Community message
- Published
OPENING DOORS, CONFRONTING REALITIES
Supporting vulnerable young people while facing the findings of the Royal Commission.
Dear friends,
Orly House
In a few weeks, a new facility will open in our community called Orly House.
Orly House will provide transitional housing and programs for Jewish young people who are at risk of, or experiencing, homelessness. I want to thank Pathways Melbourne and Lighthouse Foundation for their partnership in making this happen for our community.
This week, Talya Bassin, project coordinator at Lighthouse Foundation, wrote an article in the Australian Jewish News about the care that has been taken to train the staff who will help to run Orly House.
“At Lighthouse, I found something that genuinely reassured me: humility, curiosity and a willingness to learn. Staff had completed training with the JCCV at the Jewish Museum, with more training to come.”
The JCCV is proud to have run our flagship Jewish Immersion Program for Lighthouse Foundation staff setting up Orly House. This program provides Jewish cultural awareness training to hundreds of service providers and employees in key sectors each year.
If you are interested in offering this program to a service provider you work with, or in your workplace, please email community@jccv.org.au.
Support available
I also want to take this opportunity to remind you of the JCCV’s Antisemitism Support Service.
This week, a parent contacted our service to discuss an antisemitic incident that had taken place at their child’s school. With the JCCV’s help, the matter was escalated, the perpetrator suspended and referrals made to relevant educative programs for the entire student body.
Click through for more information on the JCCV’s Antisemitism Support Service:
Interim report
The first report of the Royal Commission on Antisemitism and Social Cohesion was published on Thursday. It confirmed what Jewish communities across Australia have been saying for many months: the Chanukah attack at Bondi Beach followed a period of sustained deterioration of Jewish community safety.
Our thoughts remain with the 15 Australians who lost their lives in the Chanukah attack at Bondi. While the report highlights serious systemic failures, nothing can undo the devastating loss suffered by those families and communities.
But the report notes that antisemitism did not begin on December 14, 2025. Ten months earlier, ASIO had warned that antisemitism was a threat-to-life priority.
Commissioner Virginia Bell used the report to shed light on how we got to that terrible day at Bondi Beach and ensure counter-terrorism measures and gun control form part of the comprehensive response.
We welcome the Prime Minister’s willingness to adopt all recommendations that relate to the Commonwealth, and we urge Victorian Premier Jacinta Allen to similarly commit to adopt all relevant recommendations.
To our Jewish community specifically, we are heartened by the thousands of individuals and organisations making submissions on lived experience of antisemitism.
Those who have not yet done so, please visit ShareYourStory for guidance and support.
These submissions will form important evidence during the next stage of the Royal Commission.
Submission writing workshops
If you are finding it challenging to start or complete your submission, have questions, or would simply like some company and support while you write, there are writing workshops available to help.
Hosted by a range of community organisations, these workshops are facilitated by legal, mental health, and writing professionals who will support you through the process.
