30 years of Stand Up

“We need to keep building connections and being proud of who we are,” says Courtney Winter-Peters, CEO of Stand Up.

While it’s tempting to retreat into the comfort of our community during these trying times, it’s more important than ever to continue to engage with the communities around us.

That’s what Stand Up has championed over the last 30 years and Winter-Peters says the last few months have served as a reminder that the Jewish community needs to stand up, connect and proudly share its culture and values with others.

“The work we’ve been doing for 30 years is all about building partnerships with other communities,” says Winter-Peters.

“We have a history of people who have been a part of the organisation and who have given so much to it. We just need to keep doing the work that we do – keep engaging our community and other communities in deep and meaningful conversation and building those connections.”

Originally named Keshet, Stand Up was established in 1994 by the late Mark Baker and some close friends, sitting around the kitchen table, in response to the tragic Rwandan genocide.

“It was actually designed as a one-off,” says Arnold Shmerling, one of the founding members.

“A few of us were helping out and, to our surprise, there was a really big community response, which made us realise that actually, this was an important concept. The idea that Jews could give as Jews, but engage with the general community, really resonated with many people. So we broadened the concept to make it a way of us engaging in the wider Australian community as Jews and that was quite a novel concept.”

In 2005, the Derech Eretz program was created with the goal of taking young Jewish leaders to volunteer in remote Indigenous communities in Toomelah and Boggabilla for a week during the school holidays. This relationship – going on 20 years – has become so familiar and endearing, that the First Nations community affectionately refer to those on the Derech Eretz program as ‘the Jewish mob’.

“Every one of our partners reached out to us post-October 7, including people who live in Toomelah and Boggabilla and elders from the community,” says Winter-Peters.

“There’s so much trust that they will pick up the phone and call us and ask questions about what they’re seeing in the media, or what they’re seeing on university campuses. A lot of them work in university spaces and they’re asking questions about antisemitism.”

But there has certainly been a shift since October 7. Winter-Peters says many people who had been involved with other organisations have returned to Stand Up, where they feel they are able to safely engage as Jews with the wider community

There has also been the realisation that sharing our culture and traditions is just as important as listening to others. “We’ve always gone into other communities proudly as Jewish people to build those partnerships,” says Winter-Peters.

“We’ve done a lot of truth telling, and that’s inviting other people into our homes to share their stories. What we’re pivoting to is that we actually need to proudly share our own values and traditions, so we’re expanding our Breaking Bread initiative.”

Since the beginning of the year, Stand Up has been hosting Breaking Bread gatherings, inviting those outside the Jewish community to experience Jewish spiritual spaces, homes and customs, and to form heartfelt connections. In response to the rise of antisemitism, creating genuine connections has never been more vital.

To honour its 30th anniversary, Stand Up has set a goal of organising 30 Breaking Bread gatherings. Some will be community-wide events, while others will be hosted by individuals in their homes.

“We need to keep looking outwards,” says Winter-Peters.

“We cannot be insular. We don’t shy away, in any of our programs, that we’re Jewish. That is how we lead.”

Shmerling says Stand Up is not political in any sense, but it has always been a proudly Jewish and Zionist organisation.

“We don’t actively do anything in Israel because we feel there are organisations that do it better, but we would only partner with groups who are happy to be engaged with a strong, Jewish-identified organisation,” he says.

“I think at the moment there’s an extreme need for people like us within the Jewish community, who might be feeling cynical, estranged or vulnerable in terms of engaging with the broader community, but who still want to do good in the world. They would need a place like us, for obvious reasons.”

Reflecting on Stand Up’s 30 years, Shmerling says, “I pinch myself. It’s moved in a much more positive direction than I ever could have imagined.”

For tickets to Stand Up’s 30th celebration, taking place on September 4 in St Kilda, visit trybooking.com/1265083

For more information on the Breaking Bread gatherings, visit www.standup.org.au/breaking_bread

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