Wertheim to run ECAJ
 
VETERAN Sydney Jewish community leader and activist Peter Wertheim has been appointed as executive director of the Executive Council of Australian Jewry (ECAJ).
He will leave his job as a consultant to law firm Slater & Gordon to commence his new position with ECAJ at the start of September. Wertheim is a former president of the New South Wales Jewish Board of Deputies and a practicing solicitor for more than 30 years.
ECAJ president Robert Goot said: “Peter is a long-time and highly respected activist in the Jewish and wider communities and brings a wealth of experience to this position.
“It will enable the ECAJ to co-ordinate the community’s advocacy efforts at the national level so as to strengthen the community’s voice to government, the media and the wider community.”¬†Wertheim’s appointment comes after Goot promised to beef up the relevancy of the ECAJ when he replaced Grahame Leonard as president in late 2007.
Goot has been pushing the ECAJ as the primary representative and advocacy body for the community.? It is unclear what would happen to Wertheim, who will be based in Sydney, if and when the next ECAJ president is elected from Melbourne or elsewhere in Australia.
 
Photo: New ECAJ executive director Peter Wertheim     Photo by: AJN file