Members drawn by events done the inner west way
More than 80 congregants attended the dinner reception, as well as Biripi elder Aunty Alice Golding, and Indigenous leader William Cooper’s great-great-grandson Michael McDonogh
IT’S been an eventful month for Newtown Synagogue, starting with a well-attended farm-themed Purim party, electing a new president at the AGM, and then hosting a visit by a Canadian First Nations delegation in their only public event in Sydney.
The delegation came through Initiatives of Change, a movement with 44 member nations, with the aim of “building trust across the world’s divides”.
More than 80 congregants attended the dinner reception, as well as Biripi elder Aunty Alice Golding, and Indigenous leader William Cooper’s great-great-grandson Michael McDonogh – the latter reciting his poem about the treatment of Aboriginal servicemen during and after World War I.
Lewis Cardinal, a Woodland Cree man from northern Alberta and the trustee of the World’s Parliament of Religions, spoke about the importance of family and tradition.
He revealed his wife’s surname is Rabinowitz, that he is a patrilineal descendant of Jewish migrants who had fled Spain, and how he is proud that his children share a heritage that comes from two “cultures of great storytellers”.
Another member of his family, Rainbow Cardinal, recited a poem she wrote on true friendship and its place in the universe, gifting a copy of it on a greeting card to Rebbetzin Elke Feldman.
Chief Lee Crowchild, a respected Tsuut’ina nation member, environmentalist and ceremonialist, also spoke.
The meals were prepared by volunteers, aged from a bar mitzvah student through to people in their 70s.
At the shule’s recent AGM, Dr Ben Mitra-Kahn was elected as the new president.
Mitra-Kahn said he feels honoured the board has entrusted him to serve as president for the remainder of the current term, adding he is “incredibly grateful” to the outgoing president, Wolfie Pizem, who served in the role from 2017-22, and to the interim president Toby Raphael, “both of whom have done a great job”.
Mitra-Kahn has a background in the public service as a chief economist, and head of policy and legislation, and he is currently principal adviser at the Australian Bureau of Statistics.
“I have been part of the shule’s board for three years, and my heart is very much in Newtown Synagogue,” he said.
“I feel we are going from strength to strength, building on the great work of the rabbi and rebbetzin – the classes, weekly Shabbat dinners and lunches, as well as the great work of our volunteers.” Newtown Synagogue’s new president, Dr Ben Mitra-Kahn.
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