New South Wales Jewish Board of Deputies

The New South Wales Jewish Board of Deputies is the umbrella organisation for almost every Jewish group within the State.

Contact details

CEO: Vic Alhadeff

Tel: 9360 1600

NSWJBD NEWS

Margo appointed director of Sydney Alliance

Robin Margo, president of the NSW Jewish Board of Deputies, has been appointed to the board of the Sydney Alliance.

The organisation is spread across the city’s religious and union groups seeking a common effort for better communication and understanding.

Margo’s has been elected to the role of Religious Director.

Mar-16 Sydney: Focus on University anti-Semitism

The New South Wales Jewish Board of Deputies will discuss campus anti-Semitism at its plenum this evening.

There will be a panel discussion on antisemitism on campus (ie university campuses) – at our plenum  at 7.30pm. The 4 speakers will be

Dr Julie Kalman is a lecturer in Judaism, Zionism, Israel and the Holocaust at the School of History and Philosophy at the University of UNSW. She will give an academic’s perspective on the sources of (and trends in) campus antisemitism.

Glen Falkenstein (National Vice Chairperson of AUJS) and Daniel Rod (NSW Chairperson of AUJS) will both speak about antisemitism on campus from a student’s perspective. They will share their campus experiences and outline the programs AUJS is developing in order to combat racism and anti-semitism at our local universities.

Sasha Uher, is the Tertiary Institutions Liaison Officer for the NSW Young Liberals and Vice President of the Australian Liberal Students Federation. Sasha will discuss the problems of racism at university more generally and she will provide insights on campus antisemitism from a non-Jewish perspective.

Call 9360 1600 for details

50 years’ service to the NSW community

The NSW Jewish Board of Deputies has honoured Joyce Falk, who has completed more than fifty years of service as a Deputy.

Board President Robin Margo recalled the outstanding contribution that 88-yr-old Joyce, her husband Gerald, and their children, Jacki and Anthony, have made to the community.

“Gerald Falk was President when the Six-Day War erupted in June 1967 and the very existence of the State of Israel was in the balance,” he said. “He sprang into action, with Joyce by his side, co-ordinated the largest solidarity rally Sydney had seen, helped organise an action committee of the presidents of more than 50 organisations and chaired an emergency fundraising appeal for Israel.

“Donations came in from Jews and non-Jews, and more than 400 volunteers were sent to Israel, 133 of them non-Jewish. Within 14 days, 73 medical volunteers were also on their way to Israel.”

“In that same year, 1967, inspired by the communal unity forged during the Six-Day War, Gerald set up with others the Jewish Communal Appeal. He was still President of the Board but, for the crucial first two years of the JCA, he served also as foundation Chairman of the JCA Presidents Council, known today as the Board of Governors.

“The JCA concept results in more efficient collection of funds from the community than multiple separate appeals, and in fairer distribution of community donations so that smaller organisations are also taken care of. It is an aspirational model for Jewish communities and non-Jewish communities throughout Australia.  The JCA was set up `by the people, for the people’, and the Board of Deputies was midwife at its birth.”

Margo also referred to the Falk family’s tireless work for Soviet Jews.

“Gerald continued to work for the community for another 24 years after he stepped down from the presidency. When Jacki served as chair of the Youth Committee, father and daughter were members of the same Executive – something that, as far as I am aware, has not happened since. Joyce and Anthony were also Deputies.

The service provided by Joyce, as constant supporter of Gerald, and by their family, has become part of the fabric of our community and always will be.”

At the plenum to watch Joyce receive her award were Joyce Falk; Jacki, her husband Joseph Gluck and their children and Joyce’s grandchildren, Aryeh, Devora, Dovid and Akiva; Antony’s son, Ben Falk, his mother Roslyn, and Roslyn’s husband, Dovid Fraser.

Sorry again

The Jewish community was strongly represented at a moving interfaith ceremony on Sunday to mark the second anniversary of the national Apology to the Aboriginal People.

Jewish, Muslim, Christian and Hindu leaders joined Indigenous people at the Kamay Botany Bay National Park to acknowledge their original ownership of this country, the continuing pain suffered by survivors of the Stolen Generations and their unique culture and tradition.

Addressing the gathering on behalf of the NSW Jewish community, NSW Jewish Board of Deputies President Robin Margo referred to some deep affinites that exist between Aboriginal and Jewish people. “Jewish people know too well the silence that follows atrocity.  We recognise in the depth of our being the genocidal atrocities that were inflicted in the past on Aboriginal people and know how the crippling effects, the fear and the pain pass down, from generation to generation.” And he referred to the famous protest in December 1938 by William Cooper and other Aboriginal leaders against the Nazis’ persecution of the Jews. “This was a maginificent gesture of humanity by people who were then not even recognised as citizens in their own country. We will never forget it.”

“While we have much still to learn, we also have an intuitive understanding of the importance to Aboriginal people of their ancient connection with the land.   Because we are a people united, not only by our religion, but also by our historical and spiritual attachment to a land, which was taken from us by force … Aboriginal and Jewish people also know what it is to endure, yet not to harden our hearts, or to lose our capacity love.”

Emanuel Synagogue Rabbi Paul Jacobson offered a prayer, as did representatives of the Muslim, Hindu, Christian and Aboriginal communities.

Also in attendance from the Jewish community were Board of Deputies CEO Vic Alhadeff, Social Justice Committee Chair, Professor Bettina Cass, and Ilona Lee, a member of the Committee and President of Shalom College.

The event was organised by the Sutherland Shire Citizens for Native Title and Reconciliation and by Shaping Our Future Together.

A fleeting meeting with Prince William

Jeremy Spinak was the only member of the Jewish community to meet Prince William on his recent visit to Sydney.

The 27-yr-old Honorary Secretary of the New South Wales Jewish Board of Deputies was chatting to a friend from Youth on the Streets at a barbecue lunch at Lady Macquarie’s Chair when the 27-yr-old Prince strolled over for a chat.

Spinak piped in with “Hello, Your Highness” and got a royal reply from the second in line to the  throne which ignored his name tag asking “and what organisation are you from?”.

Spinak told J-Wire: “I then explained to Prince William what the Board’s main activities are specifically in combating racism and anti-Semitism. He asked me how many members we had but I didn’t get a chance to reply as Premier Kenneally whisked him away.”

J-Wire asked the consultant to the property development industry what his lasting impressions from the fleeting meeting are. Spinak, who lives in Potts Point, replied: “He was polite, engaging and seemed genuinely interested in what the Board does.”

It may have been fleeting, but it will be a meeting the Potts Point man will remember all his life.

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