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
24
2009
24
2009
AJN – Loose Lips and the Holocaust
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 [...]
Sep
8
2009
8
2009
Aug
27
2009
27
2009
In The AJN – The Community Survey; a Question; and Coming Next
Community Survey
Headed by Andrew Markus, the Australian Centre for Jewish Civilisation at Monash has recently completed a 45 page study on patterns in Australia’s Jewish community.
This week, The AJN published some of the results, and this post will examine some of the more interesting findings:
1) Religious affiliation – As expected, Orthodox Jews are in the [...]
Aug
24
2009
24
2009
The Big Sunday: Thousands visit and The Shtick
Yesterday was quite surreal.
After The Sunday Age published a story on this blog, we received unprecedengted traffic: 3,235 people visited the site (according to Wordpress statistics). This is a record for the blog, and outstrips the numbers that arrived when the initial Age story was published a couple of months ago.
This brought an expected spike [...]
Jul
15
2009
15
2009
SJ Signs off – temporarily
Dear Readers,
As you will have noticed, over the past couple of weeks, all posts have been written by contributing writers (Yoram, Malki, Frochel, The Hasid, Malki, and Paroggan).
The same reasons that initially forced me to conceal my identity have forced me to cease writing completely and suddenly. Fortunately, a wonderful group of people enabled the [...]
Jun
25
2009
25
2009
Loewenstein: Why Bother?
Antony Loewenstein has provided fodder for this blog on a number of occasions. Some of our readers have asked whether writing about Loewenstein serves any function, or indeed, whether such posts provide him with oxygen or legitimacy.
Let me state for the record: I have no personal beef with Mr Loewenstein. I met him once, quite [...]
Jun
25
2009
25
2009
Australian Jews, a New Format, and Later Today
This blog began as a forum for for discussion of Australian Jewish issues. Because it began in Melbourne, its has tended to focus on Victorian governance and media shenanigans.
We hope, however, to commission posts soon from writers outside this city. Each community shares a number of challenges and some of these are national in scope.
Jun
14
2009
14
2009
Antony Loewenstein: Easily Startled
Today’s Sunday Age has published a letter from Antony Loewenstein.
We’ve written before that our objections to Mr. Loewenstein lie not only in the flawed intellectual foundations of his anti-Zionism, but also in his utterly vapid arguments which he so often supports with factual errors.
Let’s examine his latest contribution to the public discourse on Australian Jewry [...]
AJN 3 – John Searle: A Very Bizarre Suggestion
John Searle’s commentary on the community survey (AJN 15) is a study in how to say as little as possible in 800 words. One brief section, however, demands attention.
Along with the expected motherhood statements that pepper his piece, Searle also indulges in frantic dissimulation.
To give the appearance of responsive governance, Searle concedes that certain areas [...]