Building connections of community tolerance
THE NSW Jewish Board of Deputies visited more than 1000 people in a whirlwind five-day education tour and bridge-building community exercise.
CHANTAL ABITBOL
SEVENTEEN-YEAR-OLD Enzo Somosi may not always broadcast his Jewish identity. But when a special envoy from the NSW Jewish Board of Deputies (JBD) visited his Coffs Harbour school to give a presentation on the Holocaust last week, he felt compelled to wear his kippah during the proceedings.
“If anybody asks me, I’ll be honest. It’s not something I hide,” Somosi, the grandson of Holocaust survivors, told The AJN. “But I found it necessary on this occasion to show respect.”
The presentation was part of a whirlwind five-day tour of NSW’s mid-north coast taken by JBD CEO Vic Alhadeff and education manager Lynda Ben-Menashe.
The trip was a bridge-building exercise that saw the pair meet more than 1000 people, including leaders of the Uniting, Anglican and Assembly of God churches, MPs, city councillors, Rotary club members, media personnel and students.
“It’s all about relationships,” Alhadeff said. “The objective of generating understanding of the Jewish people — who we are, what Judaism is about, the Holocaust, racism, anti-Semitism and Israel.”
Jewish connections emerged unexpectedly throughout the tour, he added. Among them was the admission by a Pentecostal church head that his great-uncle was former Jewish governor-general Sir Isaac Isaacs.
Another student at a Catholic college revealed that four of his Jewish grandmother’s eight siblings perished at Auschwitz.
“It was particularly gratifying to note how much interest there is in the Holocaust and the lessons that emerge from it,” Alhadeff said.
So far, the response has been positive. “We got more than we were expecting. The boys were blown out of the water,” said Mark Harrison, a history teacher at The Armidale School, an Anglican boarding school for boys, which was one of the tour stops.
“It was the perfect lead-up to our study of Germany up to the beginning of World War II. The presentation had an emotional charge, and the boys picked up on it. They were really appreciative of them coming to our class.”