Community message
- Published March 24 2024
- Community Message
Community message from JCCV President, Philip Zajac.
HAMAN AND HAMAS
Today is Purim, a day of joy and celebration. I hope that you are all attending one of the dozens of Megillah readings and parties taking place across our community.This year, we cannot help but reflect on the similarities between the story of Purim, and our story today. Though thousands of years apart, Haman and Hamas’ desire to annihilate the Jewish people is sadly identical. With only one letter difference between their names, they could be one and the same. But we can also look to the story of Purim for other similarities. Queen Esther, with the support of her uncle, stood firm against hate, sounded the alarm and as a result, saved Jewish lives. We have learnt of so many tales of courage and leadership recently, of people who have emulated Queen Esther: the mostly female border guards who bravely sounded the alarm before and on October 7; those who tirelessly campaign for the liberation of the hostages; and the allies who continue to travel to Israel to bear witness to the massacre at the Nova Festival and border towns.I hope you too can take inspiration from the Purim story in these challenging times. We all need to stand up against hate and sound the alarm at injustice.
WAITING FOR ACTION
This week, I met with the Police Minister Anthony Carbines at Parliament. This is not the first time I have met with Minister Carbines since October 7, but, as I reminded him, our community is still waiting for action by Government to address anti-Jewish hate and violence in Victoria.I get stopped all the time by community members asking what the Government is doing to support our community. While Minister Carbines and his colleagues have listened attentively to leaders, the time for action is overdue. I also met this week with Melbourne Deputy Lord Mayor Nicholas Reece. Even though the unbalanced ceasefire motion was defeated by Melbourne City Council, there is still a lot of work to be done to make the CBD a welcoming place for Jewish Victorians.
The JCCV is calling for:
- Changes to police operational guidelines to ensure it is not always Jewish people who are moved on;
- The urgent introduction of planned anti-vilification legal reforms;
- Government to publicly dissociate from community leaders who create community division or support terrorism;
- Recognition by Government, Melbourne City Council and others that more needs to be done to make the CBD a welcoming place for all Victorians.
OUR STORIES
Last weekend, Kadimah’s production of Yentl finished after a short run at the Malthouse Theatre. Yentl played to large audiences and received much-deserved standing ovations. It was a triumph of the richness of Jewish culture and the talent of local Jewish creatives both on stage and back-stage. This week is Cultural Diversity Week in Australia. The theme this year is “Our Shared Stories” and it led the JCCV office to reflect on some of the iconic stories from our community. If you haven’t read these ones yet, I would certainly encourage you to:
- Too Many Men, Lily Brett
- The Strength of Hope, Abram Goldberg and Fiona Harris
- Abomination, Ashley Goldberg
- The Keeper of Miracles, Phillip Maisel
- The Book of Dirt, Bram Presser
- Café Scheherazade, Arnold Zable
COMMUNITY KOVED
Our inaugural Community Koved goes to Kylie Appel, Susie Ivany OAM and Tamar Paluch, the brains behind the “InternationALL Women’s Day” collaboration to reclaim Jewish Australian women’s voices. Kol hakavod Kylie, Susie and Tamar on this brilliant initiative.
Follow them on Instagram @internationallwomensday
Please send your nominations for Community Koved to community@jccv.org.au
For media inquiries, please contact the JCCV on +61 3 9272 5566 or email community@jccv.org.au
