Fire and Ice – Your weekly message from Rabbi Michoel Gourarie

In this week’s Parsha we read the story of the ten plagues that punished the Egyptians and made way for the final exodus from Egypt. Read more

Aliya from Australia and New Zealand up almost 50% in 2010

Aliyah from Australia and New Zealand has jumped almost 50% this year in spite of relatively low levels of antisemitism and a strong economy. Read more

They did it! 1.6km Ocean Race is Great Kids Stuff

The Maccabi Australia International Games hosted for the first time anywhere in the world a Maccabi ocean swim…and top honours went to an American swimmer who recently lost a close friend in a shark attack. Read more

Palestine – Lawyers, Hot Air and no Clothes

John V Whitbeck – described as “an international lawyer who has advised the Palestinian negotiating team” – has recently written an article published in Al Jazeera pointing out that 106 members of the United Nations have now recognized the State of Palestine, whose independence  was proclaimed on 15 November 1988. Read more

A Sydney Jewish Boy’s Christmas in Bethlehem

Sipping a Turkish coffee in the heart of Tel Aviv early last week, I pondered how a secular Jew from Australia might experience Christmas in a country where a public celebration of such a holiday is considered taboo.  The instinctive answer lay 93 kilometres away, in the primordial town of Bethlehem (Hebrew meaning “The House of Bread”), the heralded birthplace of King David and one Jesus of Nazareth, and home to the oldest continuous Christian community in the world. Read more

Not the Holocaust

The president of  the Australian Association of Jewish Holocaust Survivors & Descendants has criticised the B’nai B’rith Anti Defamation Commission for using the Holocaust as an analogy in the recent boat people tragedy. Read more

MAIGS Underway

The Maccabi Australia International Games are under way in Sydney. Read more

Carrying the Flag

The Sachs family of three flew to Israel last year to compete in the 18th Maccabiah Ten Pin Bowling tournament…and each family member won at least one medal. Tonight Phil Sachs will be the flag-bearer for the Australian team at the Maccabi Australia International Games Opening Ceremony at Sydney’s Olympic Park. Read more

Councillor Peters and the Approved Motion

Marrickville’s Councillor Cathy Peters has written to J-Wire with the precise motion which was passed at Council in connection with the planned Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions against Israel. She assures us that our question relating to personal use of Israeli goods will be answered. Read more

Israel’s Government in Strategic Talks with World Jewish Leaders

Senior representatives of Israel’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Ministry of Strategic Affairs and Prime Minister’s Office met in Jerusalem last week for a strategic consultation with more than 100 top professionals and Jewish leaders from around the world.   Read more

Toeing the Line

The Mexican football team for next week’s Maccabi Australia International Games arrived in Sydney this morning…but for Freddy Sacal, they will be Games of hope. Read more

Do It Today – Your Weekly Message from Rabbi Gourarie

One of the secrets of success is to respond quickly to a project or a task as soon as it comes our way. Many people suffer from a procrastination problem that can be very destructive. They live by the rule – what we can do tomorrow why do today. Postponing important jobs that might be difficult, often leads to canceling them and loosing the opportunity. Read more

Four Million Names Registered at Yad Vashem

Yad Vashem has identified two-thirds of the Jews murdered in the Holocaust – 4 million names…many connected to Australian and New Zealand families.

Read more

First Baby for j-junction

Zara Brodaty has been introduced to the community…the first baby born to parents who met through J-Junction, the Jewish introduction service. Read more

Palestine – Hark the Herald Devil Sings

“The Sydney Morning Herald (SMH) is a daily broadsheet newspaper published by Fairfax Media in Sydney, Australia. Founded in 1831 as the Sydney Herald, the SMH is the oldest continuously published newspaper in Australia.”

Regrettably the Sydney Morning Herald seems to be going the way of a growing number of media outlets that publish factually inaccurate  or misleading statements and analysis on the Jewish-Arab conflict – which still defies resolution after 130 years of trying. Read more

McGeough gets New Award from Honest Reporting

Emily Chrapot reports: It was only two weeks ago that Paul McGeough of Fairfax Media was presented with what used to be a prestigious award – a Walkley.

The award was for a piece he wrote entitled ‘Prayers, tear gas and terror’, which appeared in the Melbourne Age and the Sydney Morning Herald and was supposedly an eye-witness account of the flotilla incident of late May. Read more

MAIGS – Welcome USA!

More than 115 Americans arrived in Sydney this morning to participate in the Maccabi Australia International Games. Read more

Jan-21 8:30p.m. SBS1-TV: As it Happened-Apocalypse -The Second World War

Bringing together rare and forgotten footage, this six-part series provides a ground-breaking portrait of WWII. Read more

Questions for Cr Peters – but no answers yet

Marrickville’s Councillor Cathy Peters has successfully introduced a boycott of Israeli goods and a ban on academic and cultural exchanges. J-Wire asked her some questions…but as yet no answer. Read more

Entente Cordiale

The French Ambassador to Australia, His Excellency Michel Filhol, has addressed the Capital Jewish Forum  on ‘A brief overview of the features of French policy and the France-Australia relationship’. Read more

Israel’s Pension Minister visits Melbourne’s Jewish Care

Israel’s Deputy Minister of Pensioner Affairs shared information and ideas with Jewish Care aged care experts and community leaders when she visited Melbourne this week. Read more

Great results for Masada

Sydney’s Masada College is thrilled to announce another year of excellent HSC results. Read more

Palestine – the BBC and the History Channel Bias Distort Debate

The BBC and the History Channel stand accused of denigrating Israel by the use of factually incorrect statements or misleading and deceptive statements that are factually correct but only tell half the story. Read more

One law for Israel….

Wikileaks have released a 2004 cable in which the then Prime Minister Helen Clarke is reported not to have pressured the Kuwaiti government for information on one if its citizens allegedly involved in a massive passport forgery case in New Zealand…because of the multi-million dollar sheep trade with Kuwait. Read more

Eitan Misrachi

Lior & Michael Misrachi are thrilled to announce the birth of their beautiful son

Eitan Aviad

איתן אביעד

Born on Wednesday, 8 December 2010, 1 Tevet 5771, 7^th Day Chanukah

First-time grandparents, Aviva & Ilan Kogus and Judy & Shavtay Misrachi are over the moon.

Great grandparents Shirley & Malcolm Isaacs (Kibbutz Tzora) Sabine Beecher and Malka Misrachi are delighted

Uncles, aunts, family and friends are so happy

New on the Beat

Simon Solomon graduated today as a new NSW policeman…and his beat will be in Sydney’s Eastern Suburbs.
Read more

Aboriginal Kristallnacht Activist’s Family in Negev Ceremony

A delegation of members of William Cooper’s family took part in a ceremony in Yatir Forest, where they unveiled a plaque in appreciation of his actions of over 70 years ago. when, after the events of Kristallnacht in 1938, he headed a delegation that marched to the German Consulate in Melbourne to present a petition in protest against the Nazi regime’s brutal persecution of the Jews…the only recorded protest worldwide. Read more

Honest Reporting and The Good Weekend

Honest Reporting has lashed out at the Walkley Awards for bestowing its major gong to Fairfax journalist Paul McGeough for his report on the Gaza Flotilla Incident. Read more

Special Award for a Special Man

Melbourne Jewish Care supported accommodation resident Doron Ninedek has received a national award for outstanding achievement in overcoming barriers….coinciding with International Day for People with a Disability Read more

You’re in the Army Now

For a holiday in Israel with a difference, a Brisbane man is offering volunteer work  on an Israeli Army base…no military training necessary. Read more

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