BDS versus modern art

“BDS appears here as contemporary art’s foil. BDS undermines contemporaneity’s claims of autonomy and emancipatory effects, fixes its meanings in ways that might make artists bristle, and leaves it only with refusal: either refuse to be a perpetrator or refuse the request made by Palestinian civil society. At this juncture, the latter option should already be unthinkable.” Read more

Chanukah then and now

If we were to go back two thousand one hundred and ninety years ago, to the time of Antiochus IV and the Maccabee Revolt, we would find a state of the world and Jewish affairs in many ways similar to today. Read more

Moulin Rouge! The Musical: A Sydney theatre review by Alex First

Polished performances, magnificent mashups, elegant and evocative sets, colourful and creative costumes, and charismatic choreography are the highlights of Moulin Rouge! The Musical. A striking spectacle. Read more

Lumen accipe et imperti

This Latin motto of my old college, literally translated as “receive the light and pass it on”, is very relevant as we get ready to celebrate Chanukah, the Festival of Lights. Read more

L’Chaim to Life: Sock boy Benjy Orwin Podcast

Maurice Klein speaks with Benjy Orwin, who at eight years old, decided he wanted to make a difference and help people in need. Read more

Avatar: The Way of Water (M): a movie review by Alex First

Avatar’s magnificent journey continues with awe-inspired distinction in The Way of Water. Read more

The Iranian regime is intensifying its violence against protesters

The wave of protests and social upheaval that erupted in Iran following 22-year-old Mahsa Amini’s death at the hands of Iran’s morality police, who had detained her for “improperly” wearing her hijab, has not died down…writes Ioannis E. Kotoulas. Read more

Handel’s Messiah: a choral concert reviewed by Victor Grynberg

Since I attended the opening of the Sydney Opera House 50 years ago, I have attended perhaps more than 1500 performances there. Read more

Teaching Terror to Tots

Palestinian Media Watch recently published a report on Fatah’s Waed children’s magazine, covering every issue published over the last eight years. Read more

The Palestinians’ World Cup propaganda victory

As it does every four years, the world is going crazy over the World Cup. And, as always in international sports events where nationalism is mixed with fans’ passion for their favourite teams, unpleasantness emerged in Qatar. This one involved the Palestinians. Read more

From Australia’s Jewish Past: Joseph Jacobs – folklorist, translator, literary critic, social scientist, historian and writer

Joseph, the sixth surviving son of John and Sarah Jacobs, was born on 29 August 1854 in Sydney.  His father was a publican who had emigrated from London in 1837. Read more

Blowing the whistle on FIFA’s systemic antisemitism

The FIFA World Cup in Qatar has arguably become the most controversial to date, raising widespread indignation over myriad issues concerning its host, including Qatar’s decision to ban beer from stadiums and its mistreatment of the press, the LGBTQ+ community and migrant workers, 6,500 of whom have died since Qatar was awarded the Cup. Read more

‘Ukraine’s fight is also a fight for the world’s future’

Kyiv Mayor Vitaly Klitschko was waiting for me at the entrance to his office on the tenth floor of City Hall. “Shalom,” he said in Hebrew before switching to English: “How are you? I must apologise, but I have to go to a meeting with the military that cannot be delayed. I’ll be back in 45 minutes. Please wait for me and help yourself to coffee in the meantime.” Read more

Chanukah

Read more

On the other hand

A startling new report has ranked Israel as the fifth safest country for tourists. Read more

Feintooner

This week’s cartoon: Itchy & Scratchy Read more

The Good Jew/Bad Jew demonization strategy

One of the favourite strategies deployed by Jew-baiters is to divide the community into Good Jews and Bad Jews. Read more

The White House met with Jewish leaders to discuss antisemitism. Now what?

Wednesday’s high-profile White House roundtable on antisemitism garnered plenty of headlines. Now, according to those present, the real work starts. Read more

Maoz Tsur

As children at Chanukah time, as we lit the candles, we would sing “ Maoz Tzur Yeshuati, the cat’s in the cupboard and she can’t see me. How many kittens has he got? Ten or Twenty I forgot.” Read more

Time to be resolute

Viktor Frankl, the renowned Austrian psychiatrist who was a Shoah survivor, wrote: “to suffer unnecessarily is masochistic rather than heroic.” Read more

Henry Greener schmoozes with Hallely Kimchi

Hallely Kimchi leads our Israeli community as the ZFA Habayit Events Co-ordinator for special events such as Festibayit, which brings together people to enjoy Israeli culture, music, food, arts and entertainment. Read more

Will Kosher reindeer go mainstream?

Read more

Shabbat Vayetzey: Frenemies

The dramatic encounter between Jacob and Esau has come to be regarded as a model for relations between Jews and non-Jews. Read more

L’Chaim – to Life: Senator Simon Birmingham

Maurice Klein speaks with Senator Simon Birmingham, Shadow Minister for Foreign Affairs, discussing Australia’s Labor Government’s decision to reverse the previous Coalition Government’s recognition of West Jerusalem as Israel’s capital, along with a number of negative anti-Israel voting backflips at the United Nations.  CAN ISRAEL TRUST THE ALBANESE GOVERNMENT? Read more

Andrew had nowhere to sit, so he stood up and played: a music review by Fraser Beath McEwing

When Andrew Haveron walked on stage at the Sydney Opera House concert hall last night carrying his violin, his usual chair was occupied by associate concertmaster Harry Bennetts. Read more

Henry Greener chats with Alida Lipton

Yoga Teacher Alida Lipton, the first female President of AJAX Football Club, has been appointed this week to lead the iconic Jewish football club into a bright, promising future. Read more

Is Alan Dershowitz right to warn against the ‘override clause’?

The enthusiastic response of the “anybody but Bibi” camp to a video message delivered on Friday by renowned criminal attorney Alan Dershowitz through the Hebrew news site Ynet is amusing. Read more

Is the world waking up to the atrocities of the ayatollahs?

It is about time the media and the international community woke up to the fact that the Iranian regime is an oppressive, violent tyranny that loathes women, dissidents and anyone who does not conform to its theocratic ideology. Read more

From Australia’s Jewish Past: Rosa Smith  – her mission in life was only to help others

Rosa Smith was born Rosa Henriques in Port Maria, Jamaica, in 1853. Read more

On the other hand

Have you ever tasted the difference between organically grown vegetables and the commercially available variety in supermarkets? Read more

« Previous Page — Next Page »