Rabbi Jeffrey Kamins

Signs on the doors of Sydney's Central Synagogue.

October 14, 2021, 10:00 am

As of Monday this week, places of worship can operate as long as all attendees wear masks and are fully vaccinated, and capacity is limited to one person per four square metres.

By Gareth Narunsky

Walt Secord (right) with Rabbi Jeffrey Kamins at his naming ceremony.

July 4, 2021, 4:38 pm

Walt Secord: ‘I’m Jewish’

"I've been connected to the Jewish community since my childhood – so it is about a 50-year connection. It felt inevitable," he said.

By AJN STAFF

July 16, 2020, 12:00 am

Controversy over Emanuel event

'While Emanuel Synagogue is free to host whomever it wishes, for an organisation to refer to ‘Palestine’ as a country under Israeli occupation plays fast and loose with the truth'.

By Gareth Narunsky

April 30, 2019, 4:21 pm

Israeli, Palestinian diplomats in conversation

ISRAELI ambassador Mark Sofer will be in conversation with the Head of the General Delegation of Palestine Izzat Abdulhadi this Sunday, in what Emanuel Synagogue's Rabbi Jeffrey Kamins calls an “historic opportunity” for the community.

By Gareth Narunsky

Ilan Buchman and Oscar Shub hold their ketubah in front of the Sydney Jewish Museum's marriage display. Photos: Sophie Deutsch

March 18, 2019, 12:01 am

‘Inspiration to follow the kind of life that we have’

Nearly one year after Ilan Buchman and Oscar Shub married in Australia’s first official religious same-sex wedding, they spoke with Sophie Deutsch about the significance of tying the knot after 47 years together, and the inspiring example their enduring love has set for others.

Jeremy Spinak at the 2018 Yom Ha'atzmaut cocktail party. Photo: Noel Kessel

November 22, 2018, 12:01 am

‘A beautiful, unique young man of untold value’

JEREMY Spinak was one of the most influential and highly respected communal leaders in Sydney, but last Thursday morning at the age of 36 he succumbed to a rare form of cancer.

By Joshua Levi and Gareth Narunsky

Keynote speaker at the NAJEX Jewish Remembrance Day service,
Lieutenant General Ken Gillespie. Photo: Shane Desiatnik

November 8, 2018, 12:01 am

Reflecting on Armistice centenary

SYDNEY'S Jewish Remembrance Day service is always deeply moving, but it held even more resonance in its latest chapter at the Sydney Jewish Museum last Sunday – almost 100 years to the day since the guns fell silent at the end of World War I, and 95 years since General Sir John Monash officially opened the NSW Jewish War Memorial.

By Shane Desiatnik

Tuvia Kastel reciting tehilim at Chabad North Shore. Photo: Noel Kessel

November 1, 2018, 12:01 am

Sydney shules show solidarity

AS Pittsburgh faces its darkest days following the worst antisemitic attack in American history, Jewish communities around Australia are paying heartfelt tributes to the victims, their loved ones and the broader Pittsburgh community.

Rabbi Dov Hayoun. Photo: Miriam Alster/Flash90/JNS

July 27, 2018, 12:01 am

Rabbi’s arrest ‘shocking, provocative’

AUSTRALIAN Jewry's reaction to the unprecedented detainment in Israel of a non-Orthodox rabbi for officiating a wedding has been swift and sharp, with Masorti community leaders calling it an "attack on the heart of Judaism", and the Zionist Federation of Australia (ZFA) describing it as "particularly disturbing".

By Shane Desiatnik

The opening of the new sanctuary at Emanuel Synagogue.

May 23, 2018, 10:42 am

New Emanuel Shule sanctuary opens

Australia's first lady and respected businesswoman Lucy Turnbull said she was struck by the beautiful injunction – "do not separate yourself from the community" – inscribed on the wall of Emanuel Synagogue's new sanctuary, which was officially inaugurated on May 14 in the presence of nearly 600 people.

Ilan Buchman and Oscar Shub tied the knot at Emanuel Synagogue in Australia's first same-sex religious marriage. Photo: Robert Klein

May 11, 2018, 12:01 am

SSM in shule makes history

SAME-sex partners Ilan Buchman and Oscar Shub used to wear broken black commitment rings inscribed with the words "until we all belong". Last week, those rings became part of the couple's past when the pair exchanged two full circle wedding rings at Emanuel Synagogue in what is believed to be the first official religious same-sex wedding in Australia.

Kim Gotlieb (second from right) with members of Dayenu at the Mardi Gras Fair Day held in February.

March 2, 2018, 12:01 am

Mardi Gras ‘the biggest ever’

SYDNEY'S Jewish LGBT+ group, Dayenu, has a float full of flair, friendship and love ready to come out of the workshop and roll into the limelight at this weekend's Mardi Gras parade.

Kehillat Masada Synagogue’s Rabbi Gad Krebs.

February 21, 2018, 12:01 am

Conflict at Kehillat Masada

IN what is believed to be a first in Jewish adult education in Australia, Rabbi Gad Krebs from Kehillat Masada has created a series of talks, debates and discussions designed to make people feel uncomfortable - at least initially.

By Shane Desiatnik

L'chaim! Dr Kerryn Phelps (left) kissing her wife Jackie Stricker-Phelps after the ceremony at Emanuel Synagogue last week. Photo: Same Love Photography

January 11, 2018, 12:00 am

Emanuel makes history with same-sex wedding

Jackie Stricker-Phelps had the Jewish wedding she always dreamed of last week when, for the first time since the legalisation of same-sex marriage in Australia, two women stood under a chuppah at the Emanuel Synagogue in Sydney.

By Joshua Levi

Sydney couple Dr Kerryn Phelps (left) and Jackie Stricker-Phelps at their New York wedding.

December 17, 2017, 12:00 am

Jewish chuppas booked for same sex weddings

The first two same-sex Jewish weddings in Australia to be solemnised by a rabbi will take place next year, as Jewish community leaders applauded the legalisation of same-sex marriage, while high-profile gay Jewish Australians expressed joy at the landmark change.

By Shane Desiatnik and Peter Kohn