Jewish healer reinstated at MBS Festival

A Jewish kinesiologist who was barred from participating in the upcoming MindBodySprit Festival in Melbourne has been reinstated.

This follows a public outcry at the treatment of Israeli born Sharon Tal, who has practised kinesiology for 25 years and exhibited at the festival for almost a decade.

Tal said, “I am relieved that I’ll be able to practice and to spread the love and light. However, I have cancelled all my suppliers, all my volunteers, so I hope that I will get them back to help me to still promote my products and my services”.

She has thanked the Jewish community for their support since news of her cancellation broke.

“It was amazing. I have felt loved, supported, and they were amazing. Everyone are amazing. To any minority that is being bullied. Let this be a lesson for bullies not to push anyone.” she said.

Tal’s participation had been cancelled over a WIZO charity lecture she gave nine years ago.

The cancellation came after festival organisers received a complaint from Byron Bay psychic Talitha Mitchell, who objected to WIZO being mentioned in Tal’s speaker biography.

“She has a big problem with you, because you’re a Zionist. You had WIZO written on your biography,” Tal recounted being told by festival staff on Monday.

She said festival organisers’ phones were subsequently flooded with calls from the Northern Rivers for Palestine group demanding Tal’s removal.

“They said that there will be protests. They said that they will make a lot of mess outside of the expo if I will be there. They threatened the staff, and they threatened my life if I’ll be there,” Tal said.

Festival organisers contacted Tal suggesting she voluntarily withdraw for safety reasons.

A MindBodySpirit Festival spokesperson said the festival must remain “a welcoming and safe space” and that “MBS is not a suitable platform for political rhetoric, and this is considered a breach of our exhibitor guidelines.”

When The AJN asked what “political rhetoric” Tal had engaged in, the festival declined further comment.

On Thursday the Festival reversed its decision, saying “We greatly value our longstanding relationship with Sharon Tal and her significant contribution to our festivals, and we sincerely regret the distress cause b our prior decision to remove her from the program. We would emphasise this decision was made with the best of intentions and was not based n religion, ethnicity or personal beliefs”.

There was swift reaction when Tal’s cancellation was made public, with  Victorian state MP David Southwick writing to Victoria’s Police Minister demanding an investigation.

He said, “It is unacceptable that a professional has been cancelled out of an event simply for being Jewish. This cannot be tolerated, and a full investigation must take place.”

Tal, who has lived in Australia for 26 years, believes she was targeted simply for being Jewish and Israeli.

Co-CEO of the Executive Council of Australian Jewry (ECAJ) Peter Wertheim agreed, “It’s difficult to escape the conclusion that Ms Tal has been discriminated against for simply being Jewish and participating in the life of the Australian Jewish community.

“By cravenly bowing to an orchestrated smear campaign, the festival organisers have made a mockery of their own values of diversity and inclusion.”

The Jewish Community Council of Victoria (JCCV) quickly launched a campaign to get Melbourne Jews to get behind Sharon by visiting her shop in Caulfield and supporting her business, Soul Alchemist.

The AJN has reached out to the psychic who complained about Tal’s presence, Talitha Mitchell, but she has not responded.