From David

September 29, 2001-Jews in Oz

This is the uncharacteristicly silent one of this duo. Toby has been doing such a great job writing; I have been content to just add a thought here and there. I thought I would write a bit about my impression of Australian Jewry as it is represented on the Gold Coast.

This is an immigrant nation, and as such, there are many different traditions that try to blend together. There is no “reform” Judaism, as we know it. I am told that there is one rabbi in Melbourne, now retired from the active rabbinate, who is the last “reform” rabbi in the country, at least until I arrived.

Our services are much more traditional than even many “traditional” reform congregations in the States, In fact, the word “reform” is never used, but rather the term is ”progressive.” We have, for example, a minimum of three aliyot each Shabbat morning (Torah is not read on Friday night), and there is a mi shaberach prayer said after each of them. The haftarah, however, is almost always read in English. They are used to more Hebrew in the service, and never sing anything in English. Kippot are required, and all the men wear talliyot during the morning service. There is a lot more facing the ark (during the T’fila for example), and every time the ark is opened, somebody is given that honor, and they seem to daven in unison. (An aside, they “strip” the Torah here, rather than “undress” it.)

On the other hand, their everyday lives differ little from ours. Few of the orthodox bother to sit shiva after a funeral, rarely is kriah (the cutting of a garment at a funeral) done, and returning to the shiva home is uncommon. The temple kitchen uses the same definition of kashrut as we did in Akron. Many of the “leaders” of the Jewish community don’t ask for or expect to get a day off on the High Holy Days. I suppose attendance Friday night and Saturday morning is decent by percentages (about 20-30 at each out of a possible 170 or so), but Shabbat is no more special for the people here than in the States. Most of our members started orthodox, but even those who belong to the orthodox shul fail to keep kosher and few are shomer Shabbat. This is definitely a place of interesting contrasts.

There are moments that I want to come in and simply change things. There have indeed been some changes since I arrived (they used to have even more aliyot). I keep remembering that in six months I will be gone, and they will return to the care of the lay people that have kept the congregation alive all these years. So I teach, and work with the children, and the converts, and engage in counseling. I accept the definitions I have found, for I do believe in the Jewish dictum, “minhag ha makom, minhag, the custom of the place is the custom.”

L’shana tova,
David