When Stand Up gathered to celebrate the 20th anniversary of its flagship Derech Eretz program, it felt like a reunion of old friends.
Elders, alumni and Jewish community members hugged, laughed and swapped memories of two decades of friendship between the Jewish community and the First Nations communities of Toomelah and Boggabilla. For the hundreds of Derech Eretz alumni and First Nation community members, the relationship has become a living example of what true allyship looks like.
From strangers to family
When Derech Eretz began in the early 2000s, founders Melanie Schwartz and Ian Jankelowitz had a simple but radical idea: to help young Jewish Australians connect with First Nations communities and learn from each other.
“We started Derech Eretz about 20 years ago to help Jewish students discover what connections between the Jewish and Indigenous communities could look like,” says Jankelowitz, now a Stand Up board member.
“It exposed young adults from our community to a part of Australia they wanted to engage with more deeply.”
Through shared experiences – from Shabbat dinners on Country to conversations under star-filled skies – participants began to find unexpected points of connection.
“Where the relationship started as two distinct communities, we’ve really brought each other into one another’s worlds in a beautiful and meaningful way,” says Jankelowitz.
Jankelowitz says the mutual care has only deepened with time.
“After October 7, many of us received heartfelt messages from our friends in Toomelah and Boggabilla,” he says.
“It reminded us how powerful those connections are and how much they mean in times of hardship.”
‘You come with a heart’
For the communities of Toomelah and Boggabilla, the friendships built through Derech Eretz are equally cherished. Aunty Dawn, a respected Gomeroi Elder, has watched the bonds grow across generations.
“We just cherish and love what you do and you come with a heart of love,” she says.
“We don’t expect you to do everything, but you come with a heart. That’s the most important thing. I’ve never seen one with a sad face. Everyone’s got a smile and joy. They do, really. What a difference you’ve made to me.”
Family that keeps coming back
That sense of joy and connection is what drives Nick Gerstel, Stand Up’s education manager and Derech Eretz program coordinator.
“The Jewish mob often get told they feel like family, like long-distance cousins who keep coming back,” says Gerstel.
For Gerstel, the program’s magic lies in the way it changes both hearts and horizons. “It allows Jewish participants to learn about the incredible history of this country, the world’s oldest continuing culture, while developing as compassionate leaders,” he says.
“As so many have stood up for us, this is how we stand up for others.”
Gerstel says that over time, what began as a partnership has grown into something deeper.
“It started as a partnership, then became a friendship,” he says. “Now, it genuinely feels like family.”
‘It taught me to listen’
Few have walked the Derech Eretz journey more times than Jo Hurwitz, a Stand Up board member who visited the community first as a student, numerous times as a volunteer, a Boggabilla Central School teacher, and most recently with her own children.
“Derech Eretz taught me how to create meaningful and thoughtful relationships with First Nations communities,” she says.
“The biggest learning for me is how to develop authentic relationships – to enter a space ready to learn and listen,” she says.
That mutual respect has built a bond that spans generations.
“Stand Up has always kept its promises,” says Hurwitz. “The community values that consistency so deeply. It shows what happens when you fulfil that commitment and show up, year after year.”
Understanding through friendship
For Melanie Schwartz, Derech Eretz has been both a professional and personal compass. As a lawyer, academic and Jewish Australian, she says the experience transformed her understanding of justice and belonging.
“The question of Indigenous justice is, to me, the great national justice question,” she says.
“Derech Eretz is a blueprint for how to build genuine partnerships.”
Schwartz has watched the program shape an entire generation of Jewish changemakers.
“I don’t think it’s possible to spend time with these communities and not have a fire lit in your belly,” she says.
“It’s not about coming back with answers. It’s about building understanding through experience and friendship.”
In an era marked by division, she believes the lessons of Derech Eretz are more vital than ever.
“Derech Eretz shows what’s possible when we step into each other’s worlds, with respect, curiosity and heart.”
Twenty years of showing up
Twenty years on, Derech Eretz continues to be a bridge between two communities.
As Stand Up CEO Gabe Freund says: “For the Jewish community, it has become a mirror reflecting the best of Jewish values: compassion, curiosity and the belief in tikkun olam. For the First Nations communities of Toomelah and Boggabilla, it’s a relationship grounded in trust.
“For everyone who’s been part of it, Derech Eretz is proof that the strongest bonds aren’t built in boardrooms or ceremonies, but in the quiet, consistent act of showing up, year after year, heart first.”
Freedom Rides 2025 builds bridges
Sixty years after Charles Perkins and a group of students, including the Honourable James Spigelman, set out on the 1965 Freedom Ride, a new generation of First Nations and Jewish young people have retraced their footsteps by walking side by side in an act of truth-telling, remembrance and allyship.
Stand Up organised Freedom Rides 2025, which brought together 12 young adults aged between 14 and 26 on an eight-day journey from Boggabilla to Sydney. The trip marked two milestones: the 60th anniversary of the original Freedom Ride, and 20 years of friendship between Stand Up and the Toomelah and Boggabilla communities.
Travelling through Toomelah, Goondiwindi, Moree, Walgett and Dubbo, participants listened to Elders, visited sacred sites, and reflected on the shared struggles of their communities. Together, they explored how the simple act of walking and learning together can create understanding and unity in an increasingly divided world.
“This trip was far more than I could have ever imagined,” says Jewish participant Ella Simons.
“The balance between the seriousness of the Freedom Rides, the ongoing impacts of racism and the joy of culture, community and being a young person allowed for an incredibly special week. The long-lasting relationship between our communities is sacred.”
For First Nations participant Shyemma Duncan, the experience was deeply personal.
“This trip made me feel even more proud to be who I am and how strong I am as a young Aboriginal woman with good knowledge that I learnt from the trip,” she says.
“Something that will stick with me would be that the Aboriginal and Jewish people are not too different. They have been treated in a lot of the same ways and I learnt how strong we all are.”
Jewish participant Eli Rubenstein Sturgess says, “There is no doubt that there is a particular need to focus on the importance of allyship, living in a nation still reeling from the wake of a lost referendum, and at a time of great strain on social cohesion. Jewish involvement in the original Freedom Ride emphasised the need for us Jews to call out any and all forms of discrimination, and I am certainly re-energised to help strive toward an Australian society that places value on substantive equality, social justice, and pays greater respect and care to the first peoples of this nation.”
Freund says at a time when Australia and the world feels increasingly divided “the Freedom Rides 2025 showed the power of walking together”.
“Genuine human connection is the most powerful antidote to fear and division. This journey reminded us that allyship is built not through words, but through relationships.”
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