From the President
Dear Friends,
This is my FINAL President’s message as I formally retire as President at our 148th AGM on Sunday 14 September. The AGM will be held at 5pm in the Israel Green Auditorium. I do hope that many of you will be there as we are presenting many exciting matters. The 2025 Annual General Meeting Package has been sent by email to all members. Please advise the office by EMAIL if you have not received that and of either your intention to attend or apologies for the AGM.
I am of course sad to leave both the role of President and the Board and I will miss all of the requirements of this position. Even though it has taken a very considerable amount of my time, I have enjoyed every bit of it. Being President of The Great Synagogue has been an incredible honour.
I would like to thank all members for your support – as I said last week in Shul, you have all contributed to our collective success and it is you who make this community the most outstanding synagogue in Australia.
Our President elect, Max Freedman, will build further on our successes and will lead an even better organisation. I know you will all give him the same support you offered me.
We have over 250 new Members since 2020 and over 400 since 2014. That means that just over half our current membership are ‘new members’ – quite an achievement.
RABBI ELTON AND THE CHIEF RABBI’S PRE-HIGH HOLIDAY CONFERENCE IN LONDON
This Shabbat we are missing Rabbi Elton who is in London speaking on the Condition of Australian Jewry at the Chief Rabbi’s conference. Rabbi Elton will be back with us in time for next Shabbat.
PETA PELLACH SATURDAY 13 SEPTEMBER 11.30AM
Peta Pellach is the Director of Educational Activities for the Elijah Interfaith Institute, secretary of the Jerusalem Rainbow Group for Jewish-Christian Encounter and Dialogue, a co-founder of Praying Together in Jerusalem and a teacher of Torah and Jewish History. Peta will address the community after the service.
CHORAL MIDNIGHT SELICHOT SATURDAY NIGHT 13 SEPTEMBER 10.30PM
Rabbi Feldman will lead a soul stirring journey of song and reflection featuring masterpieces from the golden ages of Jewish music. The Great Synagogue Choir will of course be performing with Rabbi Feldman in what promises to be an inspiring service. I look forward to seeing many of you there.
CHORAL MA’ARIV SERVICE & COMMUNAL DINNER – 22 SEPTEMBER
Rosh Hashanah is less than two weeks away and on Erev RH we have an extra special Communal Dinner with catering by guest chef Michael Rantissi of Kepos Catering. Bookings close soon so please reserve your tickets HERE. Finally, I would often request that members contact me with any questions or suggestions. My direct TGS email address, david@greatsynagogue.com.au, will continue to be active so do not hesitate to contact me if I can assist you.
To all those in our community who are suffering an illness, we wish you a Refu’ah Shleima — a complete and speedy recovery; and to all those commemorating a Yahrzeit, or who have recently suffered a loss, we wish you a long and good life, full of Simchas.
Shabbat Shalom, Shana Tova and All Love,
From the Rabbi
DEVAR TORAH KI TAVO 5785
I send greetings from England where I had the pleasure of attending the Chief Rabbi’s Pre-High Holiday Conference. We were privileged to hear from the Chief Rabbis of Britain and of Israel, international scholars and activists, the head of the UK CST (the equivalent of our CSG), and I was honoured to give a presentation on our experience in Australia and lessons for other communities. I have also been able to pick up the best and newest thinking for building and strengthening communities, which I will bring home and work with the Board to apply over the coming months.
I want to mention the beauties of last Shabbat. On Friday night the choral service was outstanding and the atmosphere very warm, as over seventy people joined us in addition to the regular Friday night congregation, as the Shule hosted Bar and Bat Mitzvah families marking their son or daughter’s milestone last year, this year, or next year. This is the second year we have held this Friday night for a triennial cohort, and I am sure it will become a well-loved tradition.
On Shabbat morning we celebrated the aufruf of Alex Sperling, and on Sunday he and Evelyn Smith-Romero were married in the Shule followed by a wonderful celebration downstairs. We also paid tribute to David Lewis as he came to the end of his Presidency, and we were joined by many leaders from the Jewish and wider community who came to honour David.
I wish the community a successful AGM on Sunday, express my thanks to the outgoing Board, and especially our retiring President, David Lewis. As I said from the pulpit last week, we all owe David a very great deal and I know we wish him and Caroline a restful, but still very present, period ahead.
I am grateful to Rabbi Feldman for overseeing the spiritual care of the community during my absence, and welcome Peta Pellach, a religious Zionist interfaith and peace activist, who will speak to the community before Kiddush. I am looking forward to being back in Shule next Shabbat.
If you start to feel in the mood for matza during the early part of this week’s Torah reading you can thank Professor Pavlov, because the text is used in the Haggadah to describe the suffering in Egypt, the Exodus and our entry into the Land of Israel. The turning point in that retelling is the word ‘va’anunu’ – and we cried out…to the God of our ancestors. Crying out is not enough. The expression of pain is natural, but it is not religious. The religious response is to cry out to God, and specifically the God of our ancestors; that is when, as Jews, we mean business.
Rabbi Sacks tells the story in his commentary to the Haggadah of a highly assimilated French -Jewish couple who has risen socially to become a Count and Countess. The Countess was expecting a child and when she went into labour the Count went into his library. As the pain increased the countess cried ‘mon dieu!’ and the Count’s friends asked if it was time for her husband to go to her. The Count demurred. Then the Countess, English by birth, cried ‘my God!’ but still the Count did not move. Finally, the Countess yelled ‘Ribono shel olam!’ and the Count hurried to be by his wife’s side.
Sometimes our most authentic religious expressions come out at the time of the greatest difficulty, as happened in Egypt and many times since. Our challenge is to be equally authentic and connected to God in happier times.
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