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Limmud OZ + NZ Online 2020

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For a selection of published works by Limmud presenters, click here.

9:00pm AEST

Melekh Ravitsh: the eccentric outback quest of an urbane Yiddish poet from Poland

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Author Anna Epstein will discuss with Arnold Zable and Danielle Charak the issues in her exhilarating book: “Art and history, Jews, refugees, white and black Australians, the pre-war past and the troubling present”. The creative, wildly imaginative father and son, writer Melekh Ravitsh and artist Yosl Bergner, were linked in their conviction that they could change the world, and in their prescient recognition of the common fate of Indigenous Australians and persecuted European Jews. Though Bergner painted his father’s adventure as a fantasy, it showed a profound understanding of refugee reality, relevant across the world then as now.

Speakers

Anna Epstein

Anna Epstein is the author of “Melekh Ravitsh: The eccentric outback quest of an urbane Yiddish poet from Poland”. The book is about two remarkable men, a poet and a painter, and about dispossession, an abiding interest in Anna’s career working with artists from many cultures... Read More →

Danielle Charak

Danielle Charak is a doyenne of Yiddish language and literature in Melbourne. She has been a teacher, translator, speaker, broadcaster, and passionate activist for Yiddish in the Melbourne community.

Arnold Zable

Arnold Zable is an acclaimed writer, novelist, storyteller and human rights advocate based in Melbourne, Australia

Saturday June 6, 2020 9:00pm - 10:00pm AEST
ROOM 5

History and heritage

9:00pm AEST

Once upon a time In Yavneh

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History sometimes feels inevitable. But it did not have to turn out the way that it did. We will consider Jewish history through the prism of Once Upon A Time In Hollywood; from 69CE to 1969. In particular we will look at the origins of the Mishnah and the Talmud, their dissemination and dominance and their opponents and critics.

Speakers

Thomas Sterling

Tommy is a long time Limmudnik who loves to ask questions and explore the origin of all things Jewish. His passions span the traditional to the academic, presented with a humorous and irreverent approach. He is also married to Sydney's first female Orthodox Rabbi. You can call him... Read More →

Saturday June 6, 2020 9:00pm - 10:00pm AEST
ROOM 7

History and heritage

10:00am AEST

Controversies in Judaism: how the face of Judaism changed in Second Temple Era

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Rabban Yochanan ben Zakkai’s decision to flee Jerusalem on the eve of Rome's destruction of the Second Temple and establish a Torah centre outside Jerusalem for the first time in history left Jerusalem vulnerable. Did R' Yochanan's decision influence the Yeshiva world of today? What effects are felt today since the establishment of Israel's Torah centre in Yavneh? Where is the Torah centre today? Why did R' Yochanan "jump ship" and leave his people to fight off the Romans? How did the Romans respond and was it controversial then?

Speakers

Ariel Tal

Ariel Tal is the rabbi of the Wellington Jewish Community Centre. He is an MBA graduate in marketing, and his mission is to market Judaism to New Zealand and beyond! He was formerly the marketing director of Livnot U'Lehibanot and Tower of David Museum in the education department... Read More →

Ariel Tal, Controversies in Judaism pdf

Ariel Tal, Controversies in Judaism pdf

Sunday June 7, 2020 10:00am - 11:00am AEST
ROOM 13

History and heritage

10:00am AEST

Jews from Islamic lands

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Up until the fifteenth century, the majority of Jews lived in Islamic lands. These communities developed rich cultural traditions influenced by their home countries. The political upheavals of the twentieth century led to the displacement of the vast majority of Jews from Islamic lands; only a tiny fraction remain. Many of them eventually found a new home in Australia. Life in Australia was a struggle, both in terms of navigating the wider community but also within the Jewish community that did not understand them. The new exhibition “Jews from Islamic Lands” tells this largely untold and unrecognised story.

Speakers

Shannon Biederman

Curator Collections, Sydney Jewish Museum

Shannon Biederman is Curator Collections at the Sydney Jewish Museum where she has worked for the past 15 years. She has been part of the development of the SJM’s core exhibitions Culture and Continuity, Serving Australia and The Holocaust. Her most recent exhibition is Jews from... Read More →

Sunday June 7, 2020 10:00am - 11:00am AEST
ROOM 5

History and heritage

11:00am AEST

Perspectives from two sides of the ditch: a conversation with two survivors

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Both Guta Goldstein and Bob Narev are survivors—Guta of Auschwitz and Bob of Theresienstadt. Both were refugees and found new homes on either side of the Ditch. They each now are dedicated to Holocaust education. These two inspirational figures have both shared and different experiences. Be prepared to be awed and inspired as Deborah Hart interviews Guta and Bob, who will explore their lives, their experiences as refugees, Holocaust education and their hopes for the future.

Speakers

Deborah Hart

Deborah Hart is a panel member of the Human Rights Review Tribunal and the director of ASH NZ. She has had extensive community involvement and is currently the chair of the Holocaust Centre of New Zealand. Mum to three adult boys, Deborah lives in Auckland with her partner.

Robert Narev

Robert Narev ONZ was born in Eschwege, Germany. From 1942-1945 he was in Theresienstadt. He arrived in NZ in 1947, has been married for 61 years to Freda and has three children and eight grandchildren. Bob has served on numerous community organisations and speaks regularly to groups... Read More →

Guta Goldstein

Guta Goldstein is a survivor of the Lodz Ghetto and concentration camps Auschwitz, Bergen-Belsen and Meltheuer. She is the sole survivor of her immediate family. She was a displaced person for 4½ years before migrating to Melbourne in 1949. She is a guide at the Melbourne Holocaust... Read More →

Sunday June 7, 2020 11:00am - 12:00pm AEST
ROOM 6

History and heritage

11:00am AEST

Rediscovering a forgotten chapter of Jewish history

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The period following the death of Maimonides (Egypt, 1204) is one of the most surprising and fascinating in Jewish history. Over roughly three centuries between Maimonides' death and the arrival of large numbers of Jews exiled from Spain, Jews in the Islamic world engaged deeply with Islamic philosophy and mysticism, and produced new forms of literature and practice. In this session we will explore this period, some of its central thinkers, and the reasons that it was until recently almost entirely forgotten.

Speakers

Raphael Dascalu

Raphael Dascalu is a native of Sydney. He studied in Israel and the US, completing a PhD in Jewish history and philosophy. His primary field of research is Judaeo-Arabic thought and literature, but he dabbles widely. Raphael lives in Melbourne with his partner and two small overl... Read More →

Sunday June 7, 2020 11:00am - 12:00pm AEST
ROOM 4

History and heritage

12:00pm AEST

A flicker of light in a dark world: three remarkable stories of rescue during World War Two

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A lovely legend comes out of Jewish mystical writings. It tells us that somewhere in the world, 36 righteous people are always among us and, through their actions, keep humanity safe from destruction, from fire and from flood. In fact the world's very existence depends on them. They are not known to each other; even unaware of their purpose, but true to their nature, they create a wellspring of loving kindness for us all. The three stories in this session are example of acts of compassion and courage.

Speakers

Julie Meadows

Julie Meadows (OAM) has spent the last 22 years gathering, editing and facilitating the publication of autobiographical stories from members of the Melbourne Jewish community. As a result, a large archive exists for future generations.

Tony Weldon

Dr Tony Weldon OAM FRACP | Chairman, Courage to Care (Vic) Inc.

Harry Better

Harry is a Holocaust survivor, who was born in Poland in the mid-1930s and migrated to Australia after the war in November 1946 with his oldest sister. He survived the Holocaust by being hidden by a Polish Catholic family by the name of Skowron. Harry is married to Pola and has two... Read More →

Leon Kempler

Eve Graham

Sunday June 7, 2020 12:00pm - 1:00pm AEST
ROOM 7

History and heritage

6:30pm AEST

How to convert the Pope: successful and failed attempts to bring the messiah

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Pseudo-messianic figures from Jewish history have often attempted to convert the pope as part of their mission. In this talk, David Solomon explores in detail the historical circumstances, motives and impact of various brilliant and tragic figures who were captivated by this idea. David also speculates on what it might actually take to convert the current pope to Judaism.

Speakers

David Solomon

David Solomon is an internationally acclaimed, globally-roaming scholar, teacher, writer and translator. He teaches Jewish History, Tanakh, Jewish Philosophy, Hebrew, and Kabbalah. Currently living in Melbourne, David is working on numerous academic and textual projects and is scholar-in-residence... Read More →

Sunday June 7, 2020 6:30pm - 7:30pm AEST
ROOM 5

History and heritage

7:30pm AEST

March of the Living: who said it's not for a nice Lebanese Christian boy?!

CLICK HERE TO ENTER ZOOM ROOM 16
As a Christian of Lebanese descent March of the Living has influenced and inspired me in many ways. It is a powerfully humbling learning experience. I participated in the Adult March of the Living in 2019. I was inspired to go on this incredible journey by the wife of a colleague at the company I run who kindly shared her experience with our staff, on her return from the program. There and then I vowed to join the program the following year. March of the Living has given new meaning to many aspects of my life, including the way I run my company. This is a story of a small act of Tzedakah that unintentionally has benefitted the giver far more than the recipient.

Speakers

Adam Geha

As the co-founder and CEO of EG, Adam is the driving force behind the vision and strategic direction of the company. With a passion for team culture, he maintains an overall focus on guiding, leading and training the team. In addition to his role in EG, Adam is also the co-founder... Read More →

Sunday June 7, 2020 7:30pm - 8:30pm AEST
ROOM 16

History and heritage

7:30pm AEST

Murder and silence: Lithuania's hidden Holocaust

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Ruta's book "Our People" came out in Lithuania in 2016 and instantly became a bestseller in the country and created a national scandal. The book already came out in Israel, Poland, Sweden, Russia and USA and soon will be published in Japan and Ukraine. Ruta did not stop her research after all her books were removed from the bookshelves in her home country. Ruta teamed up with the world’s leading expert on the Holocaust in Lithuania, Dr. Christoph Dieckmann. Their new book "How Did It Happen?" will be self-published in Lithuania in June 2020.

Speakers

Ruta Vanagaite

Ruta Vanagaite is a Lithuanian journalist and author. Her third best-selling book, “Our People”, deals with the complicity of Lithuanians in Holocaust crimes. The book was published in Lithuania in 2016 and created a national scandal. In 2017, all Ruta's books were removed from... Read More →

Sunday June 7, 2020 7:30pm - 8:30pm AEST
ROOM 2

History and heritage

8:30pm AEST

Finding Relly: my family, the Holocaust and me

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Rosemary will elaborate on how she is using the book as an educational tool in raising awareness about the Holocaust and its contemporary relevance, both in schools and for adults. There will be time for questions and discussion.

Speakers

Rosemary Schonfeld

Musician Rosemary Schonfeld is 2nd Generation Holocaust survivor and grewup in Canada unaware that her father was Jewish. After his death, shetraced his former sister in-law who survived Auschwitz, her Aunt Relly,and has written a book about her journey, giving a contemporarynarrative... Read More →

Sunday June 7, 2020 8:30pm - 9:30pm AEST
ROOM 9

History and heritage

10:00am AEST

Antisemitism in France: a historical perspective

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The news coming of rising antisemitism in France in the past few years has sparked concern all over the world. In this lecture, we will discuss the multifaceted historical roots of the current crisis.

Speakers

Lisa Leff

Lisa Moses Leff is Professor of History at American University and Director of the Mandel Center for Advanced Holocaust Studies at the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum. Her research focuses on the history of Jews in France since the Revolution. She is the author of Sacred Bonds... Read More →

Monday June 8, 2020 10:00am - 11:00am AEST
ROOM 5

History and heritage

10:00am AEST

Painted Memories: a Jewish childhood in Poland before the Holocaust

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Mayer Kirshenblatt (b. 1916, Opatów, 1916) left for Canada in 1934. He taught himself to paint at age 73. His daughter presents his paintings and stories, based on interviews she recorded over forty years. Together, they recover a lost world “lest future generations know more about how Jews died than how they lived”—the streets and courtyards, the town characters, the pregnant bride standing under the wedding canopy just before giving birth; the kheyder teacher caught in bed with the drummer's wife; the cobbler's son, and a "black wedding" in the cemetery to avert a cholera epidemic.

Speakers

Barbara Kirshenblatt-Gimblett

Chief Curator, Core Exhibition, POLIN Museum of the History of Polish Jews; Professor Emerita, New York University; Image before My Eyes: A Photographic History of Jewish Life in Poland, 1864–1939 (with Lucjan Dobroszycki); and They Called Me Mayer July: Painted Memories of a Jewish... Read More →

Monday June 8, 2020 10:00am - 11:00am AEST
ROOM 11

History and heritage

12:00pm AEST

Treblinka - different perspectives: survivor, historian, the Jewish religion

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Chaim Sztajer worked carrying bodies in Treblinka for one year. Many survivors dispute his version of what happened. The book “Treblinka” is a major historical study, and highlights the German use of psychological techniques. It differs significantly from the picture presented by Sztajer. Treblinka and the holocaust are also viewed through the lens of the Jewish religion. Henry will discuss his story “Next Year in Jerusalem”, combining and comparing the three methodologies.

Speakers

Henry Erlich

Henry is the child of survivors with a lifelong involvement in the Katzetler Farband, an organisation of concentration camp survivors. He has recently completed a book, a study of Melbourne survivors looking back on philosophical questions.

Monday June 8, 2020 12:00pm - 1:00pm AEST
ROOM 9

History and heritage

8:30pm AEST

Why I wrote The Ratline (and East West Street)

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"The Ratline" (https://www.amazon.com.au/Death-Vatican-Philippe-Sands/dp/1474608124/ref=tmm_hrd_swatch_0?_encoding=UTF8&qid=1589194800&sr=1-1) is about the life and loves of Nazi fugitive Otto von Wachter and his wife Charlotte, and his effort to escape justice after the war. Based on their private archive, it offers a fascinating insight into post-war life in Rome, and the connections between the Vatican, the US, Nazis and fascists in Cold War Italy.

Speakers

Philippe Sands

Philippe Sands QC is Professor of Law at UCL and a practising barrister at Matrix Chambers. He appears as counsel before international courts and tribunals, and sits as an international arbitrator. He is author of Lawless World (2005) and Torture Team (2008) and several academic books... Read More →

Monday June 8, 2020 8:30pm - 9:30pm AEST
ROOM 1

History and heritage

8:30pm AEST

Writing a burning book: the secret archive of the Warsaw Ghetto

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From the end of 1940 until early 1943, Jews in Warsaw were cut off from news of what was happening around them. Nonetheless, many were aware of the Final Solution as it was being implemented, and had the opportunity to hide. In this session, we will appreciate the work of the archivists who recorded and disseminated information, providing future generations with an historical resource that is without peer.

Speakers

Simon Holloway

Simon Holloway is an Education Officer at the Sydney Jewish Museum, where he runs seminars on the Holocaust. He has a PhD in Classical Hebrew, but spends most of his time studying the rabbinic literature. He also has two children, whom he subjects to the Talmud on a daily basis.

Monday June 8, 2020 8:30pm - 9:30pm AEST
ROOM 13

History and heritage

8:00pm AEST

Lessons from loss. Is there an ethical teaching moment in Holocaust experience?

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The history of the Holocaust provides both the historical and conceptual grounding for a variety of ethics-focussed education programmes internationally. In recent years, this ‘watershed event’ has also become a touchstone for educational initiatives that seek to teach civics and citizenship, highlight contemporary instances of discrimination and injustice, and advocate for human rights. While diverse in both approach and content, one question that all Holocaust and related education programmes must confront is how they will use this largely cruel and nihilistic history to cultivate citizens and societies embodying its very opposite. Such a stark contrast between content and goals highlights the difficulties inherent in bringing the complexities of the past to bear on the needs of the present. It also raises questions as to the efficacy and ethics of doing so. In this session, we will address these and related questions, asking what the future of Holocaust education might look like, a poignant and pressing question as we witness the passing of the survivor generation.

Speakers

Avril Alba

Senior Lecturer in Holocaust Studies and Jewish Civilisation, University of Sydney

Avril Alba is Senior Lecturer in Holocaust Studies and Jewish Civilisation in the Department of Hebrew, Biblical and Jewish Studies at the University of Sydney. She teaches and researches in the areas of Holocaust and modern Jewish history with a focus on Jewish and Holocaust mus... Read More →

Lessons from Loss Limmud 2020 pptx

Saturday June 13, 2020 8:00pm - 9:00pm AEST
ROOM 4

History and heritage

10:00am AEST

Australian Sephardi memoirs and histories

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Jews of Sephardi and Middle Eastern backgrounds were part of Australia’s post-war migrants. Most were expelled from traditional and ancient homelands in Arab and Islamic countries. Their experiences included well-integrated idyllic lives, brutal pogroms and the Holocaust. This session will describe the life’s journeys of several “Sephardi” Jews from Melbourne and Sydney. A further insight into Sephardi life will be highlighted through photographs of historic Jewish sites in Turkey, in the Greek cities of Iaonnina and Thessaloniki (Salonica) and the islands of Rhodes and Kos. The presentation will begin and end with a few minutes of traditional Sephardi music.

Speakers

Myer Bloom

Myer Bloom is a former teacher and tutor and interviewer of Holocaust survivors. He has published two books, occasional short articles and has delivered papers on Jewish themes at academic conferences. His Jewish research includes visits to Jewish historic sites in Eastern Europe... Read More →

Sephardi Source Sheet docx

Sunday June 14, 2020 10:00am - 11:00am AEST
ROOM 7

History and heritage

10:00am AEST

Physicians, Soviet Jewry and peace activism

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In 1985, International Physicians for the Prevention of Nuclear War (IPPNW) won the Nobel Peace Prize. Soviet and American physicians came together for the cause of peace at a time when Cold War tensions flared. With decades of antinuclear and antiwar activism under his belt, American co-founder and Harvard cardiologist Bernard Lown led the way. But many thought he had a moral obligation to bully pulpit to press the cause of Soviet Jewry, particularly given his collaboration with prominent physicians on the other side of the Iron Curtain. Based on Lown's own archive, this talk explores these competing demands.

Speakers

Paula Michaels

Paula Michaels’ work bridges the histories of Eastern and Western Europe, integrating the USSR into a pan-European and global narrative through the study of social and cultural history. Michaels is especially interested in the ways that medicine is mobilised to further political... Read More →

Sunday June 14, 2020 10:00am - 11:00am AEST
ROOM 11

History and heritage

11:00am AEST

A tour of Jewish medieval Spain

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Paul Forgasz has conducted several highly successful tours of Jewish medieval Spain. Using the tour itinerary as a point of reference, in this illustrated lecture Paul will explore the trajectory of this most fascinating of episodes in the history of the Jewish people. Walking in the footsteps of the Jews of medieval Spain, we will explore the various dilemmas which confronted them and relive the momentous events which shaped their lives and destinies

Speakers

Paul Forgasz

Paul Forgasz was headmaster of Mount Scopus College’s secondary school and taught Jewish history at Monash University’s ACJC. He contributes to the Jewish Museum of Australia's community education program and has led Jewish study tours to various European destinations. In 2021... Read More →

Tour Of Medieval Spain [Limmud] Paul Forgasz pdf

Sunday June 14, 2020 11:00am - 12:00pm AEST
ROOM 16

History and heritage

11:00am AEST

Bubka: from the shtetl to the world stage

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Baking is having a resurgence and so are bubka recipes. Bubka conjures up tradition, memories of childhood and that magical first bite of gooey chocolate and rich buttery dough. From humble beginnings to Seinfeld, and recipes by celebrated chefs like Martha Stewart and Ottolenghi, bubka has evolved and become famous. I love bubka and will share my nanna's bubka story and history along with the historical significance of bubka in the world. I will also share an online demonstration of the best bubka recipe I've discovered.

Speakers

Sarah Chowen

Sarah is 3rd generation to food entrepreneurs. Her grandparents and parents were influential on the NZ palette. They introduced cottage cheese, bagels, hummus, fresh pasta and gelato. Both her siblings have bakeries. Sarah does cooking demonstrations and online video recipes. Ingrained... Read More →

Sunday June 14, 2020 11:00am - 12:00pm AEST
ROOM 10

History and heritage

11:00am AEST

Respectable and convicted? The story of middle-class Jewish convicts

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Jews were present in Australia at first European settlement. But Jews were disproportionately transported, at approximately five times their population average within Britain. Was this a consequence of prevailing social conditions, or the perception of Jews by the influential social commentators? We have all heard the stories of convicts who stole a pocket handkerchief, what about those who committed white collar crimes? This session will consider middle-class Jewish convicts, and reflect on the contribution their education brought to this new society

Speakers

Sue Silberberg

Sue is an academic historian, and author of “A Networked Community, Jewish Melbourne in the Nineteenth Century”, which considers community formation the Jewish community’s influence on the development of colonial Melbourne She holds a doctorate from the University of Melbourne... Read More →

Sunday June 14, 2020 11:00am - 12:00pm AEST
ROOM 6

History and heritage, Cool for Teens!

12:00pm AEST

March of the Living: unlocking my identity treasure chest

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Dean, Ben, Julia and Gary have all shared the phenomenal experience of going on March of the Living, as participants or leaders, and some as both! What they share is a fundamental appreciation and acknowledgement that the program played an integral part in defining / shaping / clarifying for each one of them who they are as individuals; how they wish to live their lives; what is important to them; where they want to focus their time and efforts and so much more. March of the Living was instrumental in opening up the treasure chest of their identities.

Speakers

Gary Samowitz

Hakoah

Gary has a long history of working in the non-profit industry and across many realms of the Australian Jewish community. He worked for ten years as the CEO of Stand Up and prior to that was the Hillel Director in Sydney where he mentored and trained Jewish university students, and... Read More →

Julia Sussman

Julia Sussman is the Managing Director and Co-Founder of Youth HEAR, an organisation dedicated to mitigating hate in society by connecting young people emotionally with the memory of the Holocaust. Julia’s role is driven by her motivation to stand up for those who cannot do so... Read More →

Ben De Winter

Ben returned from March of the Living with a clear passion and drive to become involved in giving back to the community. This came to the fore when he spent 3 years volunteering with Flying Fox, a youth led organisation that opens life changing opportunities for kids with special... Read More →

Dean Levitan

After returning from March of the Living, Dean Co-founded "YAGID" - Youth Against Genocide in Darfur. His ongoing involvement in social activism continued via engagement at Stand Up as Campaigns Coordinator and currently as a Director on the Board of Stand Up whilst practicing law... Read More →

Sunday June 14, 2020 12:00pm - 1:00pm AEST
ROOM 7

History and heritage

12:00pm AEST

Polish Jewish women on the eve of the Holocaust

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What was life like for young Jewish women coming of age in 1930s Poland? Drawing upon an incredible collection of autobiographies written by Polish Jews on the eve of the Holocaust, this session explores the lives of Jewish women in interwar Poland, and illuminates their struggle to determine who they were, where they belonged, and what their future held in store.

Speakers

Daniel Heller

Daniel Heller is the Kronhill Senior Lecturer in East European Jewish History at Monash University. In 2018, his first book, “Jabotinsky's Children: Polish Jews and the Rise of Right-Wing Zionism”, received the prize for best book in the field of modern Jewish history from the... Read More →

Sunday June 14, 2020 12:00pm - 1:00pm AEST
ROOM 11

History and heritage

12:00pm AEST

Schnorrers and parvenus: antisemitic caricatures in the Viennese Press during the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries

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During the current COVID-19 crisis we have seen xenophobic abuse of people of Chinese descent, accused of having somehow contributed to the worldwide health crisis. Jews are no strangers to such bigotry that blames them for the society’s ills—one popular imagining as a “plague” descending on an unsuspecting Gentile society. This presentation will explore the stereotyping of Vienna’s Jewish population through antisemitic caricatures that appeared in popular Viennese press in the decades before WWII. Such imagery reveals the complex and often conflicting of imaginings of Jews within one of Europe’s most ‘Jewish’ cities before WWII.

Speakers

Jonathan Kaplan

Jonathan Kaplan is a scholar of dress and cultural history. His research, including his PhD, examines the Jews of Vienna, clothing, identity and antisemitism during the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. He teaches design history at the University of New South Wales Art... Read More →

Sunday June 14, 2020 12:00pm - 1:00pm AEST
ROOM 5

History and heritage

12:00pm AEST

The Sound of Breaking Glass

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In her award-winning novel “The Sound of Breaking Glass”, Kirsten Warner captures the inner world of the Second Generation. The legacy of the Holocaust continues to reverberate for children of survivors. The new field of epigenetics describes how transmission of trauma takes place, something children of survivors have always known. They talk about barbed wired behind the eyelids, the list, the shower, the sound of jackboots—memories which are not actually theirs. “The Sound of Breaking Glass” asks about the fate of a girl named after events of so long ago.

Speakers

Kirsten Warner

Kirsten Warner, journalist and member of the Auckland Second Generation Group for many years, won best first book of fiction at the 2019 Ockham New Zealand Book Awards and the Hubert Church Prize for Fiction. Her Jewish father Gunter was a refugee from Berlin in 1939.

Diana Wichtel

Diana Wichtel is a journalist, a member of the Auckland Second Generation Group and author of the prize-winning memoir, “Driving to Treblinka: A long search for a lost father”.

Sunday June 14, 2020 12:00pm - 1:00pm AEST
ROOM 13

History and heritage

6:30pm AEST

Why the Jews abandoned the ancient Hebrew alphabet

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This class will explore the possible reasons behind the extraordinary Jewish rejection, during the Second Temple period, of the original ancient Hebrew alphabet, in favour of a derivative of the Aramaic alphabet used for the Hebrew language today. This change will be viewed both from the rabbinic perspective in the Talmud and from the perspective of current academic scholarship based on the most recent archaeological finds. Special attention will be given to the history and development of the type of scripts used for writing sacred texts such as Torah scrolls, from Sinai to the Dead Sea scrolls and beyond.

Speakers

Ari Lobel

Rabbi Dr. Ari Lobel is currently a lecturer in Classical Hebrew and Judaism Curriculum at the University of Sydney. He also teaches the HSC Classical Hebrew course at both Moriah College and Kesser Torah College. He formerly served as a writer/editor for the Artscroll Talmud, Mishnah... Read More →

Sunday June 14, 2020 6:30pm - 7:30pm AEST
ROOM 7

History and heritage

7:30pm AEST

The religious thought of Israel Porush

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Rabbi Dr Israel Porush was the leading rabbi in Australia for over thirty years. He was the Chief Minister of The Great Synagogue, head of the Sydney Beth Din, President of the Australian rabbinical association, and enjoyed many other distinctions. He was born to a prominent rabbinical family in Jerusalem and was educated there and at the Berlin Rabbinical Seminary. He was the most accomplished scholar to lead The Great Synagogue and one of the most learned rabbis to work in Australia. We will explore his religious philosophy based on his writings and speeches over the course of his career.

Speakers

Benjamin Elton

Benjamin Elton is the chief minister of The Great Synagogue. He was educated at Cambridge and London Universities and has a PhD in Jewish history. He received semicha from Yeshivat Chovevei Torah and rabbis in Israel and the UK. He is married to Hinda and they have a daughter, Li... Read More →

Sunday June 14, 2020 7:30pm - 8:30pm AEST
ROOM 2

History and heritage