Genende’s five years
AN accent on youth and a commitment to social-justice issues have marked Rabbi Ralph Genende’s (pictured) first five years as spiritual leader of Caulfield Hebrew Congregation (CHC), according to the shul’s general manager Miriam Suss.
AN accent on youth and a commitment to social-justice issues have marked Rabbi Ralph Genende’s (pictured) first five years as spiritual leader of Caulfield Hebrew Congregation (CHC), according to the shul’s general manager Miriam Suss.
The shul will celebrate the rabbi’s first half-decade at its pulpit with a kiddush following a special Shabbat service on August 18.
Since taking up the position in 2007, Genende “has been a very unifying force in the Caulfield shul community”, said Suss.
“He’s brought a lot of young people into the congregation. We’ve got higher numbers of weddings and bar mitzvahs and we believe the rabbi’s certainly contributed to that. There’s a feeling of vibrancy and engagement with the community.”
The Zimbabwean-born rabbi spent four years as rabbi of Mount Scopus Memorial College and was rabbi of Kehillat Beit Aharon (the Arnold Bloch Synagogue), before taking up his current position.
He also performs chaplaincy work and is senior rabbi to the Australian Defence Forces.
Asked to name some of the highlights of his first five years, he emphasised that it had been a team effort with his synagogue board and with chazan Dov Farkas.
The rabbi told The AJN his priority five years ago was to move forward after the internal dissensions that had plagued CHC. “The first thing, together with the board, was to restore a sense of harmony, common purpose and direction. We now have a waiting list for shul seats. This is not something done on one’s own. A leader provides leadership and direction but you have to have good people.”
Rabbi Genende said a raft of new programs at the shul had revitalised community interest. These include iLearn at Caulfield Shul, an education program open to all ages; a new-look children’s program which will be run by a full-time youth director CHC hopes to appoint soon; inkr572, a group for the 23-33 age category; and Tuesday Smhoozeday for the elderly. Friday Night Fever, CHC’s themed kiddush series held every few weeks, has also drawn a lot of interest.
Looking to the future, Rabbi Genende said he would like to introduce initiatives focusing on social justice, “a focus on our social responsibility”.
“There’s a verse in this week’s Torah reading that says we need bread, lechem, but we also need dreams, chalomot,” he said. “The shul needs to offer the bread and butter of the services, but it also needs to be a place in which to grow and to dream.”
PETER KOHN
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