Community Leaders in the Nahum Goldmann Fellowship
Five Australian Jewish community leaders have participated in the prestigious international Nahum Goldmann Fellowship in Yam Kinneret, Israel.
Manny Waks, Avron Newstadt, Keren Smolarski, Yair Miller and Brandon Srot
Avron Newstadt – President, Dover Heights Shule, Keren Smolarski – Project Coordinator, Zionist Council of Victoria, Brandon Srot – Director of Young Adults, Shalom Institute and Manny Waks – President, ACT Jewish Community / Executive Director, Capital Jewish Forum were accompanied by Yair Miller, President of the NSW Jewish Board of Deputies, who took part as an Alumni Advisory Board Member.
More than 45 other global Jewish leaders representing 17 countries participated in the Fellowship with former Australian Tania Eshel,who made Aliyah, serving as the Fellowship Coordinator.
The Fellowship is a special institute aimed at nurturing a new generation of Jewish communal leadership across the world. The program provides an intensive experience of Jewish learning, living and leadership for young people from around the world between the ages of 25-40 who show serious interest in Jewish culture and demonstrate a potential for individual growth and communal leadership. Around 700 Jews from around the world have participated in the Fellowship programme to date. The Fellowship is initiated and sponsored by the Memorial Foundation for Jewish Culture.
Through discussion groups, workshops and lectures, this year’s Fellowship, titled Repair, Rejuvenation and Redemption of the Global Jewish Community, covered complex and controversial topics within the global Jewish community, including establishment and non-establishment organisations, Israel-Diaspora relations, Zionism, Jewish identity and continuity, Jewish peoplehood, Jewish leadership, defining words such as “community” and “Judaism”, and examining Jewish texts.
Manny Waks and Natan Sharansky
A range of international experts within the Jewish community participated as faculty in the Fellowship including Stephen Bayme – American Jewish Committee, Dr Stephen Donshik – Management Consultant, Prof. Ruth Gavison – Hebrew University,,Prof. Benny Ish-Shalom – Beit Morasha, Dr Rina Rosenberg – Psychologist, Natan Sharansky – Chairman, Jewish Agency for Israel, Dr Ethan Tucker – Co-founder and Rosh Yeshivah, Machon Hadar and Prof. Jack Wertheimer – Jewish Theological Seminar
The Australian participants found the Fellowship inspiring and constructive from both a personal and professional perspective. Through its open and inclusive approach it encouraged personal growth and development in terms of exploring personal identities and views vis-à-vis the Jewish community and Israel. Spending significant time with like-minded Jews from around the world further enhanced the level of discussion and debate. The participants look forward to continuing this journey of exploration and learning, and are committed to their ongoing and dedicated contribution to the Jewish community.
