Zionist Council of Victoria hosts Middle East Strategic Intelligence Analyst

The Zionist Council of Victoria recently hosted Avi Melamed, a world renown Middle East Strategic Analyst. Read more

Is this relationship for me?…asks Rabbi Michoel Gourarie

Uncertainty in relationships is very common. Over time people date and build relationships with apparent compatibility, common values and love. But making the final decision becomes very difficult with the nagging question: “How can I know without a doubt that this relationship is for me?” Read more

Limmud Oz and Me…writes Vivien Resofsky

Limmud Oz, is an annual weekend festival of Jewish learning that provides an opportunity to learn, discuss and debate a broad spectrum of topics such as Israeli politics, history, religion, film, culture. Limmud Oz also provides for the exchange of new ideas about change and reform. Read more

Double Talk…writes Dr Ron Weiser

My long held view is that the danger to our community’s interests comes much less from those who hate us, than from those who claim to love us, but who want to save us from ourselves. Read more

Days of our Lives…writes Michael Kuttner

Like an endless soap opera which never seems to conclude, the latest episode starring at least two actors who are recycled ad nauseum has just concluded. Filmed in the garden of the Vatican and directed by Pope Francis it featured a multicultural cast of extras as well as spectators from the world media. Read more

First Class Ax…writes Fraser Beath McEwing

Polish /Canadian pianist, Emanuel Ax is in Australia doing what very few pianists would be game to do: play all five Beethoven piano concertos in the space of nine days. Read more

A Many Splendored Thing…writes Rabbi Laibl Wolf

Love has occupied the minds of thinkers for thousands of years. Ever since the man/woman composite known as Adam split into Man and Woman, the mystery of attraction has defied the microscope of definition and explanation. What does it mean to love truly? Read more

Further Ugly Vibes from the Obama Administration…writes Isi Leibler

The gloves are off. The White House has now unequivocally designated Israel as the scapegoat and is meting out punishment for the disastrous outcome of the peace negotiations it initiated. Read more

Award for Craig

Sydney’s Montefiore Home’s Assistant in Nursing (AIN) Craig Goldsmith, is the winner of this year’s Leading Age Services Australia NSW-ACT HESTA Nominate a Care Staff Member Competition which recognises dedicated staff in the aged care industry. Read more

Palestine – Australia Rejects Fiction To Recognise Reality…writes David Singer

Australia will no longer be referring to East Jerusalem and the West Bank (Judea and Samaria) as “occupied territories”. Read more

To speak or not to speak

The wise King Solomon taught: “There is a time to be silent and a time to speak.” The challenge in implementing this clever advice is to know when to do what. It isn’t always easy to know when to speak and when to be quiet. Is there a guiding principle that teaches us when to open our mouth and when not to? Read more

The joke of Palestinian unity – is anybody laughing?…asks Emily Gian

On Monday, the Fatah-Hamas unity government was sworn in. The reconciliation between the two warring factions came seven years after Hamas took over Gaza in a bloody coup. Since then, they have tried to reconcile a number of times, but things always seem to get in the way, such as the time Hamas executed 35 men from Fatah that they accused of collaborating with Israel. Seventy-five others that were spared from execution were lucky to have just been shot in the legs and have their hands broken. Read more

Illusions and Delusions…writes Michael Kuttner

Like confidence tricksters who manage to fool multitudes with their snake oil type smooth talk current developments bear an uncanny resemblance to these fraudsters. There is a saying that a fool is born every minute but given what is happening around us at the moment I would venture to suggest that fools are born every second. Read more

D-Day and the bombing of Auschwitz…writes Rafael Medoff/JNS.org

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Anti-Israel opera to be viewed live by hundreds of thousands…writes Myron Kaplan

An open letter to the New York Metropolitan Opera general manager concerning “The Death of Klinghoffer,” an anti-Jewish and anti-Israel opera: reasons to reject it and viable replacements for it in HD transmission. Read more

The Visit of the Pontiff and President Peres’s Last Hurrah at the Vatican…writes Isi Leibler

Whilst distressed by some aspects of Pope Francis’s recent visit to the region, I strongly disagree with those who accuse him of abandoning Israel. Read more

Edge of Tomorrow…a movie review by Roz Tarszisz

Europe has been overrun by hostile aliens and millions have been killed.   This science fiction outing from Director Doug Liman requires a hero to save the world. Read more

Do the Orthodox protect child abusers?…asks David Werdiger

The ongoing revelations of child sex abuse cases in Orthodox communities continue to send out shock waves, especially through the online world, challenge our attitudes and self-perception, and test our resolve. Read more

Gabrielle gets her calendar

Sydney’s Rabbi Gourarie visited State Liberal MP Gabrielle Upton (member for Vaucluse and minister for family and community services) to formally hand  her the BINA calendar. Read more

The Face of Love…a movie review by Roz Tarszisz

There are a few questions that occurred to me during the screening of this film. Is it going to be one for the gal-pals or would it work for a grownup date night?  Could two people both still be so passionately in love after 30 years of marriage?   Is not Annette Bening even more beautiful now that she is a mature woman? Read more

Acidophilus in Spiritual Yoghurt…writes Rabbi Laibl Wolf

Something’s missing?  Can ‘t quite put my finger on it. I have this vague sense that an essential, albeit micro-sized, ingredient is missing from life today. Read more

Cheesecake…writes Rabbi Michoel Gourarie

In a few days we will celebrate the Festival of Shavuos – the anniversary of the giving of the Torah at Mt. Sinai. Read more

Palestine – Pope’s Political Power Play Promises Pandemonium…writes David Singer

The visit of Pope Francis to Amman, Bethlehem and Jerusalem this week proved that His Holiness is just as fallible – and gullible – as a host of other world power brokers like US President Barack Obama, Secretary of State Kerry and the negotiators representing the Quartet – the European Union, the United Nations, Russia and America. Read more

Fallible Pontifications…writes Michael Kuttner

The just concluded visit of Pope Francis was always going to be a media spectacle and an opportunity for the Palestinian Arab Authority and its religious leaders to stage pre planned theatricals. Read more

Wertheim responds to Adelaide article

“Peter Goers’ column in last week’s Sunday Mail titled “Why I weep: the 720km wall, a symbol of apartheid” appeals to the emotions, and to outdated anti-Jewish religious motifs, but ignores the facts” wrote ECAJ executive director Peter Wertheim. Read more

Yom Yerushalayim…from Isi Leibler

In the spirit of Yom Yerushalayim, I would like to share with you a remarkable sermon which I have just come across which was delivered by my father in law, Rabbi Israel Porush z”l,* at the Great Synagogue in Sydney, one year after the Six Day War.  The main message is as relevant today as it was then. Read more

Limmud sampler

Stand-up comedy, first-hand stories from Bob Carr’s favourite lobby group the “falafel faction”, or a former Israeli intelligence official analysing jihadi groups? It’s a tough choice for the 12pm session at Yom Limmud. Read more

Have You Kissed Your Children Today?…asks Rabbi Laibl Wolf

I read a very cute response on my Facebook profile directed to an angry spiteful blogger. “I see you have a child.  Just go and kiss it goodnight.” I thought of that good advice again after watching the cold, calculating, self-titillating, ‘video-selfie’ by the deranged Elliot Roger who murdered six and wounded many others, on the Santa Barbara campus in USA. Read more

Palestine – Imminent Breakthrough Or Lost Opportunity?…asks David Singer

The publication of “A Palestinian State – Not A Priority” in the Palestine Telegraph on May 23 offers the tantalising prospect of a possible breakthrough in resolving the Arab-Jewish conflict. Read more

Another puff moment…writes Michael Kuttner

Since John Kerry. otherwise known as puff the magic dragon, popularized this descriptive expression, there have been many occasions on which it could usefully be applied. Read more

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