NSW Multiculturalism Minister visits Newtown synagogue
NSW Multiculturalism Minister Mark Coure has addressed Sydney’s Newtown Synagogue.
Last year, seventy-seven years after the end of the Holocaust, the New South Wales Government banned the public display of Nazi symbolism outside of traditional cultural use. This new addition to the Crimes Act (1900) is a source of pride for NSW Multiculturalism Minister Mark Coure, who visited Newtown Synagogue last Friday.
Rabbi Eli Feldman and Minister Mark Coure
Speaking at the time of the ban, Minister Coure stated, “This Bill shows that our Government stands against the Nazi symbol and the hateful ideology it represents,” a sentiment echoed in his speech.
Minister Coure also expressed his disappointment that such a law had not previously been created in the decades since the Holocaust and of the hard work by communities and by the government to orchestrate it.
This was the first time he attended a synagogue service, and the minister addressed the congregation from the Bimah following Rabbi Eli Feldman.
Minister Coure directed his comments delivery to all sections of the congregation from the rabbi to the men’s section and up into the women’s section of Sydney’s second-oldest synagogue.
The attendees were predominantly university students who stayed for the Shabbat dinner at the end of the service.
Newtown Shul will be hosting another important delegation this weekend, with prominent visiting Indigenous Canadian elders as guests of honour at Shabbat Dinner. To register: www.Shul.org.au
