New presidents tend to bring fresh expectations

Articles about Jewish education, particularly those concerning making Jewish education more affordable, always resonate with the majority of our readers. Hence we are publishing this press release we received today from The United Jewish Education Board:

As of 2012, the UJEB board has endorsed the appointment of Yossi Goldfarb as President of the organisation.
Yossi has been involved in the Melbourne Jewish Community for over twenty years in both professional and volunteer capacities. Yossi is married to Sarah Hyman and has three boys. His school-aged children attend Caulfield Junior College and the UJEB Hebrew Centre Program.

Supported by the UJEB Board, Yossi is looking forward to seeing continued growth and increased success that UJEB has enjoyed for many years. With Yossi’s leadership, UJEB will continue to be developed as the Jewish community organisation that represents, delivers services and advocates for the community of people associated with government and non-Jewish independent schools.

In recent years, the composition of the UJEB board has changed to include members whose children are also part of UJEB’s programs. This perspective will naturally lead to the development of new and exciting initiatives. Through dynamic and creative programming, we will continue to service the growing number of more than 1,200 students who are part of the UJEB community.

Daniel Jenshel, who is now the Immediate Past President, had been the President of UJEB since August 2009. The UJEB Board along with the Management and all those involved in UJEB would like to acknowledge and sincerely thank Daniel Jenshel for the commitment and dedication he has displayed as UJEB President. During his Presidency, UJEB has enjoyed increased community support, increased attendance and enrolments across all programs and most importantly, continued and ongoing improvement in the range and quality of education provided.

Comments from Yossi Goldfarb:
“As a UJEB parent myself with a history of involvement in our community, I am honoured to have the opportunity to lead the organisation. UJEB’s role in the community is more critical today than it ever has been at any point in our 120 year history. With 1,200 Jewish children attending our RE classes, Hebrew Centres, The Pratt Foundation Jewish Students Network and our camps it is critical that we not only give our children a quality Jewish educational experience, but that we also include the entire family in that endeavor.

In 2012 and in the coming years we are anticipating significant growth not only in the number of children and their families enrolled in our programs, but also in the range and reach of our activities. Our outgoing president, Daniel Jenshel, performed a wonderful job during his time at the organisation’s helm, and UJEB is really fortunate to benefit from the excellent springboard he provided.

During my term, I look forward to welcoming more people to UJEB and growing our family from all corners of our diverse community. I not only see UJEB as an organisation that delivers quality education to our 1,200 children, but also as an inclusive and representative voice for the hundreds, if not thousands of families with children enrolled in government and independent schools.”

For further comment, Yossi can be contacted via email at president AT ujeb.org.au

Following this episode, we were contacted by some of the organisation’s senior members who were concerned that such coverage could jeopardise the community’s security, and indeed we willingly removed a comment that inadvertently disclosed some confidential operational matters. Furthermore, after meeting with these representatives, we explained that we had no anti-CSG agenda, and where there had been negative articles or commentary, we were merely publishing content that had been submitted to us.

We encouraged them to submit a positive article about the CSG. However, they were of the opinion that when it comes to security matters, any uncontrolled publicity is bad publicity, and that’s fair enough. We agreed that failing any extraordinary incidents, there was little to be gained from running further CSG focussed articles.

However, with the huge double page spread in The Age today, this is clearly a topic that will again have the community talking. The main question raised being, What is the ideal balance between perceived security needs and the cost of Jewish education and community infrastructure?

It’s certainly time to have a community debate, and the comments section of Galus seems like a good place to start.

Please refrain from disclosing any security-relevant operational matters.

And purely by chance – or is it destiny? – because of a cousin’s marriage to a relative (by marriage) of a member of the Windsor clan, I can lay claim that but for certain legal impediments such as the Act of Settlement (1701), if all members of the royal family and their descendants and relatives by marriage to the nth degree were wiped out, I too could be King. I know it works because when I last visited Spencer House in London, I said, “I am related to the Queen by marriage you know,” in a not so particularly quiet way to my friend. The serious reaction of the ladies at the postcard till was immediate.

Now stop laughing. This is serious. I am concerned about ‘the aristocratic embrace’, that odious habit of loving a couple of letters after your name to set you apart from the hoi polloi and impress the impressionable.

Rather than honouring those rare and society-changing individuals who deserve special public recognition that might only occur once in a generation (John Monash, Weary Dunlop, Oodgeroo Noonuccal, Eddie Mabo), the honours lists continue to be a vehicle for snobbery, status games, political payback, and a means of working over other people about how important you are with that little badge on your bespoke golf jacket.

I say this in part because I know how easy it is to play the nomination honours game if you are rich, well-connected, or know how to write a nomination letter. As part of a political payback game, I’ve been involved in a successful nomination. Others have observed how the honours list overwhelmingly reflects a particularly heterogeneous group: either the old WASP elite or others who have become part of the dominant elite, though of course there are exceptions. The Jewish elite have played this status game to the core.

Out of the eight people named as key commitee  or staff members of AIJAC on their website, five have some form of Australian honour. Likewise, of the 28 or so members of the ECAJ Executive, including life members, 18, that is nearly 65% have an Australian honour. The Zionist Federation of Australia lists no honours but that is fitting, because they are on about Israel, not about Australia, I suppose.

By way of comparison, according to the ACTU website, none of the members of their executive have a gong (or they keep it quiet), despite the important role they play in Australian life.  Of the 12  members of the Federation of the Ethnic Communities Council of Australia only 2 are named as having an honour.  If we look at another specific community, of the 20 or so members of the Greek Orthodox Community of Victoria board, none is named as having a gong. And even that bastion of the elite, Geelong Grammar, does not mention that any of the members of its school council have an honour.

Now what is going on here?

Even accounting for false modesty on elite organisations like Grammar who don’t add the sacred letters after people’s names, there appears to be massive gradeflation and a bit of a nomination industry at the top end of the Jewish community. I am sure it is happening elsewhere but it is harder to reveal through the internet. Perhaps spotting lapel pins at in the Long Room at the MCG would be a good comparative test.

I think it is time to rethink the abuse of the honours system.  Other than having me as King (yechi ha-melech! we would cry), we need something much more restricted, which is not open to game-playing.

Although they left flailing academic careers to start a small business, it doesn't get more alternative or more in the spirit of tikkun olam than ghost busting

By Keren Tuch

A new year, a new set of first round university offers, and hard decisions to make.  Which university course to do – law, commerce or medicine? Embarking on an alternative career is almost seen as sacrilegious.  Yet people do, and for good reason.

The not-for-profit sector accounts for 9.6% of Australia’s economy, and although Jews do not account for an overwhelming majority of this sector, it is not surprising to find a sprinkling of Jews that work across the field.

Ilana Jaffe, 30, is one such person who decided to choose a career which she was passionate about – tackling homelessness in Melbourne.  Ms. Jaffe is the Health and Human Services Unit Manager at Youth Projects, The Living Room Primary Health Service . Her role is to oversee the drop-in and primary health unit for homeless people with complex healthcare needs.

Ms Jaffe explains that she was motivated to work in this field due to a growing sense of social injustice at how society was structured and fragmented. Growing up in the Jewish Community she could see how fortunate she was to be part of such a vibrant community. When it was time to choose a career path, the  array of choices was overwhelming, but she realised that advocating for social change was important and thus  chose to work in the community sector.

Ms Jaffe loves that her job is closely aligned with her value system and she can practice with integrity.  It may mean she receives less pay than peers of the same age and responsibilities, but she is happy to work in an area she is passionate about, as  personal job satisfaction outweighs the bank account.

Simon Lipschitz, 27, is a rare breed being a Jewish male community worker.  Mr. Lipschitz works in the community sector for a youth and family service team in the Western suburbs of Melbourne.  His motivation? “Knowing that I am making society a better place.”   After studying an undergraduate degree in psychology, he realised his passion was youth and helping those less fortunate.

Mr. Lipschitz grew up in the small Jewish Community of Adelaide where he became a member of the youth group Habonim Dror.  A lot of habonim activities were focused on social justice themes, which partly influenced Lipschitz’s values.  He was also taught the necessary leadership skills at Habonim to work with youth in his work environment.  His friends are all in the corporate sector, but that doesn’t bother him.  His friends can’t relate to the work that he does, but they react favorably to his career choice.

Jordi Kraus, 23, is also working in the community sector for the homeless.  Kraus is excited to work in this industry as there are current governmental reforms to help create a paradigm shift from ’servicing’ homelessness to actually breaking the cycle of homelessness. It was a natural progression after a meaningful volunteer experience with Sudanese refugees at Jewish Aid Australia, and an internship at Global Poverty Project.  Although she is at the beginning of her career, she plans to continue to work in this sector and hopes to move into international development down the track.

However, Ms. Kraus also acknowledges a societal change in how people can contribute. “We are undergoing a huge shift in terms of cross-sector collaboration to achieve social innovation and social justice. Social justice is no longer the domain of an isolated ‘charity’ sector.”

Jewish welfare workers are there for the job satisfaction of tangibly making the world a better place.  They face difficulties ranging from lack of resources to a mountain of bureaucracy, but find their careers worthwhile and rewarding.

These people are not your mainstream Jewish accountants, doctors or lawyers, but they are also highly skilled and passionate about what they do.  And arguably living a real Jewish life through their job.

If anyone is interested in volunteering at the Living Room Primary Health Service www.youthprojects.org.au, please contact Ms. Jaffe via email:

Ilanaj AT youthprojects.org.au

Last month, while on our summer recess, Galus Australis was honoured to receive a letter from Rabbi Shimon Cowen, son of the late Sir Zelman Cowen.  Rabbi Cowen requested his letter to be published, as well as the text of his eulogy for his esteemed Father. We were of course again honoured to oblige.

I read with some concern, and have since heard from a number of people in the community surprise at, the statement in the article by Dr Chelom, published on your site, regarding my father that “As the greatest failure of his life, he listed his children’s decision to live their lives as Orthodox Jews”. There is no foundation for this statement at all. I never saw or heard such a statement from my father. One of the respondents to the article (Ariel) correctly notes that this is a misconstruction of the SBS interview with my father of blessed memory. Whilst I need to view that video again to remember what my father actually said, I can assure you that he never said what was claimed by Dr Chelom. I would like to refer you to the text of my eulogy for my father, and in fact I would be grateful if you could publish both this email and the text of my eulogy.

A shloshim service is to be held at the St Kilda Shule in Charnwood Crescent on 11 January to which the entire community is cordially invited.

Yours Sincerely,

Rabbi Shimon Cowen

A Tribute to My Father – Words on behalf of the siblings, by Shimon Cowen

Much has been said and is known about how my father treated, and how he was loved by, people. Instead I want to speak about the spiritual dimension and significance of the service of humanity, which was his life. On the face of it, G-d must come into the story of his life, since, our Sages tell us that “with whom people are happy, G-d is happy”. G-d was happy with Dad. That’s from G-d’s perspective. But what about from Dad’s perspective? Can Dad’s life’s work be understood in spiritual terms and did he understand it in spiritual terms?

I remember, as a young teenager, asking him about his spiritual stance. He answered me, “There is one question which I ask myself, and which I cannot answer, and which I only very rarely ask myself, and that is, ‘Who am I?’” In 1995 in a newspaper interview, he was a little more explicit. He said, “I am proud of my religious heritage…I find it difficult to believe that there is not some original Creator. What flows from that I don’t know. I try to live decently, not because of sanctions of Heaven or Hell but because that’s the right way”. The diffidence in these words was that of a person, who did not have a strong traditional religious background. Still this person wore the Jewish name “Zelman” with pride through public life. He identified with the plight of the physical and spiritual entity of the Jewish people unequivocally and in perfect tandem with his service of Australia and all humanity.

More than three and a half thousand years ago, our forebear and the forebear of religious humanity, Abraham, experienced the seminal consciousness of the one G-d. In the blaze of this awareness he said before his Creator “I am but dust and ashes”. Three and a half-thousand years later, with the intensified haze of 500 years of secularization, I heard Dad’s

“Who am I?” Dad’s was a relatively dull imprint of Abraham’s experienced creatureliness, but they, Abraham and Dad, were on the same page. There is a G-d. Maimonides wrote that Abraham exemplified the highest form of the service of G-d, not for fear of punishment for desire reward, but to do “truth because it is truth”. Dad’s “I try to live decently, not because of sanctions of Heaven or Hell but because that’s the right way” is a ray of that very same Abrahamic fire dimmed through thousands of years of exile.

Abraham forged a nation, the Jewish people, and was the father of a host of nations and cultures – religious humanity – through his hallmark love of humanity combined with his desire to actualize and unify individuals in the image of their Creator through culture of their Creator’s laws. As Governor General, Dad too rebuilt or healed a divided nation, and indeed throughout his life constantly sought to work consensus, by modelling mutual respect and decent values. But did Dad think, throughout his life, that he was doing these things under a spiritual aegis? Or was it essentially a secularized, liberal humanism?

Dad was not philosophical. He was a doer. As a teenager, I also once probed him, “Dad, what is your philosophy of life?” He answered me, “The next thing and then the next thing”. He was a speaker too, not just at the podium, but also at the table. His voice was the first and foremost; it lead and people listened. His illness of the last twenty-two years – Parkinsons – does not attack the cognitive faculties; it causes muscular atrophy. It could not dim his immensely, constantly exercised mind. But it progressively immobilized his body; and then it virtually took away his ability to speak. Dad’s response to this was not anger nor even irritation. He was cast into, and accepted, an entire new modality of listening. And from listening, he came to something deeper –receptivity – and I believe this was the vehicle of a significant conscious spiritual growth.

Divine values were transmitted and communicated to Abraham, to be reiterated at Sinai, governing the right conduct, between human and human and between the human and his or her Creator. With respect to these values, G-d blessed Abraham, because, He said in the Bible, “I know that he will instruct his sons and his household after him to keep the way of G-d – to do charity and justice”. My father (and mother) projected a further three generations in this very same tradition from Abraham and Sinai, and were blessed. All his children married according to Jewish tradition; all his grandchildren have studied or currently study in Jewish schools and it is the intention of their parents that the great grandchildren do so too. We saw our father’s palpable pleasure in this perpetuated tradition of values. He affirmed it with the relatively few words he had left. In short, he acknowledged the spiritual lineage and content of his own work.

In recent months, my father told me privately that he felt my own efforts to communicate universal values from Sinai were very important. He affirmed the need for a moral anchor in politics, and indicated his feeling that in recent legislation and legislative debate, society was losing its moral moorings. Today the millennial transmission of the Divine template of human identity and conduct is being challenged. My father, alive to the Abrahamic spiritual heritage, knew and communicated to me his disturbance at these challenges. So we shall continue to work to preserve and strengthen the tradition of values he ever more consciously served. His accomplishments back our efforts. He is our masthead and his merit will live on and on to help carry us to success in achieving a human and a G-dly world.

Rabbi Dr Shimon Cowen, son of Sir Zelman. Sir Zelman apparently described his life's greatest failure as his children's decision to live their lives as Orthodox Jews. Image: westerncivilisation2011.org.au

By Vadim Chelom
Last week saw the passing of Sir Zelman Cowen, a man whose lifetime has encompassed more achievements than it seems a single lifetime could contain. A gifted lawyer, educator, statesman, a man who is credited with single-handedly restoring the nation’s trust in the office of the Governor General after the traumatic events of the Whitlam dismissal. His achievements are many and varied but it is another side of Sir Zelman’s personality that I believe deserves deeper analysis. I glimpsed this hidden side in an interview he once gave to an ABC program ‘Australian Story’ in which Sir Zelman was asked to describe his life’s greatest failure. The answer astounds me to this day. As the greatest failure of his life, he listed his children’s decision to live their lives as Orthodox Jews. It was an extraordinary, if fleeting revelation of the inner workings of this great man’s mind. Indeed, it takes a lifetime of inner frustration (guilt perhaps?) to let slip the exclamation normally reserved for the parents of drug addicts and criminals. An outside observer might comment that Sir Zelman’s children did much to make their father proud. His son Rabbi Dr Shimon Cowen is a popular author, educator and an acclaimed academic in his own right.

Perhaps this seemingly irrational stance offers an insight not just into the inner workings of Sir Zelman’s mind but the essence of the generation to which he belongs. Lured by the promises of early collectivism, shattered in the horror of the holocaust, torn away from home countries and family life, it was a generation carrying the kind of spiritual burden we, their descendents, can hardly comprehend. Part of that burden was a belief born of shattered hope and immense betrayal, that the ‘old world’ – life as it used to be – could be no more. At the core of that world was the clinging to the ancient traditions of the Jewish faith, the immutable right-and-wrong of the Hebrew Bible. In the ‘new world’, these ancient beliefs had to be cast off or at least put aside, hidden to all. So a new mythology was born – the belief in the ‘cultural Judaism’ where Rashi gives way to rationalism and the Shulchan Aruch to Shakespeare. Indeed, so hypnotizing is this belief in the redundancy of Judaism to Jews, that despite overwhelming evidence, it still occupies the minds of many and not infrequently finds its way into the pages of this publication. How ironic that those who espouse the value of empirical evidence above all else seem incapable to recognize the evidence pointing to the falsehood of their beliefs.

A recent study centered on the graduates of Jewish day schools underscores the growing gap between the ‘cultural’ and ‘participatory’ Judaism. Let me first say that those participating in the study are hardly starved of Jewish cultural experiences. Quite the opposite, as the students in Melbourne’s premiere Jewish teaching institutions, they have spent twelve years of their young lives marinated in every form of organized Jewish cultural activity known to man. From tours to debates, from ‘Israel advocacy’ to ‘community leadership’, these young men and women have received a perfect (and very expensive) education in ‘Jewishness without Judaism’. So their overwhelming indifference bordering on overt hostility, to all things ‘Jewish’ and ‘Israel’ serves as the loudest, most persuasive call to reconsider this headlong march into the rootless wilderness we call ‘cultural traditions’. We are witnessing the birth of a lost generation – a generation of aliens, more interested in saving trees then saving Jewish lives in Israel, more preoccupied with the right to abort babies then with making Jewish babies of their own. What’s more, in the community where the population growth is increasingly provided by the Orthodox families, most of the ‘Jewish advocacy’ organizations (UJEB, JNF, WIZO, AJN and many other with ‘A’, ‘J’ and ‘Z’ in their names) are still headed by ‘professional Jews’, at best indifferent, at worst openly hostile to Judaism and religion – like forgotten sentinels of a long gone era.

This week, when the country is united in mourning the passing of Sir Zelman Cowen – a Jewish intellectual giant, maybe it is time we too stop for a moment to consider as a community where we have come from and where we are going.

Dr Vadim Chelom is a veterinarian, a writer and an educator. You can read his new book here.

D-Day for the Free Jewish Education Movement. You can help by filling out a simple survey!

By Jonathan Schauder
I’m writing to share the great news that Glen Eira Secondary Collage (located at 76 Booran Rd, East Caulfield) has been very receptive to the proposal we presented in August 2011!

To remind everyone, the vision submitted to the School was simple. We hoped to respond to the community need for Jewish education options via a simple three pronged proposition:

1.        Introduce Hebrew as a formal in-school hours language elective from years 7-12, along side the French, Chinese and other language electives on offer;

2.        Introduce Religion and Society (Judaism) as a VCE humanities subject; and

3.        Provide support to coordinate out of school hours services for secondary students on an individual-interests basis.

The process and feedback has been very positive and successful to date!

We thank the School community for their excellent approach.

Lesley Lamb, Principal of Glen Eira College recently released the following public statement:

Glen Eira College Principal, Lesley Lamb, has shown her commitment to working with the community to provide an excellent, inclusive education.  The school welcomes the interest of the Jewish community in introducing some targeted Jewish language and culture programs at the school.  To this end, the school is liaising with some current Glen Eira parents to gauge whether the level of interest warrants proceeding further down this track. While there are many pragmatic, educational and governance issues to work through, the College Council and staff are supportive in principle.  A  broad consultation process will be pursued to ensure any programs implemented are consistent with government guidelines and introduced in a staged and controlled way.

The Next Step: Decision is Coming – December 12^th as a Critical Deadline!

On December 12 2011, the Year 7 Orientation Evening for enrolled or interested families will conduct a final canvassing of the level of demand to commence Hebrew in 2012 for the Year 7 group. If the demand is there, the school is likely to be very supportive to proceed. Our coordinating group is optimistic!

If the demand is not there, we will focus on commencing the roll out in 2013 or look for other options on what to do.

If your friends, family, or friends of friends have not yet heard about the possibility – please let them know ASAP. Time is now critical – especially if the idea of formal Hebrew classes might change their thinking about where to enrol their Year 7 child in 2012.

We are so buoyed by the pace of the possible program that we are now on the look out for teachers that might be interested; and funders who would like to contribute to the program. I thank those who have already been in touch!

Support from everywhere

I’d like to take the opportunity to thank all those who have supported this initiative and continue to contribute positively including: UJEB, CJC Hebrew Immersion, Lamdeni, JCCV, Spiritgrow, the AJN, and of course this web-site!

In particular I’d like to thank the working group of leaders, parents and experts who stepped forward to bring this vision to life – especially Robert Hain and Danni Miller.

Fill in a survey!

Finally we are using a survey to establish interest in the longer term for this concept. If you’d like to complete and submit the survey we’d really appreciate it. So far around 50 families have expressed future interest. These families are not Year 7 parents in 2012… they range from having kids starting in 2013 through to a family with twins interested for 2021!

The data will help us not only to make better decisions but of course also help us keep everyone informed. A survey can be accessed by emailing emmajonny at optusnet.com.au

“Never doubt that a small group of committed people can change the world – in fact it is the only thing that ever has.” Unknown

Jonny Schauder is one of Melbourne’s leading consultants in the area of Change Management, High Performing Teams and Leadership. He is a Psychologist and has lectured on Negotiation and Influence in the Monash Business School MBA, and is managing director of The Change Agent Network.

Apparently, none of the Jewish Orthodox schools have rowing teams, unlike Scotch College Mebourne, pictured here. Photo: Kathryn Cairney

By Vadim Chelom
I have had enough! This injustice and abuse has to stop. I am going to do something about it – tonight I am putting on an extra layer of thermal underwear and unrolling my sleeping bag at the intersection of Hotham Street and Balaclava Road. You are welcome to join me at this ‘Occupy Caulfield’ protest and let’s speak together: ‘We the oppressed, we the ignored, we the unappreciated…’ I know what you are thinking – I don’t look like the typical ‘Occupy’ crowd, after all I am not a student hippie but a University educated, professionally employed father and husband with two cars and a mortgage. So let me explain you – we are a young Orthodox Jewish family and for decades now the society has been ignoring our needs.

First, there is the housing crisis. That’s right the desperate shortage of large, inexpensive four-bedroom houses in East St Kilda area. Yes, I know there is plenty of cheap accommodation on the outskirts of Melbourne but I am an Orthodox Jew and for me the very idea of living further then 10 minute walking distance of at least three kosher bakeries is utterly inconceivable. In fact, even suggesting such a thing is a gross violation of my human rights. You see, I need to be surrounded by no less then three Shuls and near a Supermarket with Kosher section at least two isles wide. The problem is – the only three blocks that fall within that radius have a median house price of one million dollars plus. I don’t know about you but my grandfather just can’t gift me that kind of money. This leaves me with a terrible dilemma: to brave it alone in the no-man’s-land of beyond Dandenong Road or to cram my growing family into a two-bedroom shoebox-apartment on the third floor.  I know many of you empathize with the plight of those poor cattle sent by boat to Indonesia. Let me tell you, those cows have it easy. Their holding pens are a five star hotel compared to some of the cramped, overcrowded little flats I have seen large Orthodox families squeezed into. You want to see real cruelty? Take a look at the queue to the toilet in one of those flats at seven o’clock in the morning!

Then there is children’s education. I work in a well paying job but whatever money is left over after paying rent is swallowed up by the school fees. When I tell my co-workers that my children go to a private school, they picture green rolling hills with tennis courts and a rowing team. Instead my children are lucky to stake a claim to a patch of hot concrete during their lunchtime, but I still pay as much as the whole of the Scotch College rowing team combined. Every time I am invited to explain why my bill is still outstanding and I apologize and beg and say that it has been a bad year and that is why I am working two jobs and my shoes have holes in them, I am looked at as if this school and the world in general would be better of without me and that the money doesn’t grow on trees, you know. And I explain that yes, I know, and that if it did, I would be able to afford all those luxuries like fixing the brakes on my car.

So to sum it up, I positively have had enough. We the 99% of educated Orthodox professionals, we the 99% of deadbeats without millionaire-grandparents, we the 99%… where was I? I forget. It’s been a long day. My daughter has lice and the dishwasher broke, so now there is a big pile of dirty dishes sitting in the sink for me to wash. I am feeling a bit tired. Maybe I will go protesting tomorrow instead.

Dr Vadim Chelom is a Veterinarian, a writer and an educator. You can read his new book here.

Image design: Kovi Rose

By Kovi Rose
When I decided to make aliyah, move from Australia to Israel, and join the army, I based my decision on several things. The immense feeling of belonging amongst the cultural history of my people weighed heavily on my mind, however the notion of having a better life socially and fiscally after maturing in the army made me feel as if my choice was the practical one; not the emotional path that many people assumed. Thus I mentally prepared myself for many of the pitfalls of Israel: the bureaucracy, the language, the economy, and even the theological and political arguments that every Israeli taxi driver demands. Seven months later I find myself looking back with a devilish hindsight that often lures me to ask myself whether I’ve perhaps dug myself a hole which is a metre wide but a kilometre deep.

After finishing my five-month ulpan course to learn Hebrew at Kibbutz Sde Eliyahu, I immediately joined the Garin Tzabar group at Kibbutz Lavi near Tiberias.

To briefly explain what it entails, Garin Tzabar – translated loosely as the public core – is a program that brings young olim (people who immigrate to Israel) from around the world together to live on a kibbutz for three months in preparation for the army. These lone soldiers are each adopted by a kibbutz family whom they will be able to come home to on weekends for the duration of their army service. This program is designed to help new olim through their army drafting process and to aid them in gaining access to tryouts for some of the more elite positions in the IDF.

Now, more than two months through the preparatory three before the army, I find myself with a list of cons but very few pros to counter them. Most of Garin Tzabar received a form to fill out their preferences for the army a month and a half ago; which, due to a clerical error in my tzav rishon (first draft day) Hebrew test, I never received. Shortly after that, most of Garin Tzabar received notification of which units were available to them, and subsequently several of people have already begun their service. This absurd error has had the effect of leaving me in a pre-army limbo, not knowing when or to where I will be recruited. Yet I am not the only one to be frustrated or disappointed. Many people who wanted infantry were forced into artillery; people who requested to be in the Air-force were told to go to the Navy, and some of those who had dreamt for years of serving in combat units in defence of Israel were told that they were unfit for such service and simply given desk-jobs.

If I were to complain about something that affected me more, it would be Garin Tzabar’s lack of follow-through on issues that they surmised to deal with. The program itself does wonderfully in providing us all a place to eat and sleep and be sociable, however it too often concerns itself with the semantics of having a perfect group who follows their rules. For example, having all signed a form with the programs rules before its commencement, we have recently been forced into signing a document with more rules which border on silly and unfair. This ranges from not being allowed to drink alcohol during the week, to being forbidden from wearing jeans on Shabbat.

In response to any small qualm they might have with one of us, the administrative staff frequently offers the thought that perhaps this isn’t the right place for us, something which I feel is hugely detrimental to the mindset of someone in such a position. In my opinion, they ought to support us with a focus on problem solving, before resorting to punishment and abandonment.

On a day-to-day basis I find myself anxious to start the army, move forward to a new challenge that will push me to my physical and psychological limits. In doing so, I could forget the stultifying bureaucracy of the army drafting process, and additionally the difficulties of Garin Tzabar. I simply pray that I find, contrary to the trend I have discovered in my lack of preparation for aliyah, that achievement and progress in the army are not beyond my reach.

Kovi Rose is a Mount Scopus graduate who made aliyah in March 2011. This is an entry for his aliyah journal that he is writing for Galus Australis.

Scene from an Occupy Wall Street march

By Anthony Frosh
At a kiddush on first day Sukkot, I found myself in conversation with a fellow shul-goer about the Occupy Wall Street movement. His daughter, who lives in New York, had attended Yom Kippur services at Occupy Wall Street. As a joke, I mentioned that we should start an Occupy Martin Place movement. He continued the joke, saying Sydney was too much of a schlep, and couldn’t we just occupy Collins St in Melbourne.

Needless to say, I had to laugh when a few days later I was listening to ABC radio news and discovered that an Occupy Sydney protest had now commenced in Martin Place.  The news broadcast mentioned that the protest was part of a now worldwide movement that started with Occupy Wall Street. I thought to myself, “Didn’t this movement actually start with the ‘occupation’ of Rothschild Boulevard in Tel Aviv?” I also thought to myself that suddenly the verb ‘to occupy’ has positive connotations again, but that is beside the point.

How typical of both our local and global broadcasters, many of whom frequently blame Israel where blame is often not due, and also do not give Israel credit where credit is due.

And while the media has failed to make the connection between the Occupy Wall Street movement and the Tent City of Rothschild Boulevard, so have the protestors in New York and elsewhere been reluctant to mention the obvious connection. Rather, many of the leftist protestors prefer to invoke comparisons with Tahrir Square and the Arab Spring.  But how valid are these comparisons?

On one hand, I would argue that the primary antecedents of the Arab Spring were economic. If you have a large mass of young people receiving graduate qualifications but only able to obtain menial employment, you’re going to have enormous levels of societal dissatisfaction. However, despite the economic roots, the lack of democracy in the Arab world meant that their protests manifested as a demands for regime change, rather than direct demands for economic reform.

On the other hand, the Israeli protests have primarily been about economic issues, starting with housing affordability and with a major focus on the widening gap between rich and poor. I do not disregard that there are also some more holistic aspects at play, as argued by Yoram Symons, but these are inextricably linked with perceived social inequality.

Not that long ago, I spoke at an event in Melbourne, and mentioned that our local Jewish community would be wrong to ignore the economic challenges our community faces. I stated that in recent years, housing close to the Jewish hub of Melbourne (and it’s equally applicable to Sydney) has become far less affordable for young people, and that there was nothing anybody could do about this economic reality. However, I argued that we could offset the costs of housing somewhat by reducing the costs of education. We could do this by creating an alternative to the private Jewish day school system.

I have since heard it said that such economic concerns are not relevant to the health of our community. However, it doesn’t take much imagination to realise that if the Jewish community were to be significantly more dispersed, then this would have a major impact on the quality of our community and present further infrastructure challenges. This is true for everyone active in the community, but particularly so for those who whose Shabbat and yomtov transportation is limited to a comfortable pair of walking shoes. The ability to afford housing in a particular area allows them not only to attend their preferred shul, but also to actually enjoy Shabbat and other holidays with their family and friends. This is, of course, but one obvious example.

Despite the slightly provocative title of this article, I’m not actually suggesting that anyone set up a tent city in Caulfield Park or Double Bay Park, although it would make the location for Limmud Oz Fest more convenient, if less exotic. Rather, the take home message here is that while most people, in assessing and planning for the future of the community, tend to focus on the nature and quality of religious, cultural, linguistic, political, or social justice activities, it important not to overlook basic economic factors. It is economic factors that have brought about the Arab Spring, the Tent City of Rothschild Blvd, the “occupation” of Wall St, and it will be economic factors that play an important part in shaping the future of our local Jewish communities and their creative potential.