Departing president reflects on shule’s strength

Emanuel Synagogue ushered in a new era at its AGM on May 26, when Ian Rathmell was unanimously elected to succeed Grant McCorquodale as president.

McCorquodale, a past president of Emanuel School, joined the shule’s board in 2021, and served a full term as president from May 2023.

The changeover occurred only weeks before the conclusion of Senior Rabbi Jeffrey Kamins’s tenure. “It allows Ian Rathmell and Rabbi Ninio to forge their own partnership,” McCorquodale told The AJN.

“When Rabbi Kamins and I spoke in the immediate aftermath of October 7, his guidance was clear … that our synagogue must be a sanctuary, where members can come for relief, healing and connection.

“We have welcomed another 500 members since then, and now have 4000. And because Rabbi Ninio has been here for 27 years, and the community has so much confidence in her, the succession of our senior rabbi became one of the most natural and easy decisions.”

McCorquodale, a respected and reassuring voice for the synagogue, guided the congregation through a challenging period that included part of a global pandemic, an unprecedented rise in antisemitism in Australia, and most recently, the Bondi Chanukah terror attack.

He led major projects including the $10 million Heritage Sanctuary capital appeal and resulting campus upgrade, the establishment of the Emanuel Synagogue Foundation, and the Jeffrey B. Kamins OAM Endowment Fund, to be launched at a sold-out reception on June 21.

Reflecting on the shadow of antisemitism, amid a “void in the moral compass” by too many federal politicians “and equally in the media”, McCorquodale stressed that, “had the shule been in poor financial shape when October 7 happened … we would not have been ‘match fit’ to meet that storm”.

“But we were in a strong state, so we got through it well. The silver lining is it has given us an opportunity to demonstrate our resilience, and our determination is now stronger than ever.”

He feels proud of having “worked more closely with all the Sydney synagogue presidents; and contributed – as someone who was not born Jewish – to bringing non-Jewish society a little bit closer to us, through understanding.”

US-born incoming president Rathmell’s great-great-grandfather founded a synagogue in Georgia, and his great-grandfather established one in Birmingham, Alabama. Upon moving to Sydney a decade ago, Rathmell served as Emanuel Synagogue’s treasurer and then vice-president.

“My whole family has been in lay leadership roles in Jewish communities – it’s something in my DNA – so I’m feeling very excited, but I also understand the gravity of the shoulders that I stand on,” he said.

While Rabbi Ninio will become the synagogue’s first female senior rabbi, Rathmell is its first president to have represented the congregation in LGBTQ+ spaces.

“That’s something that I’m happy to be highlighted,” he said, and acknowledged his partner Brandon Srot’s longstanding involvement in Sydney’s Jewish community.

The AGM also thanked departing board members Joseph Constable, Eve Altman and Yael Bradbury, and welcomed Leonid Shaflender, Daniel Deutsch and Shoshana Gottlieb-Beker.