Rigelotto: Reviewed by Murray Dahm

Giuseppe Verdi’s Rigoletto (1851) was the composer’s sixteenth opera. Read more

Napoleon was right about the Jews

With the barrage of untruths emanating from Palestinian Authority chief Mahmoud Abbas and his underlings, it is always a welcome and refreshing phenomenon when world leaders recognise and speak the truth about Israel and the Jews…writes Joseph Frager. Read more

Peter Wertheim: Nazi symbols ban a step in the right direction

Federal Attorney General Mark Dreyfus will shortly introduce to the parliament The Counter-Terrorism Legislation Amendment (Prohibited Hate Symbols and Other Measures) Bill. Read more

From Australia’s Jewish past: Izzy Orloff – Famous Fremantle photographer

He was born Abraham in Ukraine on 21 March 1891, the youngest of nine children of Rafael Orloff, draper, and his wife Rachel. Read more

Robyn Archer: An Australian Songbook – reviewed by Alex First

The highly entertaining two-hour show could be called the soundtrack of the glorious Robyn Archer’s life. Read more

Do you agree that the original Chassidim were reformers of Judaism?

Ask the rabbi. Read more

Feintooner

This week’s cartoon: More for Less, More or Less Read more

The Culture: a Melbourne theatre review by Alex First

Will (Mina Asfour) and Katie (Laura Jackson) are millennial best friends who live together. Read more

Google ends UN burying Hashemite Kingdom of Palestine solution

Google has ended the United Nations (UN) continuing effort to ignore the existence of the Hashemite Kingdom of Palestine solution (HKOPS) as an alternative solution to replace the failed UN two-state solution contained in UN Security Council Resolution 2334  passed on 23 December 2016 (UNSCR 2334). Read more

IDF’s ‘Special in Uniform’ band hits 500-show milestone 

Most Israeli bands and performers would be happy to land a few gigs a month, but how many have clocked 500 performances in the past 14 months? Read more

On the other hand

Most countries, including Israel, have designated parking areas reserved for drivers with mobility problems. Read more

IsraAid, JDC, Chabad assist Ukrainians on the ground in wake of dam flooding

When the Kakhovka Dam collapsed on June 6, flooding southeastern Ukraine—killing several people and stranding thousands—those in the region turned to the Israeli non-governmental organisation IsraAID for help…writes Rachel Avraham. Read more

How unsurprising

“Life is full of surprises. Not all these surprises are pleasant, so you need to be ready for what life brings you.” Read more

Happiness

The American constitution says that Americans have the right to happiness. What is happiness? Can the pursuit of happiness be a right, an experience, a state of mind, or an aspiration? Read more

Why can’t we talk about Ukrainian antisemitism?

How important is the struggle against antisemitism to the liberal corporate media? How much of it a priority is it for the organised Jewish world? Read more

Death of a Salesman – a Melbourne theatre review by Alex First

Almost three-quarters of a century after it was written, the power, passion and desolation intrinsic to Arthur Miller’s Death of a Salesman (1949) remains intact.

Read more

A mass that pleased the masses

For Mozart fans, last night’s concert by the SSO was a welcome and balanced blend of the master’s work. Read more

Shabbat Bha’alotecha: Arguments

The Torah this week starts very optimistically with the events that come at the end of the first year when they are within sight of the Promised Land. Read more

L’Chaim – to Life: Alan Jackson

Maurice Klein speaks with Alan Jackson. He was Sgt Major Alan Jackson in the IDF Tzanchanim (Paratroopers) under the command of Mordechai (Matta) Gur, and was one of the first soldiers in the IDF to reach the Kotel in the 1967 Six Day War. Read more

Rocky Horror Show – a Melbourne theatre review

Half a century on, the Rocky Horror Show remains a delightful, bizarre and engaging romp that encourages audience participation. Read more

‘From the deepest hole to the highest mountain’

The view from atop the world’s highest peak was breathtakingly stunning. Read more

From Australia’s Jewish Past: Vaiben Louis Solomon

Vaiben was born on 13 May 1853 in Adelaide, the son of Judah Moss Solomon – nephew of Emanuel and Vaiben – and mother Rachel. Read more

Burst pipes or bad history? Wellington City Council’s new role as the arbiter of international conflicts

On 15 May, newbie Wellington City Councillor Nikau Wi Neera tweeted a photo of himself grinning like a schoolboy who has just been gifted a PlayStation and clutching a piece of paper. Read more

Euphoria: an installation at the Melbourne Town Hall

As Gordon Gekko, in the 1987 Oliver Stone-directed hit film Wall Street, Michael Douglas said “greed, for lack of a better word, is good”…writes Alex First. Read more

Feintooner

This week’s cartoon: Love is Blind Read more

Why is black the colour associated with bereavement and mourning?

Ask the rabbi! Read more

Historian Martin Kramer cites paradox behind Israel’s judicial reform controversy

AIJAC’s latest webinar featured eminent historian Professor Martin Kramer, past Director of Tel Aviv University’s Middle East Centre and Fellow at the Washington Institute for Middle East Policy. Read more

Biden in bind as Hashemite Kingdom of Palestine solution turns 1

President Biden must be feeling decidedly uncomfortable as the Hashemite Kingdom of Palestine solution (HKOPS) approaches its first birthday – with Israel and Saudi Arabia negotiating to possibly implement its terms – mediated by Bahrain – not the US. Read more

The Biden administration’s anti-antisemitism travesty

What’s the use of the definition of antisemitism by the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance? Read more

Ahlam Tamimi’s 16th victim

Twenty-two years after a Palestinian suicide bomber devastated the Sbarro pizza restaurant in downtown Jerusalem, the 16th victim of that massacre succumbed to her injuries. Read more

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