Women of Worth
Brainchild of Vice-President, Caroline Lewis, the forthcoming WOW (Women of Worth) Weekend to be held at Sydney’s The Great Synagogue next month promises to be a must-do event for Jewish women from all walks of life.
A key event in the Synagogue’s 140th Anniversary celebrations, the inaugural WOW Weekend will feature inspiring speakers as well as a range of fun events and activities.
Built around the themes of “Friendship, Family, Fearlessness, Fun, Faith, Food, Fashion and the Future”, the weekend is designed to empower and invigorate women of all ages. Communal organisations such as Maccabi NSW, WIZO, NSW Jewish Board of Deputies, the Women’s Tefilah Group, WomanPower, National Council of Jewish Women, Shalom, Mandelbaum and Dayenu are also on board to help promote the weekend and involve their members in the programme.
Highlightsinclude‘Friendship Speed-Dating’to start the weekend making new friends and professional contacts; an interactive workshop with ‘womanist’ and media authority Henry Roth bringing his professional experience confronting women’s biggest critics – themselves!; and Part 2 of the controversial ‘Modesty Stripped Bare: The Conversation’, developed from a similar panel at Yom Limmud 2018, and powered by Shalom.
More than twenty outstanding speakers have been secured for the weekend including Dr Lisa Jackson Pulver AM on her personal journey to ‘belonging’ as a Jewish and Wiradjuri woman; Judy Friedlander, journalist and founder of FoodFaith on how bringing together different faiths and cultures through the growing and sharing of food has engaged communities and the media, and why that matters; popular author Kerri Sackville speaking on midlife divorce and dating; and candid Psychologist Caron Kaplan on the Jewish approach to sexuality, self-esteem and challenges for young people today. Shirli Kirschner will interview intrepid young change-maker Genna Radnan from Gennarocity Abroad about promoting community development abroad and Lynda Ben-Menashe speaks candidly with Holocaust and fearless survivor Olga Horak.
On Saturday 28 July, the Women’s Tefilah Group will hold a programme of inspiring Shabbat activities culminating in a Havdalah experience for all to celebrate the end of Shabbat, whilst Rabbi Orna Triguboff will host a Kabbalah meditation workshop.
On Saturday evening participants can travel by coach provided to Bankstown to join over 400 women from a wide variety of ethnic and religious backgrounds to chat, eat, sing and dance at the annual ‘Women of Diversity’Dinner, founded by the NSW Jewish Board of Deputies.
Ms Lewis said: “The WOW Weekend concept is a dream come true and has been developed as a wonderful way in which we can acknowledge and bring together the amazing women in our community in a heartfelt way. It’s about exchanging ideas, sharing stories and being challenged, making new friends and finding our voice. Women have achieved so much but it’s the journey, the struggle and the experiences to get there that under-pins their survival and success. We are launching the weekend by supporting two Batmitzvah girls on the empowering start of their journey to womanhood and concluding with a look to the future of women’s roles in the community with Associate Professor Leanne Piggott,discussing the results and impact of the recent GEN17 survey of Australia’s Jewish population.”
The event will take place at The Great Synagogue on Saturday 28 and Sunday 29 July.
Tickets, including an Early Bird offer available until 30 June, are available from the Synagogue’s WOW Website at: https://www.greatsynagogue.org.au/wow2018. The full programme is available at: https://www.greatsynagogue.org.au/wow2018program
