Cloud Cuckoo Land

This past week has provided further proof of how many are afflicted with absurd fantasies and an unrealistic state of mind. Read more

Comfort Ye! Comfort Ye!

The Shabbat after the fast of the Ninth of Av, is called Shabbat Nachamu, the Shabbat of Comfort. Its name comes from the 40^th Chapter of the Biblical Prophet Isaiah and let us ignore the debate about how many Isaiahs there were. Read more

October 7 and the tsunami of anti-Jewish hate      

There is a long-standing perception that anti-Jewish racism stems predominantly from the far right and from those of European ethnicity.

Read more

Shabbat Vaetchanan – The Shema

Apart from the opening statements of the so-called Ten Commandments, there is very little that we would call theology in the Torah. Read more

Freddie de Tommaso “Il tenore”

A music review by Shirley Politzer Read more

Emanuel School Announces New Principal

Sydney’s Emanuel School has announced that Linda Emms will assume the role of Principal beginning in January 2025. Read more

Why most American Jews will and should vote for Kamala Harris

Caroline Glick, the former Jerusalem Post columnist who authored a pro-Trump, anti-Harris hit piece published by J-Wire a few days ago, views the world through such a hardline right-wing prism that a point-by-point refutation of her article, while probably fun to write, would not be particularly instructive. Read more

Herzog on Tisha B’Av: ‘Bring them home’

Israeli President Isaac Herzog on Monday evening called for the redemption of the 115 captives still being held by Hamas in the Gaza Strip, in a special message broadcast a rally held at “Hostage Square” in Tel Aviv. Read more

Palestinians loathed Hamas’s corrupt Qatar club

Hamas leaders have every right to be disappointed with West Bank Palestinians for not demonstrating in large numbers to mourn the death of Ismail Haniyeh, the chairman of the terrorist group’s “political bureau.” Read more

From Australia’s Jewish Past

Julia Rachel Rapke – feminist and civil rights activist Read more

Trump’s rhetoric vs. Harris’s policies

Former President Donald Trump drives liberal Jews to distraction when he says that American Jews have to be crazy to vote for his Democratic opponent. They call him an antisemite. But he keeps on saying it. Read more

Biden and United Nations: Are you listening to Netanyahu?

On June 10, President Biden and the United Nations Security Council slipped into Security Council Resolution 2735, their vision of the Palestinian Arab state they would both like to see created between Israel and Jordan.
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L’Chaim to Life: Debbie Lee, Festival Director of Melbourne Jewish Book Week

Morry Frenkel speaks with Debbie Lee, Festival Director of Melbourne Jewish Book Week, about the exciting program for the upcoming 2024 festival with the theme, Belonging. Read more

Students speak up against school antisemitism

A seminar has been organised in Sydney to offer a rare opportunity for high school students to speak directly to our politicians about their experiences and concerns regarding antisemitism in schools. Read more

On the other hand

Watergen is an innovative Israeli company that has developed a machine that produces clean drinking water from the air. Read more

Sydney rabbis gather in Parramatta

Rabbinical leaders from across Sydney gathered at Parramatta Synagogue for the Rabbinical Council of New South Wales (RCNSW) ‘s second annual retreat. Read more

Eulogies

The accepted protocol when speaking at a funeral is to praise the deceased’s achievements and overlook any negative traits. Read more

The Ninth of Av: Fasting and Self-flagellation

Both Christianity and Islam have long and controversial traditions of penance that involve flogging oneself with whips or scourges that inflict pain. Read more

La Rondine

A Melbourne opera review by Alex First Read more

Eleanor Reissa in conversation: Discovering a Holocaust legacy

Eleanor Reissa is coming to Sydney. She may not be a household name yet, but she will be for those lucky enough to see her in conversation with literary critic and seasoned interviewer Scott Whitmont. Read more

SIX

A Melbourne theatre review by Alex First Read more

Shabbat Devarim: What’s in a Name? 

Why do we call this the fifth book of the Torah that we start this week, Devarim?  Read more

The Importance of Being Earnest

A Melbourne theatre review by Alex First Read more

Plenty to love in Mendelssohn and Bruckner

A music review by Fraser Beath McEwing Read more

Josh Shapiro and the unmaking of a vice president

There was probably more than one reason why Vice President Kamala Harris chose Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz rather than Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro to be her running mate. Read more

“Possibly the most beautiful Haggadah of all times”

The National Library of Israel has received the original version of a modern masterpiece of Hebrew manuscript illumination. Read more

50 Shades: The Musical Parody

A Melbourne theatre review by Alex First Read more

Sifting through the bias about Netanyahu, Hamas and Harris

The search for objective truth is both difficult and by nature a subjective exercise. Read more

From Australia’s Jewish Past

Sir Philip David Phillips – an outstanding and respected lawyer gifted with an exceptional memory Read more

Eli Bibas fears for lives of kidnapped son, daughter-in-law and grandchildren

“Ariel loves Batman. He drew a picture and asked his teacher to write on it, ‘I fly and save people who are stuck in a pit,’” Eli Bibas, whose son Yarden, daughter-in-law Shiri and grandsons, Ariel and Kfir were abducted from Kibbutz Nir Oz by Hamas to Gaza, told JNS on Wednesday. Read more

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