Trial adjourned – and charges dropped
May 23, 2014 by J-Wire Staff
The trial of a man charged following an alleged attack on a group of Sydney Jews walking home after Shabbat dinner in Sydney last October has been adjourned . Read more
Another puff moment…writes Michael Kuttner
May 23, 2014 by Michael Kuttner
Since John Kerry. otherwise known as puff the magic dragon, popularized this descriptive expression, there have been many occasions on which it could usefully be applied. Read more
2011 Census Jewish Facts and Figures
May 23, 2014 by J-Wire Staff
The estimated Jewish population of Australia has grown to 112,000 according to the results of the 2011 census…up 6% from the 2006 census and up 20% from the 2001 census. Read more
Just Do It…writes Rabbi Michoel Gourarie
May 23, 2014 by Rabbi Michoel Gourarie
Many things that we do and experience require a combination of emotion and action. The absence of feeling can affect the sincerity of the action and minimize its effectiveness. For example, wishing a close friend Mazel Tov without display of excitement has minimal meaning. Mechanically helping a friend in need without empathy and interest will result in incomplete support. Praying just by mouthing the words seems like a meaningless exercise. Read more
The $6 million Blue Box Queen
May 23, 2014 by Henry Benjamin
NSW Jewish Blue Box Queen Salome Woods has been honoured by having her name inscribed in the JNF Golden Book in Israel to mark 30 years of service with the Jewish National Fund. Read more
BJE trains leaders…and heads to Melbourne
May 22, 2014 by Nanette Horak
The New South Wales Board of Jewish Education has held is annual Leadership Seminar for Year 11 students who participated in last year’s Emet Israel Program. Read more
Zohar wins again
May 22, 2014 by J-Wire Staff
Israeli Zohar Sharon has won his fifth World Blind Golf Championship and the Australian Open Blind Championship. Read more
Nicole to the rescue
May 22, 2014 by Anat Hoffman
By blood and origin she is Australian. Her citizenship is Israeli. She is a lawyer by profession. As to her calling, she belongs to the entire Jewish people. As to her heart, she belongs entirely to those she has helped. She is Nicole Maor. Read more
Woodside deal off
May 21, 2014 by J-Wire Staff
Australian petrol giant Woodside has called off a proposed $US2.5 billion deal to acquire 25% of the Leviathan gas fields off the coast of Israel. Read more
The Stockholm Syndrome in Tel Aviv…writes Rabbi Laibl Wolf
May 21, 2014 by Rabbi Laibl Wolf
On August 23rd 1973, a group of bank customers were taken hostage in a bank hold-up. They were held hostage for six days. During that period they began to identify with their captors and even defended them after they were freed. Criminologist and psychiatrist Nils Bejerotas coined this phenomenon as “the Stockholm Syndrome”. Read more
NSWJBD Plenum Farewells Rabbi Lawrence
May 21, 2014 by J-Wire Newsdesk
Sydney’s The Great Synagogue’s Rabbi Jeremy Lawrence has addressed NSW Jewish Board of Deputies plenum ahead of his move to England where he has been appointed spiritual leader of London’s Finchley United Synagogue.
Been and scene at the Sydney Jewish Museum
The Sydney Jewish Museum has held functions related to the current Anne Frank exhibition…J-Wire presents images from the events. Read more
The Great Parade
May 20, 2014 by J-Wire Staff
Sydney celebrated Lag Baomer with a great parade starting at Bondi Beach wending its way to Barracluff Park. Read more
Zionism alive and well in New Zealand
May 20, 2014 by J-Wire Staff
Monte volunteers
May 20, 2014 by Natalie Shymko
Sydney’s Montefiore Home was delighted to celebrate National Volunteer Week 2014 with events at the Hunters Hill and Randwick campuses. Read more
Aussies told not to take part in peace run
Six Israelis, three originally from Australia, were asked to refrain from participating in Australian ultra marathon runner Pat Farmer’s Peace Run, as it passed the Jewish communities of Eli and Shiloh in Samaria. The group had coordinated with Farmer’s team ahead of time to ensure that Jews and Palestinians could run together in a true show of coexistence. Read more
Palestine – Fraser Must Tell The Naked And Unadorned Truth…writes David Singer
May 20, 2014 by David Singer
Former Australian Prime Minister Malcolm Fraser convincingly exposed the falsity of his own and former Foreign Minister Bob Carr’s unsubstantiated claim that the pro-Israel Australian Jewish community wielded too much power – with these few well – chosen words to the ABC’s Jon Faine: Read more
Cruising for love
Men in lion and dog suits, women wearing fluoro wigs and a magician with a top hat and baton; it doesn’t sound like a religious festival, but it is. Read more
Tough Conversations…writes Rabbi Michoel Gourarie
May 16, 2014 by Rabbi Michoel Gourarie
Communication is central to human existence. With communication we can create and strengthen relationships, share feelings, communicate ideas, instruct, guide, and educate. Read more
A quieter Al-Nakba…but the message stays the same
May 16, 2014 by Julie Nathan
Around 200 people attended this year’s Al-Nakba protest in Sydney last night. Numbers were down on previous years and the crowd seemed tamer. The Hezbollah flags and neo-Nazis, conspicuously present in the previous two years, were gone. Read more
Zionism is a dirty word in New Zealand
May 16, 2014 by Michael Kuttner
In what must be a world first for a Jewish Community in the democratic world, it seems that the Zionist Federation of New Zealand which had existed in one form or another since before the creation of the State of Israel has gone into voluntary liquidation. Read more
Conflicting Indykations…writes Michael Kuttner
May 16, 2014 by Michael Kuttner
Nothing is predictable in politics and international events, especially in this part of the world. However even a novice could have foretold that those who tried to destroy Israel in 1948 and have been trying ever since then to finish the job, would make sure to scuttle the latest misnamed peace talks and prepare the ground for laying the blame on Israel’s doorstep. Read more
A trip for active single retirees and seniors
May 16, 2014 by J-Wire Staff
Raymond Shaw is ‘titular’ head of a loose group of friends called the Over 55’s Jewish Singles formed many years ago (about 1999) as JSSN (Jewish Sociable Singles Network) for the over 40’s…and an overseas trip is on the drawing board. Read more
Hayman: to be sentenced this month
May 15, 2014 by J-Wire Staff
Sydney Yeshiva camp volunteer Daniel “Gug” Hayman has pleaded guilty to indecent assault by a person of authority on two male complainants and a charge of indecency against a female complaint has been dropped. Read more
A prophetable night – SSO Opera House concert 14 May 2014
May 15, 2014 by Fraser Beath McEwing
But hardly profitable, when you consider the colossal forces that had to be assembled to perform Mendelssohn’s oratorio, Elijah, writes Fraser Beath McEwing. Read more
Amos Oz – You Owe Us An Apology…writes Rabbi Laibl Wolf
May 15, 2014 by Rabbi Laibl Wolf
When is a Jew like a Nazi? When Amos Oz says so. History is replete with famous people making buffoons of themselves. But buffoonery would be an inappropriate description of this Israeli novelist’s tragic faux pas. Insensitivity to the point of callousness would be a better characterization. Read more
Standing Up for the People of NSW…writes Premier Mike Baird
May 15, 2014 by Mike Baird
As the former State Treasurer I know what it is like to inherit a fiscal mess from Labor. Read more
Anti-Semitism around the world
May 15, 2014 by Henry Benjamin
The U.S. based Anti-Defamation League has surveyed antisemitism in 100 countries around the world…and Australia and New Zealand as a region have been found to have the lowest rate globally. Read more
Hollywood urged to speak out against BDS
May 15, 2014 by Agencies
Ronald S. Lauder, the president of the World Jewish Congress (WJC), has condemned a call by a group of American actors led by Danny Glover for an all-out cultural boycott of Israel. Read more
ECAJ says 18C fight is “a marathon”
May 14, 2014 by J-Wire Staff
Over 100 people, including community leaders and academics, have attended a meeting in Sydney convened by the Chinese Australian Forum to discuss the Federal government’s proposals to alter parts of the Racial Discrimination Act which prohibit racial vilification. Read more
