AUSTRALIAN JEWISH HISTORICAL SOCIETY INC. Member of the JCA Family of Communal Organisations

NEWSLETTER ------Address: 146 Darlinghurst Road, Issue No 113. September 2018. Darlinghurst NSW 2010 ISSN-0816-714-1 Website: www.ajhs.com.au Telephone: (02) 9380-5145 Email address: [email protected] ------

The Australian Jewish Historical Society is a member of the JCA family of organisation

ROSH HASHANA GREETINGS

The President and Committee of the Australian Jewish Historical Society extends to all its readers its best wishes, L’Shona Tova Tikatevu, and hope it will be a good year for all Israel, and especially for the members of the Australian Jewish Historical Society.

VALETE LOUISE ROSENBERG OAM (1914 – 2018)

Louise with great grandchildren: - Abby Helm, Anna Helm, Celia Nguyen and Noah Nguyen (2010).

Louise Rosenberg passed away on 19 August 2018 at the remarkable age of exactly 104 years and 6 months. Her funeral was held on 21 August 2018 where Rabbi Elton delivered the eulogy.

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Eulogy: Louise Rosenberg OAM, 21 August 2018 Rabbi Dr Benjamin Elton, The Great

This is the funeral of a phenomenon. Louise Rosenberg OAM, Liba bat Chanoch, died at the age of exactly 104 and a half. There is a vanishingly small proportion of people who live to that great age. And she was still active until very near the end. She was at the Falk Lecture earlier this year. She attended the kiddush to celebrate the birth of my daughter about six weeks ago. The fact that my daughter met her, a woman born over a century before she herself was born, will be something I will tell her, and I hope she will treasure.

Louise really lived two lives. The first was a conventional life as a housewife and mother. The second, when she became independent, was of voluntary work, interests, friendship and scholarship.

Louise was born in Mosman in February 1914 to Henry and Celia Rosenberg nee Weingot. There is a parochet, and Ark curtain in The dedicated to her parents. Weingots had been in for many years, some from the time of the 1850s gold rush, and Louise still had the ship ticket that brought them here. They were long standing members of Newtown Synagogue.

Her father had gone from Europe to England to Australia. He was a window dresser and was head hunted by Grace Bros and brought to Australia. They had seen a window he had dressed for a sale, with a ship’s sail prominently displayed, and this ingenuity caught their attention. Louise spent her early years in Penrith, while her father Henry commuted to Sydney. During the depression years she ran a general store in Memerambi, Queensland, with her brother Sam.

In 1938 Louise was taken by her father to Palestine to meet his cousin, who was her age, Werner/Moishe Rosenberg, a locksmith. The couple returned to Australia in 1942 with their daughter Ruth Marianne, living for several years in the Blue Mountains, where Moishe had a chicken farm. Late, she and Moishe divorced and Louise came to Sydney.

When Louise moved to Sydney she managed the property she inherited and bought a house in Castle Cove where she lived for sixty years, latterly sharing her home with her grandson, Martin. When she came to Sydney she joined The Great Synagogue. She was a member of the Women’s Auxiliary and contributed regularly to the Synagogue Journal. She was truly beloved at The Great. Every year on her birthday the Women’s Auxiliary hosted a special kiddush in her honour, and I always made a point of welcoming her from the pulpit whenever she was in shule.

At The Great, Morris Forbes encouraged her to get involved with the Australian Jewish Historical Society. They became great friends and she was also a good friend of Morris’s sister Hannah. Louise was the Honorary Secretary of the AJHS for twenty-two years (1967-1989). She also acted as the Society’s genealogist. For many years she carried out her research at The Great Synagogue on a daily basis and had a prodigious memory for Jewish family names. She knew the Society Journal so well that she could go to a required article without the need to consult either an index or a list of contents. She contributed reports, articles and reviews for many years.

Among her many achievements was an extremely comprehensive biography of Rabbi Abraham Tobias Boas which was published by the Society. She was a Fellow of the AJHS and its Honorary Historian. Louise wrote three books: Of Folk Tales and Jewish Folk; True Blue ; Collected Essays of the Adult Study Group, which she edited. Each displayed her wonderful command of English. As a historian she taught the Sydney Jewish community about its own past, explained the present through revealing what came before. She safeguarded our memories and enhanced our insight.

Until remarkably recently Louise still had her sharp mind. She loved to read and to walk her dog and to solve problems. For a while she kept five bull terriers at one time and loved them. She kept in touch regularly with her family in and her friends and cousins in Sydney. 2 Louise had her favourite expressions: ‘no complaints’ – as she said to me when I saw her in hospital a few week ago; and ‘my tomorrows will be better than my yesterdays’. She told the nurses when she was in hospital most recently that they were ‘a thing of beauty and a joy forever’. She was a very positive person and loved by all who knew her.

I would like to acknowledge Helen Bersten who was a tremendous support, especially from 2012. Despite accidents and ill health, Louise kept bouncing back. Eventually she just stopped eating, but she was still chatting the day before she died.

In just three weeks we will be standing in shule asking God to write us in the Book of Life. For more times than almost anyone else who has ever lived, God wrote the name Liba bat Chanoch over and over again in the Book of Life. That in itself is a sign a great merit. But now we have faith that her tomorrows will be better than her yesterday. She has gone from life very nearly eternal, to life truly eternal. She will be remembered as a loved and unique member of our community, who contributed a huge amount to our community’s understanding of itself. May her memory be a blessing.

To honour her memory, we are reprinting her last contribution to the Society, at the age of 101.

WHAT IT MEANS TO BE A JEW IN A CIVILISED SOCIETY Louise Rosenberg, OAM (Dictated to Helen Bersten - November 2015)

My mother was wrong when she said to me, “Don’t flaunt your Jewishness”, because I got the impression it was something to be ashamed of. My mother, Celia Weingott, had grown up in Mosman, having been born in Sydney before the turn of the twentieth century where her family became members of the Newtown Jewish community.

I grew up in Penrith where my parents settled after their marriage. My father, Henry Rosenberg, who had emigrated from England, refused my mother permission to visit her family. I have to agree with the man who wrote, “Childhood wasn’t much of a pastime, and I don’t want there to be a next time, because I remember the last time.” I am fond of saying, “I wouldn’t go back for quids”.

My primary years were especially unhappy. I‘ll call her Miss Smith, because that was her name – the anti- Semitic teacher I had in the 1920s who would call me out to the front of the class to show my hands, whereupon she would say, “These are the bitten fingernails of a Jew!” I don’t know why she was like that, but no matter how much my father tried to placate her, it was to no avail, so my parents made the decision to send me to a private Anglican school, where I had no further problems.

Maisie Woodward was a friend at the second school, which I left at about age 16 to work in my father’s office in Bond Street, Sydney. He was a commercial traveler. When the Depression came, my father arranged for my brother Sam and me to run a general store in Memerambi, Queensland, but there were no Jews there.

My dilemma was that my mother had taught me that the Jews were special (and even better than others). Then this woman Smith belittled me and mum then taught me to keep a low profile, however at the same time, she threatened that marrying out would bring me bad luck. So my father took me to Israel where I met and married my cousin, Moishe Rosenberg. After living there for three years, we returned to Sydney with our daughter, Marianne, and settled in Leura where the Weissman family owned the famous resort, “Chateau Napier”. They held Seders for a number of years in the resort and so I kept a link to . I am still friendly with their daughter, Ruth Mc Donald.

I became truly involved in the Jewish community after my relocation to Sydney in the late 1950s when I joined the Great Synagogue where I was one of the early members of the Jewish Adult Study and Discussion Group. Rabbi Lubovsky was the first Study Advisor to the Group which was founded by Jacques Goldman and continued from 1958 to 1978. A reunion was held in 1993. (The “Chateau” was destroyed by fire in December1957. The stone entrance gate to the property is all that remains today).

I remember Jacques as well as Mark Pritchard, Hans Dreyer and his wife, Edith, Frank and Edith Sowey and Solomon Stedman. Mark came from Manchester. For many years I received the Manchester Chronicle from 3 my friend Anthony Joseph in England and would pass it onto Mark. About 500 essays were produced by the Group and some were published, five in a Journal produced by Hans Dryer and 27 by me in a book about the group. (Some of the original essays are held by the Australian Jewish historical Society). There is also a chapter on the Group in my book True Blue Jews. (This name was suggested by my daughter Marianne.) The first book I wrote was Of Jewish Folktales and Jewish Folk.

At the Great Synagogue I met Morris Forbes, whom I always addressed as Mr. Forbes. He encouraged me to write for the Synagogue Journal. He was also the secretary of the AJHS and suggested that I take over the position. I said “I couldn’t do that” and he replied “I’ll show you”, said with such persuasion that I did it and remained secretary for 25 years. I am pleased that I was able to call Mr. Forbes a friend for 40 years. During those years I arranged an exhibition called “Treasures of the Great Synagogue” and wrote an article for the AJHS Journal. I corresponded for many years with members in England and Israel. I also became a tour guide in the Great when it opened its doors to the public. I was a member of the G.S. Journal committee and Ladies’ Auxiliary.

I have been a member of the Great for the last 60 years and have honoured my mother with an ark curtain. Every year I commemorate the yahrzeits of my parents, Celia and Henry Rosenberg, my brother Sam and my daughter as well as Morris Forbes and his sister Hannah Himmelferb.

I have never experienced personal antisemitism again and am proud of my Jewish heritage, continuing to nd attend shule as often as I can. With God’s help I hope to be there for my 102 birthday on February 19, 2016.

GOULBURN HISTORIC JEWISH CEMETERY RESTORATION PROJECT Gary Luke

The historic Jewish cemetery at Goulburn is a half-acre lot on Long Street. It is listed as a heritage site on the Local Environment Plan of Goulburn-Mulwaree Council. http://www.environment.nsw.gov.au/heritageapp/ViewHeritageItemDetails.aspx?ID=1630015 http://www.environment.nsw.gov.au/heritageapp/ViewHeritageItemDetails.aspx?ID=2933167

There were approximately 30 burials between mid-1840s and mid-1940s. Fewer than a dozen headstones still exist, including a few broken in pieces. The marked graves are all in the rear one third of the property. It’s not known if burials occurred in other parts of the property. Remnants of previous structures on the site include stones from a ruined caretaker’s cottage, which were used to construct a cairn and the front wall. There’s also a well filled with rubble. The cairn has a brass plate with names of burials, many are incorrect.

The historic Jewish cemeteries at Goulburn and Maitland are the only exclusive Jewish burial grounds in NSW. All the other Jewish cemeteries are portions of Crown Land general cemeteries. Both these cemeteries are closed and no burials are permitted.

Proposal • Replace the brass plaque with corrected names. • Commission Ground Penetrating Radar to find location of unmarked graves and the cottage. • Design and erect interpretive panels. • Archaeological exploration of the well.

Register an Association None of this can be done by a well-meaning group of individuals unless constituted as some form of legal entity. An Association registered by Fair Trading allows a group to engage in contracts, make financial commitments, apply for grants, and be free of individual personal liability, with low admin overheads. Establishing an Association under NSW legislation requires a minimum of five members. It will also ensure ongoing management and care of the cemetery for the future.

Trustees Currently there are three registered trustees. One wishes to vacate his position and have someone appointed in his stead. Various responsibilities & rights shared among trustees and members of the association will need to be determined. 4

Tax deductible donations The National Trust of NSW can establish a bank account in partnership with an organisation, to receive tax deductable donations for work on heritage sites. A partner account of the Jewish Cemetery Trust of Rookwood, which was dissolved in 2012, holds funds which can possibly be re-assigned to an organisation which conducts conservation and heritage related work on regional Jewish cemeteries.

Initial Tasks, before any site work or fund raising • Register an association • Appoint trustees • Establish a National Trust donation funding account • PR in Jewish and Goulburn communities

Grants The Heritage Council of the NSW Office of Environment & Heritage will probably invite applications for a two year grant programme later this year, usually in October. http://www.environment.nsw.gov.au/Heritage/funding/index.htm

The project may also be eligible for grants from other community support bodies.

If you would like to take part in this project, or if you are unsure at present but genuinely curious. Please contact Gary Luke:- [email protected]; Mobile 0439-451-571

Editor: - Clause 4 of the Society’s Objects states “To use its influence to secure the preservation of places of Jewish communal interest, such as old synagogue buildings, cemeteries, etc.” The Society will be participating and involved in this project and anyone who is interested is urged to contact Gary.

THE JEW OF WANAARING* Max Kamien

The Society recently received the following enquiry from Dr Max Kamien in Perth.

I am seeking information about a Jewish couple, Max and Rita Haim, who lived in the Far West of NSW from about 1950 to 1980.

I was a GP in Bourke in 1970-3.

One Sunday in May, 1970, the sole bush nurse called me to Wanaaring because she was worried that the sole policeman was going to shoot the sole school teacher whom he called ‘a mad dog.’ I had already met the teacher on one of his trips to Bourke. He was eccentric and, being the second son of a British marquis, insisted that everyone address him as ' the honourable'. This did not go down well in Wanaaring.

The teacher was barricaded in the one room school. The reason for his ‘mad dog’ behaviour was that he had a Bell's palsy that he thought was going to spread all over his body and leave him paralysed. I put him in my car to drive back to Bourke. I called in to the hotel to get some cool drink for the journey. There I met the owners, Max and Rita Haim. He had a soft voice but with a harsh German accent. Rita spoke English with a Polish accent, similar to that of my parents. She had red painted finger nails and her dress was more suited to a café in Vienna than to a pub in outback Australia. She also had a concentration camp number tattooed on the inside of her left arm. I wanted to spend more time with them but I needed to get my patient out of Wanaaring and far distant from the ‘aggro’ police constable.

In 2016, I organised marking the 1917 grave of a WW 1 internee, Leon Braunstein, with a Magen David. He was a tailor working in Singapore. He had a German passport. Although known to be Jewish, he was buried in the Presbyterian section of the Bourke Cemetery under an inlaid Celtic Cross. That event re-sparked my curiosity about Max Haim and his family. I have spoken with several residents of Wanaaring and various Aboriginal elders who knew them. But none know their pre- or post Wanaaring story.

I interviewed Colin Leigo, a lifelong resident of Wanaaring.

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Max Haim first turned up driving an old International truck. He was a hawker of clothing to the small towns in Western and South-West Queensland. He did this in the 1950s and 1960s. My father loaned Max money to build the hotel in Wanaaring. Max was grateful and always shouted Dad to a couple of free beers.

Max was solidly built, muscular not fat and had dark curly hair. He was quietly spoken with a deep ”Jewish voice”. Max was hard-working. “No day was too long for him”. He was ‘a kind genuine bloke, very community minded and always gave donations to sporting events and community organisations, especially the Bush Nurses Association.

After Sunday sporting events, he would provide alcohol through the backdoor of the pub, since Sunday trading was only legal for itinerant travellers. A lot of single men used to come and stay in Wanaaring between jobs. They would put their money on the tab and drink for several days until the money had run out. Max found them work so that they had a bit more money to either keep drinking or to move on to the next town. Max had a brother who ran a clothing shop in Paris. Some Wanaaring people visited that brother on their trip to Europe. They reported that he had a similar disposition to Max. Max was known in Wanaaring as ‘the Jew’. This did not seem to worry him in the least.

His wife, Rita, was seen less often than was Max. She was thin, always well dressed with red finger nails and was “kindly spoken”. She had a number tattooed on her left arm. There was one son Jeffrey or Geoffrey, who would now be about 60. He lost one eye in a children’s sword fight.

I also interviewed June Smith: A Bourke Aboriginal elder of my long acquaintance:

Many of the older Aborigines were sometimes employed by him. They speak well of him. Some older Aborigines who knew Max Haim ask if all Jews are called ‘Max’ and see us as a kindred persecuted people. That is their current explanation for my long- term association with them. They know about and are proud of the actions of William Cooper and his fellow Yorta Yorta elders after Kristallnacht.

TROVE newspapers : at least 66 news items from Wanaaring News section of The Western Herald (Bourke) many of which reflect Max Haim’s generosity in donating trophies for a variety of local sporting events (Max Haim Shield for cricket; Max Haim Cup for darts; mini-golf trophy) sponsoring and supporting various events (eg donating a case of cordial to the 1965 Motorkhana) and fundraising for the Bush Nursing Association (such as the golf night in 1968 celebrating the start of night golf under floodlights on the course behind the Victoria Hotel which is referred to as the ‘thirst hospital’, and donating 10% of bar takings at the 1968 Gumbalara Rodeo – raising an impressive $56). An item from Friday 18 April 1958 talks about the new publican Max Haim being welcomed to the Hotel.

That is as far as I have been able to go. I cannot find out where they are buried (I assume that one or both would not be alive) nor the whereabouts of their son who could be the key to my quest. My query is; Could they be somewhere in the records of the AJHS and, if not, could I be guided on where else to look.

We replied to Max, having found the following additional information.

Marcel (Max) Haim was born in Wronky, Poland on 30 January 1920. His father, Siegmund, was also born there on 20 October 1867 and was a tailor by profession. His mother was Henrietta Katz and she was born in Kurnik, Poland in 1883. They were married in Kurnik and were living in Berlin in the years before WWII. According to the records of Yad Vashem, they both perished in the Holocaust and Henrietta was at Sobidor.

Max came to Australia with the aid of the Jewish Aid Society, Melbourne, landing at Fremantle on 4 July1939. He was 19 years of age at the time and gave his occupation as ‘plumber’. During the War he enlisted in the ‘Citizen Military Forces’, his Service Number was N346753.

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Rita Haim (nee Landsmann) was born in Munich. Her father, Simon Landsmann, was a ‘merchant’. Her mother, Katharina Sattler, was not born Jewish. However, she converted and they were married in a synagogue in Munich. The tattoo on Rita’s left arm indicates that she was a survivor of Auschwitz. There are no other records of Rita’s parents. One can only assume they did not survive Auschwitz. Rita arrived in Australia in 1947, aged 21, the exact date is not known.

Max and Rita were married at The Great Synagogue in Sydney on 20 June 1948. Max was living at 49 Goodhope St, Paddington and his occupation was still ‘plumber’. Rita was living at Flat 8, Vialoux Avenue, Paddington and stated her occupation as ‘machinist’. According to the Electoral Rolls they initially established their matrimonial home at Rita’s before moving to 8 Jellicoe Street, Lidcombe by which time Max’s occupation had become ‘salesman’. On the 1968 Electoral Roll, Max and Rita’s address is Victoria Hotel, Wanaaring and Max’s occupation is ‘publican’.

On the 1972 Electoral Roll, Max is listed as the publican of the Victoria Hotel in Wanaaring. However, Rita is now living at 21 Cobran Road, Cheltenham. Also living at this address is ‘Geoffrey Simon Haim’. This is interesting because it is very common amongst Jewish people to name children after a grandparent. It also means that Geoffrey was more than 21 years of age as the voting age was not lowered to 18 until 1973. This would put his birth year between 1949 and 1951. The 1977 Electoral Roll shows that Max, Rita and Geoffrey were all living at Cheltenham. However, the 1980 Electoral Roll shows only Max and Rita living at Cheltenham. Presumably, Geoffrey who by then was around thirty years of age had decided to ‘move out of home’. There are no later Electoral Rolls to search. Unfortunately, we have been unable to find any more information on Rita and Geoffrey who, if still living, would be around 92 and 70 years of age, respectively.

Marcel (Max) Haim died on 6 March 1987 at the age 67. His address at the time of death was Cheltenham. He was buried on 9 March 1987 in the Jewish section of the Macquarie Park Cemetery. A Death Notice appeared in the Sydney Morning Herald on 7 March 1987.

The inscription on the grave reads: - In Memory of Marcel Haim – Husband of Rita – Father of Geoffrey

Anyone able to provide further information should contact the Society at [email protected] or direct to Max Kamien at [email protected]

*Wanaaring is a village in north western New South Wales, Australia. Situated on the Paroo River, some 980 km from Sydney, and 180 km west of Bourke. At the 2011 census, Wanaaring had a population of 140. Wanaaring is on the "Cut Line" road between the town of Bourke, and the desert village of Tibooburra. Long distance travellers often stop at Wanaaring for meals or to refuel. Wanaaring is in outback Australia, in remote agricultural country. The grazing lands support cattle, sheep and goats. Honey is also produced. An all-weather air strip is located east of the village centre. (Wikipedia) 7

AUSTRALIA AND THE COMMUNAL SEDER Raymond Apple, emeritus rabbi of the Great Synagogue, Sydney

The community Seder is a widespread feature of Passover observance. Its Australian version began in the late 19th century – not for ideological but practical reasons, when the Montefiore Homes in Melbourne and Sydney found it necessary to cater for residents and their guests. Many years later, large Sedarim were instituted by – first, the Liberal Temples in Melbourne and Sydney, and then various orthodox congregations, as well as communal centres and organisations. In post war Sydney there were large Sedarim run by B’nai B’rith and the NSW Jewish War Memorial, in both cases drawing their officiants from the nearby Great Synagogue.

Sometimes a Seder turned into a State occasion, such as one which the in Sydney held in the Synagogue precincts to mark a congregational anniversary in the presence of the then Governor of New South Wales. In some cases, public venues were utilised, for example when Temple Beth Israel in Melbourne used the St. Kilda Town Hall for a large-scale Seder. For this occasion, the Temple issued its own Haggadah which was later revised by Rabbi John Levi.

There were often grumbles about the quality and taste of the food when the (generally volunteer) Seder staff did not use certain families’ time-honoured recipes. Before the advent of professional kosher caterers, the food (in those days generally fried fish) was prepared by ladies from the community. Often, especially. in World War II, the catering was done under difficult conditions when some food items were scarce. At times there was even a shortage of matzah.

When kosher catering firms developed, most caterers koshered their kitchens for Pesach and supplied take- away items such as gefilte fish, matzah balls and haroset. The kashrut supervision, however, was not always easy. One Pesach, though the food for a congregational Seder at the Sydney Great Synagogue had all been prepared under hashgahah (rabbinic supervision), the rabbi walked into the kitchen and found the non- Jewish chef and the synagogue janitor sharing a bottle of beer (which Jewish law forbade on Passover). The people gathering in the Shule hall wondered why they heard the rabbi shouting in the kitchen and causing a delay whilst corrective actions were taken.

It was customary for Jewish schools and part-time classes to hold model or demonstration Sedarim for children (and their parents) to train them in the songs and procedures of the Seder. It was found that these were sometimes the only Seders that some families had that year or at all. Zionist youth organisations frequently held a Third Seder on Hol HaMo’ed (the intermediate days of the festival) with an amended Haggadah that linked the occasion with Eretz Yisra’el.

Australian Jewry picked up another precedent when, like elsewhere, people went away for the festival, often to hotels at holiday resorts, at which places large numbers shared a Seder in the main banqueting room whilst some families insisted on a private Seder in a room of their own.

Colloquially termed “Pesach Away”, these events at first met with considerable criticism. Some rather cynical critics grumbled about it being a confidence trick to enable housewives to avoid the hard work at home, but before long the critics changed their tune and admitted that group Pesach celebrations began in Biblical days with groups joining to eat the paschal lamb and ponder the Exodus. By Mishnaic times there must have been a form of communal Seder, since the rabbinic sages debated whether one might go from one company (haburah) to another on Seder night.

Community celebrations seem to have taken place on a regular basis in Babylon and Spain. In Ashkenazi countries some families brought in experts to run their Seder, which incidentally disproves the common view that every Jew was learned in Hebrew and orthodox-observant in olden days. Sometimes everyone repeated each word after the officiant, who would go from house to house to guide families in their festival observances, then returning home for his own Seder.

There is telling evidence of community Sedarim when the Jerusalem Talmud states at the end of tractate Berakhot, “He who has heard Hallel in the synagogue on Seder night has fulfilled his obligation.” The 8 words “in the synagogue” could possibly be interpreted broadly to indicate a public form of observance. In the 14th century the liturgist David Abudarham refers to a Babylonian or Spanish usage of a Seder in the synagogue precincts for those who were unschooled in the festival procedures. Possibly it was not a full Seder in the synagogue but an entree, after which people would go home, eat a vegetable hors d’oeuvre (karpas), say the blessing “Who has redeemed us”, drink a second cup of wine, and proceed with the rest of the Seder.

This evidence indicates that there were always people whose Hebrew knowledge and Jewish skills were poor. It was regarded as important that no-one, child or adult, would be denied a Seder because of ignorance, age, illness or disability.

One of the historical features of Australian Jewry has been the disappearance of the early country congregations and their recent re-emergence in different places and different forms. The new Jewish groups arrange Sedarim in locations as disparate as North Queensland or the NSW Central Coast. In some parts of Australia, the annual Seder gatherings, whilst not always fully traditional or strictly kosher, are social highlights for far-flung Jewish residents. Examples are Sedarim in the Northern Territory, where there has never been a formal Jewish congregation or community, and small clusters of Jews in other Australian regions and towns, sometimes comprising medical personnel posted to hospitals in regions which have hardly any resident Jews. To facilitate such gatherings, Passover requisites including Haggadot are supplied by the capital-city communities.

The Chabad movement has recently taken responsibility for organising and conducting a number of Sedarim. In some cases (e.g. Launceston in Tasmania), such events are held at Chabad Houses. Wherever RARA (“Rural and Regional Australia”) find Jews they organise Sedarim, which, in their case, are always fully traditional and kosher. Nowhere in Australia, however, do they have the massive crowds that come to Chabad Sedarim in Nepal and other parts of the Far East.

From time to time members of the Australian Defence Force (including military personnel from other countries) join local families for Seder, but in places without a Jewish community they mostly have to fend for themselves with Haggadot, Pesach food and guidance from the larger cities. Sometimes requests from military personnel are the first indication of the religious identity and even the existence of Jewish members of ADF and where they are located. In the Northern Territory there are sometimes Jewish medical personnel at local hospitals who take Defence Force members under their aegis.

Wartime Sedarim were conducted at Australian military bases by Jewish chaplains – Rabbi D.I. Freedman in World War I; Rabbi Jacob Danglow in both World Wars; Rabbi L.M. Goldman and Rabbi Louis Rubin- Zacks in World War II. In 1919, a large-scale Seder in Paris was conducted by Rabbi Danglow for Allied troops in the presence of Sir John Monash. During the Second World War a Haggadah (reprinted from an English edition) was issued under Rabbi Danglow’s auspices with the sponsorship of local patriotic funds. There was also a special High Holyday prayer book on similar lines which Australian troops used where necessary. Both publications were also utilised by American chaplains, although the Australian books were poorly produced and less attractive than the Siddurim published by the Americans themselves. World War II saw large contingents of American Jewish servicemen in Brisbane, where Rev and Mrs Joseph Wolman organised large-scale Sedarim for them.

Recent years brought significant numbers of Jews to Australia from the former Soviet Union. Amongst community organisations that went out of their way to host Russian Jews for Seder was the Great Synagogue, which secured and distributed Russian-language Haggadot. The Synagogue found, however, that after the Seder meal was over many of the Russians had departed, as had the Haggadot. Hopefully this meant that the people concerned would have their own Sedarim in future, but it may be that the majority of former Russians, unused to Passover or any other Jewish observance, simply ignored the occasion.

Australia has never produced very much local Jewish liturgical material. The Haggadah is an exception, but Australian versions are rarely works of great scholarship or art but user-friendly practical compilations. The only Australian version with significant artistic content was produced in Melbourne in about 1992, with calligraphy and illustrations by Victor Majzner. A Temple Beth Israel Seder was compiled and published by Rabbi John Levi, embellished with the rabbi’s own insights.

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A number of orthodox rabbis circulate thoughts and interpretations of the Seder, generally by means of email, though few have embarked upon publishing their own full Haggadot with commentaries – certainly not Haggadot with Australian artistic and other features.

Throughout its history the Jewish people has valued Pesach over almost every other religious observance. Statistics show that over 90% of Jews participate in some form of Passover observance. For obvious reasons, the message of freedom has a special resonance for Jews, no matter where they are or which era they inhabit. Far-off Australia is an example of the “freedom” theme. Its message is, “Other places made it as hard for Jews as they could, but here we are free to be ourselves and follow our distinctive traditions.” This aspect of Passover attracted widespread media coverage in times of great Jewish immigration to Australia.

It’s not only the “big” themes which arouse almost universal interest, however. The sights, songs and even smells of the festival evoke emotional feelings even for people who are otherwise distant from their traditions. Far away from the great pulsating centres of Jewish life, either in Europe before 1939 or in Israel and other countries after World War II, Australian Jewry has been part of this phenomenon. We might well adapt the famous words of Ahad Ha’am about and say, “More than the Jewish people have kept Pesach, Pesach has kept the Jewish people”.

COWRA’S OTHER WARTIME STORY: A HAVEN FOR JEWS WHO FLED THE NAZIS. Steve Meacham (Originally published by the Australian online publication Plus61j.net.au.)

In August 2018 the NSW town of Cowra celebrated the 74th anniversary of the infamous Cowra breakout, when 1100 Japanese prisoners staged the largest World War II prison escape on Australian soil. But this pleasant town, in a farming district 314km west of Sydney, has another war tale to tell, the little-known story of a settlement that became a haven for Jewish refugees who had fled Europe in the months before the war. There’s little left now to mark the Mooringa settlement on the Forbes Road out of Cowra but thanks to historian, and long-time Cowra resident, Graham Apthorpe, the record of an extraordinary period of Australian Jewish history survives.

Following Nazi Germany’s implementation of the infamous Nuremberg Laws in 1936, expatriate Jewish organisations sought to spirit as many potential victims out of Germany and Eastern Europe as possible. The United States, Britain, even Shanghai, became potential sanctuaries. In Australia, Jewish leaders appealed to Canberra to take Jewish refugees. And in December 1938 – following the Nazi occupation of Austria and Czechoslovakia – Joe Lyons’ Labor government agreed to take an unprecedented 15,000 escaping Jews. Of course, it came with conditions, explains Apthorpe, author of two books about wartime Cowra and chair of next year’s commemoration of the Cowra Breakout. “The usual £500 landing fee would be reduced to £200 for those with relatives in Australia and £30 for those with sponsors, provided all Jewish immigrants would be the responsibility of the local Jewish communities.”

What Australia needed in wartime was food, particularly vegetables, poultry, sheep – and pigs. “The Australian Jewish Welfare Service established two companies,” Apthorpe says. “One was the Mutual Farm Ltd and the other was Mutual Enterprises Ltd. “The aim was to settle as many of these Jewish refugees into agricultural enterprises as soon as possible to satisfy the government’s requirements and guarantee the newcomers would not be a burden on the Australian purse.” The refugees were all city folk and few of these men, women and children had worked on the land. Most of the records of the farms they were sent to have been lost but they included, Apthorpe says, “poultry farms, vegetable farms and rice farms”.

The main training occurred at Chelsea Park in Sydney’s Baulkham Hills. “Records indicate that in 1940 over 200 people were trained and 25 families moved to their own properties, while 28 married couples were in rural employment along with 63 young men working as farm labourers. An additional 52 trainees were in residence at Chelsea Park while several families were awaiting entry in 1940.” Apthorpe interviewed four key characters – Harry Cromer, Claude Newcombe, Margit Scouller and George Bluth. Cromer was the last survivor, passing away recently, aged 101. Apthorpe also spoke to Kurt Pisk, who is the little boy dressed in lederhosen in the group photo of the Mooringa community. Born in Austria in 1937, Kurt’s parents Fred and Anna fled Vienna after the Anschluss of March 1938, when Hitler annexed their country. During their time at Mooringa, the Pisks were allocated two Italian POWs to help them with the farm work. The Italians earned respect by making rings out of “the King’s coinage” – then, as now, a crime.

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Mooringa – a 100-hectare property – was purchased by Mutual Farms in September 1940. During the war it was home to seven Jewish families, with about 14 men working it. By then, as the war had begun, the Jewish refugees found they had a new problem. As German and Austrian citizens, who had arrived with swastikas on their passports, they were regarded as “enemy aliens” and threatened with internment.

Eventually, Apthorpe says, sanity prevailed. “How can we be Nazi sympathisers when we’re fleeing the Nazis?” they asked. Eventually, they were declared “friendly aliens”. At Mooringa, the refugees were helped by local families – as is evident from the collection of rare photos Apthorpe recorded (mainly from Harry Cromer’s photo album) that includes images of Charles Greaves, Mel Blume and “Mr and Mrs” Bradford.

It’s a wonder Cromer took any photos at all because he was prosecuted at Cowra Court for “being in possession of a camera”, and it was confiscated – even though he told the magistrate he’d bought it to take pictures of his baby daughter.

But this was typical of the times. The refugees at Mooringa were forbidden binoculars, motor vehicles, firearms, carrier pigeons and even torches – in case they used them to advantage the very enemy they had escaped. Regulations insisted the Mooringa Jews had to report each week to the local police sergeant in Cowra. That entailed a lengthy trip by horse and sulky – made more difficult because Gypsy, the horse, was blind in one eye and would shy at any impediment. According to Apthorpe, the sensible sergeant – realising none of the Jews were a risk to Allied security – told them to report once a month.

Photos show the refugees slowly learning how to prosper on the land and survive Australia. They are shown taking “a smoko” outside a tent. Building their huts. Cutting gum trees into fence posts. Working with horses. Learning to plough and harvest. Posing for photos by the Lachlan river on rare days off and counting themselves among the lucky ones. They were still under surveillance. A 1942 report by the Intelligence Section at the Cowra POW Camp noted there was “a small colony of Austro-Jews at Mulyan on the Canowindra Road”. As Apthorpe points out, both the name of the property and the location were incorrect.

For most of the war, Mooringa was a harsh but happy place. The main problem came at shearing time. “When the middle aged and highly unionised shearers turned up, Mooringa changed dramatically,” Apthorpe says. “Meals had to be ready at a specific time, and work started and stopped by the clock.”

The community at Mooringa began to disintegrate from 1942 once the Jewish men were allowed to enlist in the Australian armed forces. By February 1944, the Cowra Guardian was lamenting that “the German Jew Settlement on the Lachlan River” had been sold and broken up “when many of our boys are returning and want a crack at the land”.

Fred Pisk digging a fence hole Harry Cromer With local farmer, George Noble

Photos: Cowra Shire Council and the11 private collection of Harry Cromer

DEDICATION OF THE AUSTRALIAN JEWISH WAR MEMORIAL AND COMMEMORATION OF THE CENTENARY OF GENERAL SIR JOHN MONASH KNIGHTHOOD National Jewish Memorial Centre, Canberra Sunday 12 August 2018 Adele Rosalky - President, AJHS ACT

2018 marks the centenary of the final stages of the battles on the Western Front that led to the German surrender and the end of WWI. July and August 1918 were critical months with major battles executed by the Australian Army Corps under the command of Lieutenant-General John Monash. These major victories, the Battle of Hamel on 4 July, followed by the Battle of Amiens on 8 August, are credited with having shortened the course of the war.

Following these victories Monash was knighted by King George V at Bertangles, France on 12 August 1918, the first person to be knighted on the field of battle by a British monarch in 200 years. This auspicious centenary, 100 years to the day, was commemorated at the National Jewish Memorial Centre, the home of the ACT Jewish Community in Canberra.

Photographer: Adele Rosalky

At a solemn ceremony, the new national war memorial, named the Australian Jewish War Memorial, was unveiled and dedicated by the Governor-General Sir Peter Cosgrove AK MC, Governor-General of Australia, and Lady Cosgrove, in the presence of the Chief of the Defence Force General Angus Campbell AO DSC. Also in attendance were political representatives, including Julian Leeser MP who read the Prime Minister’s message, clergy, diplomats and military chaplains.

The cenotaph, a curving ribbon of stainless steel displaying a poppy graphic, is embossed with the names of the 341 Jewish military personnel who laid down their lives in wars serving in Australian or Empire Forces. The Australian Jewish Community has a long and distinguished record of military service to Australia dating back to the Sudan Campaign of 1862, through WWI and WWII, Korea and Vietnam to Afghanistan and Peacekeeping. Some 9,000 Australian Jewish men and women have served in the Australian Defence Forces, around 1800 serving in WWI. Jewish service men and women continue to serve today.

Although Monash is widely acknowledged as an exceptional Jewish military and civilian leader, there were other extraordinary soldiers, including Major General Paul Cullen AC, CBE DSO & Bar, ED, Sergeant Issy Smith VC (UK Forces), and Lieutenant Leonard Keysor VC. The 341 brave servicemen inscribed on the memorial, many born in foreign lands, had come to do their duty from all states and territories. Many shared surnames and were brothers and cousins, including one family which lost a son in WWI and another in WWII. No Australian Jewish women are known to have died on service.

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Photographer: Adele Rosalky

The dedication ceremony of the memorial was coupled with a commemoration of Sir John Monash. The Governor-General spoke and emphasised that Monash was not “one of the greatest generals”, but “the greatest general”. Born to German Jewish parents in 1865 in Melbourne, Monash achieved academically becoming an innovative civil engineer, then a brilliant war-time military commander. Post-war he was the first General Manager of the State Electricity Commission of Victoria, and later, Vice-Chancellor of The University of Melbourne. He was also a founding member of the Rotary Club of Melbourne, and founding president of the Zionist Federation of Australia and New Zealand. He was one of the principal organisers of the annual observance of Anzac Day, and a driving force behind the creation of Melbourne’s Shrine of Remembrance. After his death in 1931, his State Funeral was attended by an estimated 300,000 mourners, paying their respects to a great Australian.

Photographer: Office of Elizabeth Lee MLA

At the commemoration ceremony, the Governor-General and Lady Cosgrove unveiled a commissioned portrait of Monash which will hang in the National Jewish Memorial Centre. The portrait, painted by local artist Margaret Hadfield, will hang permanently in the Community’s Museum and Gallery and will be the centrepiece of the Community’s cultural collection. Margaret Hadfield was awarded the inaugural Gallipoli Art Prize in 2006 and since then, her works have toured the world for Anzac Day commemorations.

Also on display at the National Jewish Memorial Centre as part of the centenary commemorations, is the exhibition of diary extracts and photographs of serviceman and NAJEX founding member Harold Collins, which provide poignant and personal snapshots of a soldier’s experience. The images were curated by the in 2015 as an Education Project under the Centenary of Anzac Jewish Program.

The ACT Jewish Community hosted the event in partnership with the Centenary of Anzac Jewish Program, the Federal Association of Jewish Ex-Service Men & Women, the Executive Council of Australian Jewry, the Australian Jewish Historical Society and the Sydney Jewish Museum. 13

Photographer: Merrilyn Sernack

At the dedication ceremony, wreaths were laid by the Governor-General Sir Peter and Lady Cosgrove, General Angus Campbell, Senator the Hon Zed Seselja (representing the Government of Australia), Hon. Mark Dreyfus QC MP (representing the leader of the Opposition), Gordon Ramsay (representing the Chief Minister, ACT), Major General Professor Jeffrey Rosenfeld AC OBE KStJ (Co-Patron, Centenary of Anzac Jewish Program, Patron, Federal Association of Jewish Ex-Service Men & Women, and Patron, Victorian Assn of Jewish Ex & Servicemen & Women Australia).

Additional wreath laying by organisations and individuals followed, including representatives of all Australian states. The wreath layers were Robert Goot AM SC (ECAJ), Dr Keith Shilkin AM (FAJEX), Peter Allen (CoAJP), Roger Selby (NAJEX), Ben Hirsh (VAJEX), Loris Roubin (QAJEX), Warren Austin (WAJEX), Major Jacob Kleinman DSM (JC SA), Russell Stern (AJHS & HHC) and Dr Merrilyn Sernack (ACTJC & CoAJP, ACT Coordinator). The Belgium and Israeli embassies also laid wreaths as did the Member for Canberra, Gai Brodtmann MP.

The National Jewish Memorial Centre is the proud custodian, on behalf of the whole Australian Jewish community, of the Australian Jewish War Memorial, and celebrator of Monash’s life and contribution to Australia. The memorial marks the culmination of the Centenary of Anzac Jewish Program. It will be supplemented by educational resources that include a touch screen using an Australian Jewish Military Database that the Australian Jewish Historical Society is shortly launching on its new website.

Since the opening of the National Jewish Memorial Centre in 1971, it had been the vision of the founders of the ACT Jewish Community to honour the memory of Australia’s fallen Jewish servicemen. This vision has been realised through the efforts of a dedicated team, including Ms Yael Cass, President ACTJC, Dr Merrilyn Sernack, Hon. Secretary ACTJC, Dr David Rosalky, Hon. Treasurer ACTJC, office managers of ACTJC, Rabbi Shimon Eddi & Mrs Skye Eddi, Adele Rosalky, curator ACTJC Museum & Art Gallery, and Mr Peter Allen, National Coordinator of the Centenary of Anzac Jewish Program.

The memorial was designed by Mr Geoff Farquhar-Still and was fabricated and installed by his company Artillion Pty Ltd. The ‘field of poppies’ was coordinated by Adele Rosalky and created by members of the ACT Jewish Community.

BENDIGO – BALLARAT RESEARCH Elizabeth Offer is currently undertaking a PhD at La Trobe University in Melbourne. Her work is part of a larger community based research project which aims to uncover the religious diversity of Bendigo and hopes to eventually open an exhibition space in Bendigo. Her research is on the Jewish community which formed in both Bendigo and Ballarat (also known as the Central Victorian Goldfields). She has written to the Society requesting we advise Members of her research. Elizabeth would like to make contact with any descendants who are willing to share their family history with her. If you have ancestors who lived in the area and would like to participate, please contact Elizabeth at:- [email protected] 14 SAVE THE DATE - 2018 ANNUAL GENERAL MEETING

25TH NOVEMBER 2018 – 2:00 PM Sydney Jewish Museum 148 Darlinghurst Road Darlinghurst NSW

Immediately following the Annual General Meeting an Extraordinary General Meeting will be held where a Resolution will be put to Members for the adoption of a new constitution. In view of the many regulatory changes in recent years, it has become necessary for the Society to update its constitution.

Following the Extraordinary General Meeting there will be an address by our guest speaker Dr Peter Pedersen, former Head of the Research Centre at the Australian War Memorial. Dr Pedersen is one of Australia's leading military historians having written eight books on the First World War and led many battlefield tours to Gallipoli, the Western Front and other battlefields in Europe and Asia. Dr Pedersen is currently consultant historian to the Australian Department of Veterans' Affairs. He will speak on Sir John Monash, the man, as distinct from Sir John Monash, the military commander.

RECENT PUBLICATIONS

The following publications, published by the Society are available for purchase. • Hans Kimmel Competition Essays 1979-2007. Edited by Russell Stern and Dr Sophie Gelski……....$20.00. • The Road to the Menzies Enquiry – Suspected War Criminals in Australia, By Leslie Caplan……$25.00. • To My Brave Wife – Dunera Notes from an ‘enemy alien’, by Dr. Kurt Epstein. Edited by Yoram Epstein, Konrad Kwiet, Helen Bersten, Lee Kersten…… $25.00 • Jews of the Outback – The centenary of the Synagogue 1910-2010. Edited by Suzanne Rutland, Leon Mann and Margaret Price……… $20.00.

Philip Moses. Newsletter Editor. Contributions to the Newsletter are most welcome. They can be mailed to AJHS Newsletter Editor, 146 Darlinghurst Road, Darlinghurst, NSW 2010, or emailed to [email protected].

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