My work in Ukraine and Ethiopia varied immensely but was al-
ways coupled by strong Jewish values like
tikkun olam
,
compassion,
and the act of
tzedakah
.
I learned that the field of international Jewish
communal service demanded a certain kind of flexibility and opti-
mism not often required at home. Electricity is scarce, civil unrest is
unpredictable, muddy roads threaten to keep you in the car
overnight, and overwhelming poverty can be unbearable. Our over-
seas colleagues help people who need assistance but who sometimes
do not quite fit the bill of our more traditional clients at home. They
rely on local culture and tradition to make decisions they might not
otherwise have chosen.
Rabbi Abraham Joshua Heschel once said, “Pray as if everything
depended on God, but act as if everything depends on you.” The job
is heart-breaking and exhausting, yet tremendously rewarding.
Working in the Jewish community has never felt like a job. For
me, it is a calling from God and has only served as a blessing. In
Pirke
Avot
it is written, “You are not obligated to complete the task but
neither are you free to desist from it.” With so much work to be
done, I had to seize this once-in-a-lifetime opportunity.
As I started my own life in NYC, it may have seemed like an
untimely move but the truth is that there was never going to be a
“
good” time. And along the way, I realized that Jewish communal
service is about much more than planning programs, raising dollars,
and amassing donors; it is about building lifelong relationships and
partnerships. Those are the signposts we leave for generations
to come.
F
ollowing the ashes of the Holocaust, tens of thousands of Eu-
rope’s Jews thought of Australia as simply the farthest place on
earth they could get from the terrors they had just suffered. And so
it was that the post-war Jewish immigration to Australia came to in-
vigorate the longstanding but relatively small Jewish community that
had been in Australia since the earliest days of European settlement
in the late 18
th
century. Since then waves of immigrants have con-
tinued to increase Jewish numbers over the latter part of the 20
th
century with significant arrivals coming from the former Soviet
Union, South Africa, Israel, and even the United States. Today Jew-
ish Australia numbers around 120,000 (out of a total population of
approximately 20 million) with about 50,000 each in Melbourne
and Sydney, about 10,000 in the isolated west coast city of Perth,
and the rest scattered around the sparsely populated country.
But you wouldn’t know that there were only 120,000 of us Jews
Down Under. Jews have contributed in significant and notable ways
to the fabric of Australian society. Two Governors-General (akin to
the role of an Israeli President) have been Jews – Sir Isaac Isaacs and
Sir Zelman Cowen (the latter being a member of Temple Beth Israel,
Melbourne, the congregation I currently serve). A major university
and a whole city have been named after a prominent general during
World War I, Sir John Monash, who was also Jewish.
For a community its size, Melbourne boasts a surprising num-
ber of vibrant Jewish institutions. There are over 50 separate
congregations ranging from tiny
shteibelach
(
prayer houses) to large
established synagogues. Jewish day schools provide educational op-
portunities for about 80% of Jewish children and span the range of
Jewish outlooks from the Secular Yiddishist (Bundist) Sholem Ale-
ichem School to the Progressive (Reform) King David School (with
900
students spanning preschool to 12th grade), Modern Orthodox
and Zionist community schools, and
ultra-Orthodox, non-Zionist
yeshivot
.
Youth movements originally trans-
planted from Europe remain popular
with new ones continuing to sprout, in-
cluding the thriving Reform Zionist
youth movement, Netzer, which was founded in Melbourne in the
1970
s and is now international. The Florence Melton adult educa-
tion program is active, there are two Jewish museums, two widely
read Jewish weekly newspapers, a Hebrew language weekly newspa-
per, regular Hebrew and Yiddish radio programs, growing
departments of Jewish studies at the major universities, and a very
high level of Israel awareness and Israel-directed philanthropy.
The Progressive movement, affiliated with the World Union for
Progressive Judaism, will soon be celebrating its 80th year. Over the
years, congregations and other dynamic Progressive institutions have
emerged in all of the Australian state capitals, some smaller Aus-
tralian population centers, and beyond Australia in our WUPJ
region, including New Zealand, Hong Kong, Singapore, and Mumbai.
Beijing and Shanghai have the beginnings of Progressive congregations.
Growing up in Melbourne, my own journey to the rabbinate
was forged in the context of this diverse Jewish community. I was
raised at Temple Beth Israel, studied at The King David School, and
attended Netzer. I was also influenced by the strongly Bundist wing
of my family and the numerous Orthodox and secular Jewish friends
I met through B’nai Brith’s Youth group, AZA. But most of all, my
drive to become a rabbi was sparked by learning with and getting to
know the rabbis I grew up with – especially Rabbi John Levi and the
several HUC-JIR graduates from the U.S. and Australia who spent
their first years in the rabbinate in Melbourne and who now serve
Judaism Down Under:
The Doctor Who Became a Rabbi
Gersh Zylberman, L ‘05, Rabbi, Temple Beth Israel, Melbourne, Australia
58
| THE CHRONICLE
ALUMNI CHANGING THE WORLD
