On Monday night, the JCCV held a plenum, preceded by an address from The Age Editor-in-Chief, Paul Ramadge, and it seemed prudent to attend.
Among certain expected elements, there were also a few surprises. The plenum itself was run with consummate efficiency by JCCV President, John Searle.
I’d been bracing myself for an excruciating, anarchic talkfest that [...]
Oct
7
2009
7
2009
A Night at the Plenum
Oct
5
2009
5
2009
The New Direction
Not long after this blog began in May, a phenomenon emerged: some of the more interesting developments began to take place either via email, or offline altogether.
After having lived away from the community – both in Australia and overseas – for ten years, I began reconnecting with Jews from the various sub-communities, and from different generations.
This was both a refresher course (some things hadn’t changed) and a steep learning curve, as I navigated through the labyrinthine arcana of communal politics and caught up on developments among the younger generations.
Since returning from the hiatus and outing myself in early August, blog-related activity offline has become even more frenetic. Being “out” has given me the opportunity to meet numerous people, and some of the more inspiring and exciting developments seem to be coming from Generations X and Y.
Oct
5
2009
5
2009
A Brief History of The Sensible Jew
This piece was originally published in The AJN in September.
In February, I received an email that had gone viral in Melbourne’s Jewish community. It claimed that owners of a Caulfield-area restaurant were anti-Semites and urged readers to boycott it. On the one hand, something in the email’s tone aroused my suspicion. On the other, I [...]
Sep
29
2009
29
2009
In The New Year 2: Thoughts After Yom Kippur
One of my grandparents never set foot in a concentration camp.
All four went through the Holocaust and all four lost most of the people they ever knew; but one – my paternal grandmother – managed to spend the war in Poland without being captured by the Nazis.
All such stories are intricate, complicated tales of foresight, [...]
Sep
24
2009
24
2009
How to Make Enemies and Repel People: Robert Goot and 60 Minutes
For those still defending our current leadership’s handling of public relations, please ask yourselves this question: if our leaders are so very effective, why does Israel continue to receive consistently unflattering press?
Indeed, problematic coverage, which used to be the preserve of the public broadcasters, has now bled into the mainstream.
The 60 Minutes segment, “Hate Thy [...]
Sep
24
2009
24
2009
AJN – Loose Lips and the Holocaust
It’s the sort of article one has to read twice just to make sure it’s not a hallucination.
On page 3 of this week’s AJN we learn, yet again, how close we are to another Holocaust.
Or perhaps we learn that if you complain enough to the ABC, they’ll say only positive things about Jews.
Or that it’s [...]
Sep
22
2009
22
2009
Sep
21
2009
21
2009
In The New Year: Glimpses of the Future at Auburn Rd Shul
I have written previously about the crises facing our community – assimilation, disaffection, substance abuse, among many others.
But I had another fear: that generations X and Y are either not inclined or incapable of taking the reins from the baby boomer generation. I have worried that our community is becoming so atomised, and our young [...]
May
19
2009
19
2009
May
12
2009
12
2009
Rabbi Procel to pronounce on “Who is a Jew?” conundrum
Maccabi Australia Incorporated (MAI), in a flash of inspiration, is going to enforce the Jews-only policy in its clubs. As if Jews and sport weren’t a bizarre enough mix, there are actually non-Jews who want to be part of these clubs.
Michael Fagenblat’s Presentation at the Seven Jewish Children Reading
Seven Jewish Children is not an anti-Semitic play. On the contrary, its challenging message deserves to be heard, especially by Jews, Israelis and Zionists. However in the context of a Nakba commemoration for Australian Friends of Palestine, the play risks degenerating from being challenging and useful to useless self-validation. Here, then, are seven responses to Seven Jewish Children in the context of a commemoration marking what Palestinians call the Nakba–the Catastrophe–of 1948.