The Great Synagogue

The oldest in Australia, the Great Synagogue houses an important museum. The synagogue is a heritage protected building set in the heart of the city.

 

THE GREAT NEWS AND EVENTS

New Exhibition at the Great

A specially commissioned art glass Seder plate and a ruby Bohemian glass Kiddush cup, a silver, brass and gilt pair of rimmonim  and a silver circumcision knife, the earliest Australian Jewish marriage records and the portraits of the first bride and groom from that list –  Sydney’s The Great Synagogue’s heritage collection is vibrant and diverse.

Special and in some cases unique items from that collection are now on show at the synagogue, courtesy of the AM Rosenblum Jewish Museum…Treasures of The Great Synagogue.

“The richness of The Great Synagogue’s collection is incredibly striking,” curator Brittany Freelander said.

“It takes in works in precious metals, textiles, works on paper and parchment, works in glass and paintings in oils.

“Some of the items were created for the collection, others reflect the high status of The Great Synagogue in its colonial years, still others are symbols of historic occasions in the lives of The Great’s congregation and leadership,” she said.

Spanning three centuries, the objects are all of significance and some are examples of particular beauty.

Many of them are also “Great Synagogue specific”, the Great’s president Michael Gold said.

“It is remarkably satisfying to be able to show our visitors items of great importance in the Jewish life of Sydney,” Mr Gold said.

These include the magnificent cedar Ark from the York Street Synagogue, predecessor of The Great, the Chumash used in the first formal Jewish service in Sydney, a Pesach Haggadah illustrated by artist Rabbi Leib Aisack Falk, published for World War II Australian Jewish sailors, soldiers and airmen and a plan of the Jewish Cemetery in Devonshire Street, Sydney with the location of graves for bushranger Edward Davis (“Teddy the Jew Boy”) and for Barnett Levey, founder of the first theatre in Sydney.

“Even the image of the Sturt Desert Pea we have used on our invitations and other published work is significant; a number of illuminated addresses and Rosh Hashanah cards from the end of the 19^th century show Australian wildflowers ahead of a more general trend,” Mr Gold said.

The AM Rosenblum Jewish Museum was opened in the early 1980s when then Great Synagogue leader and soon President Rodney Rosenblum and his wife Sylvia, a talented Museum Studies graduate, recognised the importance of items which till then had been stored in less than ideal conditions around The Great.

Through the work of the Rosenblums, curators Marcelle Jacobs, Monica Christopher, Lori Burck and Brittany Freelander and volunteers including Win Rubens and Avril Symon, a professional approach has seen the objects in the collection properly stored and recorded and grants for aspects of the museum’s work from the State and Federal Governments.

The museum is open during tours on Tuesdays and Thursdays, and on Shabbat morning.

 

For further information: Brittany Freelander Brittany@greatsynagogue.org.au

 

 

(in ConS/Heritage/New Treasures etc/PR for opening etc)

 

The Media gets a thumbs up

As Spiderman and Superman both worked in newspapers and both had Jewish parents (creators), it’s no wonder that the Jewish community thinks that journalists are superheroes, fighting for justice and truth.

But in the words of Australian Jewish News editor Zeddy Lawrence, the media can make mistakes.

“It’s not that the media necessarily let us down, but that your expectations of the media might be too high.”

Zeddy was arguing for the negative at the first of the Great Debates Series II on the media.

In an entertaining and informative evening, the 80-strong audience were given an insight into the world of the media from high profile Jewish journalists including Zeddy, Dr Rachel Kohn from the ABC, Henry Benjamin, founder and editor of J-Wire and Vic Alhadeff, former AJN editor and now CEO of the NSW Jewish Board of Deputies.

With Rabbi Jeremy Lawrence as the gavel-wielding host, the four argued the proposition that “The media lets us down”.

In the end, the negative won by acclamation, but it was a close fought debate.

Zeddy Lawrence continued his defence of the media by arguing that this includes the positive good media can do on behalf of a community, particularly the Jewish media. But members of the community should be aware that Jewish newspapers are not only read by a Jewish audience and they must tread a careful line on some debates.

Henry Benjamin, for the proposition, argued that newspapers are businesses and need to make profits.

“So the media want to give the market exactly what it wants, and to some degree Israel is the sacrificial lamb.”

The media fails to focus on other trouble spots in the world where shocking events are occurring, to concentrate disproportionately on Israel.

“But in the end, the media select the truth that sells.

Also arguing for the positive, Vic Alhadeff said the media are about “headlines, a local angle and beating the opposition”.

He said the majority of Jewish media consumers believe Israel is not dealt with fairly and that they have, indeed, frequently let us down.

Arguing for the negative, Dr Rachel Kohn pointed out that she has been given freedom at the ABC to present any topics in her various religious programs and that they have been disproportionately about Jews, Judaism and Jewish attitudes.

She believes this is because Jews are “hungry for knowledge” and around the world many of the great achievers are Jews.

As an example of the ABC’s attitude to this concentration on Jewish matters in her programs, she explained that in 2008 she was permitted to go to Israel for its 60^th anniversary and record six programs, each of which was played.

“With programs like these, the ABC has been tremendous in allowing this disproportionate support for Jewish issues,” she said.

She also made a strong case for supporting public broadcasters like the ABC because they are “not open to corruption by advertising” and in other ways.

For the guests, Rabbi Lawrence produced a fascinating pamphlet on Jewish sources concerned with honest reporting, quoting from T’nach and Talmud and other sources a surprising list of admonitions and advice from rabbis throughout the centuries on and around the issue, finishing with a dictum of Rabbi Yisrael Salanter: “It is quite easy to write but far more difficult to erase.”

Around the Kosher world

Last week Egypt and Venezuela, this week Hungary and India…Sydney’s Great Synagogue explores the world of Jewish food.

Belahat Lahma and Loobia, La Reina Pepiada and Hallacas – travellers on The Great Synagogue’s “Gourmet Journey” last week were tantalised with the flavours and stories of Egypt and Venezuala.

Ginette Matalon, who was born in Egypt, and Monica Brik from Venezuela told the 80-strong audience about their memories of food and customs for Shabbat and festivals and something of their differing experiences before migrating to Australia.

Ginette recalled one of her earliest memories as visiting the schochet with a number of live chickens then taking the carcasses home to pluck and use every portion of the bird in different dishes.

Monica recalled her earliest memories as fruit; tropical Venezuela has fruit available all year round and eaten three times a day.

Both women talked about the way the Jewish communities in each place adapting the food of the surrounding culture to Jewish traditions.

The Great’s chazzan, Rev David Hilton, also a noted chef, then demonstrated how these various exotic dishes were prepared and cooked.

And everyone had a chance to taste the result, to great delight and compliments all round.

Baby Minyan at the Great

Ten babies had their first taste of shule community at Sydney’s Great Synagogue’s Mazal Tot Shabbat.

Some gurgling, some crying and others overwhelmed by the sights and sounds of The Great Synagogue – the babies, all under one year old, were blessed by Rabbi Jeremy Lawrence during a special Mazal Tot Shabbat.

The blessing of  babies and their parents by Rabbi Lawrence took place on the bimah under an outstretched tallit with proud grandparents and some great-grandparents taking great nachas from the event.

A project of The Great Synagogue’s Services committee, Mazal Tot Shabbat included a baby-oriented sermon and each tiny tot was given a bib incscribed “I’m a GREAT baby” with a logo designed by Ilana Wahnon based on The Great’s exterior with the towers replaced by baby bottles.

President Michael Gold said even our most conservative congregants responded warmly to the event

Law Shabbat at the Great

A parade of bewigged judges in scarlet and purple robes led by NSW Chief Justice J J Spigelman AC formed a procession into The Great Synagogue on Friday night for the annual Law Service to mark the opening of the law term.

More than 150 judges, QCs, SCs, barristers, solicitors and legal academics as well as members of the congregation, heard Rabbi Jeremy Lawrence give an inspired address on the source of the authority to rule.

Quoting thinkers like Hobbes, Locke and Rousseau on the principles of governance, Rabbi Lawrence compared these ideas with those of the Jewish tradition.

He spoke of the Jewish belief in the centrality of law to society

In the end, he said, “the administration of justice is a partnership with God precisely because we bring the best of our human qualities into a divine enterprise”.

The Law Service was followed by the Shabbat service and a dinner attended by 100 guests from within and outside the Jewish community.

Special guest speaker at the dinner was Zeddy Lawrence, national editor of the Australian Jewish News and the brother of Rabbi Lawrence.

In a thoughtful but funny address, Mr Lawrence spoke of the role of press in society, and the role of Jewish press in particular.

He articulated examples of the way the press can sometimes right wrongs or ensure certain important issues are aired.

But he also spoke lovingly of his brother and family and shared with the enchanted audience the Case of the Missing Cookies.

Great Synagogue president Michael Gold OAM welcomed guests and introduced Mr Lawrence

Robin Margo [President, NSW Jewish Board of Deputies and Robert Goot [President, The Executive Council of Australian Jewry]

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