II.
The contention is as follows: a man is discovered dead on the day of his engagement.
MOVIE REVIEW
The phrase all is fair in love and war is attributed to a book on wit by English author John Lyly in 1579.
Clearly, acerbic couple Ivy (Olivia Colman) and Theo (Benedict Cumberbatch) have taken that to heart.
This is a reimaging of The War of the Roses (1989), which, too, was based on a novel by Warren Adler and featured Michael Douglas and Kathleen Turner.
In London, Theo is a talented and creative architect, while Ivy is an equally gifted and imaginative chef.
The pair gets together unexpectedly when Theo seeks time out after expressing disgust at his boss’ final choice of design on new, multi-level accommodation.
Ivy and Theo’s witty repartee sees them connect instantly and move to Northern California.
A decade later, with two children in tow, they still seem very much in love.
Theo has designed a game-changing museum with a nautical theme, while Ivy’s gastronomic delights are simply at home these days.
That is when Theo gifts Ivy a chance to open her own casual dining restaurant.
So, she creates seafood bistro We’ve Got Crabs!
While business is slow (barely existent actually), a fierce storm sees Theo’s
His fiancé is having an affair with his brother.
So, immediately, they and everyone else in the stately home are suspects.
As a whodunnit, the outcome is virtually of no consequence.
It is merely a loose excuse for all to act up, forget their lines and play silly buggers.
The Play That Goes Wrong is outrageous, laugh aloud funny and delightfully silly, as the actors keep on upping the ante.
And, before this is over, the world around them comes crashing down.
Clearly, the performers are out to have fun, as are those of us watching the mayhem unfold.
Mock fights, pummellings and colliding with hard objects are all part of the repertoire.
I thought I was watching the cast from Fawlty Towers meeting up with The Three Stooges.
Tickling the funny bone doesn’t take any time, as the mood is established even before the piece officially starts (please try to get there 15 minutes early).
That is when the supposed sound technician and other stagehands are searching high and low for a lost dog.
It is also when an unsuspecting audience member is asked to lend a hand in readying the set.
Then, it is all deliberately downhill from there. Simply hilarious!
No shortage of thorns
career vanish in an instant and the trajectory of their lives change markedly.
Theo has become a laughing stock, while a gushing, high profile food review suddenly sees Ivy’s business flourishing and new opportunities aplenty for her.
She becomes the sole bread winner and Theo a house husband, bringing up the kids.
Much to Ivy’s chagrin, he builds in the children a zealot’s commitment to health, fitness and nutrition. She, on the other hand, has a relaxed attitude to sugar treats for the youngsters.
As her time away from home skyrockets, Ivy and Theo argue more and they drift apart.
Their friends can see it, so too the children, but for a long time they deny it, until their differences explode into outright war, which is set to blow up their marriage.
It all comes to a head after Ivy gives Theo the go ahead to design his dream home.
Caustic writing and wickedly clever acting are the hallmarks of this compelling, satirical dark comedy.
The eight strong cast – Eds Eramiha, Olivia Charalambous, Jonathan Martin, Brodie Masini, Joe Kosky, Tom Hayward, Stephanie Astrid John and Sebastian Pitruzzello – is magnificent, bumbling its way through the material.
The brisk pace, frenzied activity and harried actors never let up, so be prepared for a cacophony of laughter and hijinks aplenty.
The Play That Goes Wrong is playing at Athenaeum Theatre in Melbourne until 28th September, 2025 and touring.
To find out more and to buy tickets, go to https://playgoeswrong.com
Tony McNamara, the writer behind Oscar winners Poor Things, Cruella and The Favourite, has again woven his magic with umpteen pithy one liners.
It is funny stuff, indeed, as Ivy and Theo spar with one another and in front of astonished friends.
Olivia Colman and Benedict Cumberbatch are undoubtedly two of the finest actors going around.
Their interactions and razor-sharp timing in the delivery of the priceless dialogue is magnificent.
Around them is a talented cast, led by Kate McKinnon as Amy, the wife of Theo’s best friend, real estate lawyer Barry (Andy Samberg).
In a deliberately awkward display, she makes it clear that she has designs on Theo.
Florian Hoffmeister’s cinematography brings out the best in the stunning, picture perfect, locations where the film is shot.
Jay Roach (Meet the Fockers) ensures he milks the barbs for all they are worth.
This is mental and physical comedy at its finest and makes for a thoroughly enjoyable time at the cinema.
Rated MA, The Roses scores an 8½ out of 10.
For more of Alex First’s reviews, go to https://www.itellyouwhatithink.com
PLAY THAT GOES WRONG ALEX FIRST THE ROSES (MA) ALEX FIRST
Mayhem abounds in The Play That Goes Wrong
Benedict Cumberbatch and Olivia Colman are far from lovey-dovey all the time in The Roses
AROUND THE COMMUNITY
Rich and diverse program of films
Returning to screens from 19th October to 26th November, the Jewish International Film Festival features 50 of the best new Jewish and Israeli films.
The program showcases a rich and diverse slate exploring the Jewish experience and its contributions to Australia’s multicultural landscape.
JIFF opens with the amusing antics of Bad Shabbos.
David and his fiancée Meg are nervously anticipating Shabbat dinner at David’s parents’ Manhattan apartment. The pressure is high because Meg’s Catholic parents are flying in from Wisconsin to meet David’s whole family. They’ve barely blessed the challah before an accident happens and a dead body turns up in the powder room. Was it murder? What will they do with the corpse? How long can they keep this a secret from Meg’s pious parents?
Bad Shabbos took home the Audience Award at Tribeca Film Festival for its keenly observed comedy about faith, family foibles and crisis management. The ensemble cast includes Kyra Sedgwick (The Closer) and Australian Ashley Zukerman (Succession), with a turn from Wu-Tang Clan rapper Cliff ‘Method Man’ Smith as the friendly doorman who lends a hand to his favourite tenants.
A special presentation as part of JIFF 2025 is Scarlett Johansson's directorial debut, Eleanor the Great.
After a devastating loss, Eleanor, a sassy, wise-cracking 94-year-old, moves
from Florida to New York City to live with her daughter, Lisa and grandson, Max. To encourage her to get out of the house, Lisa suggests Eleanor visit the local Jewish community centre to make some new friends. There, Eleanor accidentally winds up in a Holocaust support group, where she tells a moving story of survival and resilience. But there’s one small problem –the story isn’t hers.
June Squibb (Nebraska) bring to life this bold and brassy nonagenarian. At the heart of the film is a charming intergenerational friendship between Eleanor and Nina, a young journalism student who’s inspired to write an article about Eleanor. The movie explores themes of ageing, truth, loss and our human impulse to tell stories.
Of the program, Festival director Eddie Tamir said: “The multicultural utopia we crave in Australia is a fragile thing which requires nourishment now more than ever. JIFF 2025 presents 50 new films that provide a glimpse into the Jewish experience, with all its achievement, grappling and diversity of opinion.”
The full JIFF 2025 program will go on sale on Thursday, 18th September.
Website: www.jiff.com.au
Festival Melbourne venues:
• Classic Cinemas, Elsternwick: Sunday, 19th October – Wednesday, 26th November
• Lido Cinemas, Hawthorn: Monday, 20th October – Tuesday, 25th November
• Cameo Cinemas, Belgrave: Thursday, 30th October – Sunday, 2nd November
Experience over 50 of the best new Jewish-themed and Israeli films at the 2025 Jewish International Film Festival, screening only in cinemas from October 19.
JIFF 2025 opens on Sunday October 19 with the Australian Premiere screening of the entertaining and fast-paced comedy, Bad Shabbos
