Newsletter Weekly Guest Statement
Larry Lockshin
UPJ Co-President
Some of my comments are paraphrased from the recent ECAJ Newsletter. This week brings us the anniversary commemorations of Kristallnacht and “The War to End All Wars”. Remembrance Day is an important day in our secular calendar to ensure Australians never forget the horror of war and the sacrifice of so many. Within the Jewish community we recall the contributions of Jewish Australians to this country.
During the same week we remember the launch of the Holocaust in Germany and Austria: 1,000 synagogues and thousands of Jewish businesses were smashed and burnt to the ground. This destruction was accompanied by a state-sponsored program where 91 Jews were killed and over 30,000 arrested and sent to the death camps of Buchenwald, Dachau, and Sachsenhausen.
In Shul this last Shabbat we spoke about the necessity within our religion and culture to remember our history, its peaks and the valleys. And yet, we do not dwell on the past. We use the past that we will not forget to build the base for our current strivings for Tikkun Olam, for embracing our festivals and lifecycle events, and inculcating our values into each generation. We are a product of our past, but we continually look to the future.
These thoughts and values exist across the spectrum of Judaism. At the same time, there are organisations within Judaism that continue to belittle and condemn Progressive Judaism. A recent interview with Robert Gregory, CEO of the ‘Australian Jewish Association’, cited in the Australian Jewish News as a right-leaning group, appeared in an Instagram post. He stated that “Progressive movements have ravaged American Jewry with most US Jews marrying out and on track to disappear from the community within a generation or two… the religious traditions, obligations and principles that sustained Jewish life for thousands of years have increasingly been abandoned. Australia has been spared the carnage seen in America but damage has still been caused here”.
Of course, this is at best a misunderstanding and more likely a prejudice against Progressive and Reform Jews. I don’t need to defend how we Australian Progressive Jews study Torah and history, plan and attend Jewish festivals, life-cycle events, and the many commemorations that remind us of our history, both ancient and contemporary, or our strong Netzer youth groups, or our support for a democratic Israel.
Last night in Adelaide, I attended our annual Kristallnacht memorial sponsored and held at the main Catholic church in the centre of Adelaide. As usual, the Jewish contingent was outnumbered by the non-Jewish and heavily weighted towards Progressive Jews. We have nothing to apologise for. Generally, our expectations of B’nai Mitzvah students are greater than many of the more orthodox shuls. The same with our Cheders. We are fully Jewish.
But I digress… Memory coupled with unflinching modern interpretations and actions are the basis of our Jewishness. We encourage thinking and discussion, contemplation and action.
Next week our Biennial conference, B’Yachad Kadima, is emblematic of how we treasure the past and use it and modern scholarship and thinking to help us build our communities and our Jewishness. Participants will engage with academic scholars, artists from visual to musical to culinary, rabbis, not-for-profit organisations practicing Tikkun Olam, and especially our youth. See you there!
We will have materials from the Biennial to share afterwards, but we are not recording or using streaming.
Finally, The UPJ AGM was last week, and we have several new Board members. Next week Danny will introduce them to you
