Maccabi NSW Life Member
Former Maccabi NSW president Ruth Nissim has been unanimously voted a life member of the sports club at its Annual General Meeting…which voted approval for non-Jewish members under certain circumstances.
Maccabi NSW president Max Futteran presents Ruth Nissim with her life membership
52-yr-old Personal Assistant Nissim told J-Wire she has been involved with Maccabi for over 40 years. “I lived next door to the Maccabi tennis courts so I started by playing tennis. I was mentored by people like Louis Platus, Caroline Stern, John Rosen and the late Michael Wrublewski. My administrative involvement began with the running of Maccabi camps.”
From there, Nissim moved on to become the president of the netball club, a position she held for ten years becoming a life member of the popular women’s sport club. A keen netballer and tennis player, Nissim became involved with the running of both Junior and Senior carnivals.
Nissim has been to four Maccabiahs, two as a tennis player, one for netball and was a junior tennis team manager.
Last year she handed over the presidency of NSW Maccabi to Max Futteran following a four year stint at the top job.
So what lies ahead for the Maccabi stalwart. She said: “I am still involved with the netball club. My passion is the organisational side of things.”
Nissim is not married. She added: “All the Maccabi kids are like my children. If they ever need any help, I am here for them.”
Current president Max Futteran made the presentation with Nissim expressing her surprise at receiving an award “for doing something I love”.
There was only one dissenting vote to the first change of Maccabi Australia Inc’s constitution in five years.
The meeting voted to accept the following three changes:
Membership Qualification – MAI will now accept people as members where at least one of their parents is Jewish.
Compliance to the Equal Opportunity Act – amendments made to ensure that eligibility meets the compliance test.
Participants – each Maccabi club will be provided the option of including a ‘participant clause’ into its constitution subject to approval by its current members. This clause will allow people who are not Jewish to become a participant of that club.
The revised constitution states “A member Club can only seek authorisation for inclusion of non Jewish participants in the following circumstances:
Where a relevant Maccabi State Body has changed its constitution to include the for Member Clubs to have Participants
Where a relevant majority of members, normally 75%, from that Member Club have voted in favour of the proposed inclusion and adopted a new constitution with the Participant clause
People are nominated for Participation are considered under the specific eligibility criteria and are subject to the approval process
Truly deserved Ruth – Mazeltov!