Former JCCV President now heads St Kilda Shule
One of Melbourne’s long standing Jewish communal leaders has been elected as President of St Kilda Hebrew Congregation.
Anton Block
Lawyer Anton Block, who served as the youngest ever President of the Jewish Community Council of Victoria and is the current chair of the Bnei Brith Anti Defamation Commission, was elected to the helm of one of Australia’s largest congregations as its 79th President, succeeding outgoing President Peter Cohen OAM.
“There’s no doubt that Anton brings a wealth of communal leadership experience to the new role” said St Kilda Shule CEO Rabbi Ronnie Figdor.
“He is highly talented, very well connected and very well known in both the Jewish and wider Victorian community”.
Outgoing President Peter Cohen said he had “full confidence” in Mr Block’s capacity to steer the congregation into its next phase of growth.
“Since appointing our new rabbi the Shule has grown in leaps and bounds, and the feedback has been overwhelming” he said.
“Rabbi Figdor’s appointment as CEO has served well to augment our success to date and I believe that our newly elected President is eminently capable of building on our continued growth given his dynamism, experience and professionalism”.
Block, who was elected unanimously at the Shule’s recent Annual General Meeting, said his priority was to further engage the younger membership of the Shule.
“St Kilda Shule is blessed with a significantly large membership base many of whom are young families, and I aim to work with Rabbi and Rebbetzin Glasman in continuing to providing broad ranging events and activities to cater to the needs of this demographic – as the Shule has been doing successfully over the past 24 months”, he said.
Melbourne’s iconic Shule, in addition to its regular programs for toddlers, youth and young adults, popular fortnightly shiurim and a host of other activities, is currently preparing for a live concert at Robert Blackwood Hall, where the it will be hosting the Maccabeats, one of America’s most popular Jewish music groups, for its first ever Australia tour.
