What the Board of Deputies does for you
A visit to a beloved Herzliya beach brings Israel’s joys, grief and contradictions into sharp focus.
The president, CEO and secretary of the NSW Jewish Board of Deputies (JBD), plus two rabbis from two different congregations, walk into Hillsong Church. It sounds like the start of a joke, but it happened recently.
We had been invited to a major gathering of pastors from the Australian Christian Churches, who wanted to convey their warm regards and respect to the Jewish community. Some of us stayed on for the Hillsong service, an interesting and enjoyable addition to the broad range of religious experiences I now encounter in this role.
That evening says a lot about what the JBD does. Since being elected president, I’m most often asked: Who is the JBD? What does it do? How does it work? And how does it fit with other Jewish organisations? Here are my answers.
A voice for a diverse community
If you’ve sent your child to a Jewish school, belong to a synagogue, have turned to one of our welfare organisations for support, or simply care about the future of Jewish life in NSW, you have been represented by a deputy and the JBD.
What we do
We have three external goals in our strategic plan: a NSW where Jews are safe and included; a strong, resilient community; and a trusted community voice. In practice, that means speaking for the community to the NSW government, the media and other faith and community groups, from Hindu and Christian leaders to unions.
That work has never mattered more. Recent examples of our work include:
• The Royal Commission: Working with other peak Jewish organisations and our legal team, the JBD mobilised community participation and advocated throughout the Royal Commission for Jewish voices, experiences and concerns to be heard. JBD will also lead work in NSW to put the commission’s recommendations into practice.
• Our campuses: We recently worked with 5A, AUJS, JUNI, ECAJ and leading academics to challenge the decision to allow a student group at Sydney University to run on a “globalise the intifada” platform.
• Bondi recovery: We continue to work closely with Jewish House, JewishCare, JCA and many others to make sure bereaved families and survivors of the Bondi terrorist attack get the support they need and recognition they deserve.
Representation is also about bringing people together. We organise community commemorations including Yom Hashoah and Yom Ha’atzmaut, which bring together the community and our friends, such as German Consul Felix Schwartz, who has engaged closely with the community in Sydney.
Through the Jeremy Spinak Young Leaders Program we are mentoring the next generation of communal leaders, honouring an outstanding former JBD president who died in 2018, aged just 36 (zichrono livrachah).
Who we work with
The JBD is part of a wider network of Jewish organisations, each with a clear role. The Executive Council of Australian Jewry (ECAJ) does our job at the federal level. I sit on ECAJ’s board and the two organisations work together on many issues. JCA leads fundraising and long-term planning in NSW. The NSW arms of the Zionist Federation of Australia and the National Council of Jewish Women Australia are both members of the JBD. They work with us on joint events and responses to challenges facing the community.
How we work
The JBD is designed to maximise representation. Fifty-five member organisations, including synagogues, schools, welfare agencies, sports groups, historical societies and Zionist organisations, each appoint deputies, usually their president or CEO. Alongside them sit deputies elected directly by individual members of the JBD.
Deputies meet in a plenum every second month to debate community issues and set policy. Deputies also elect a board of directors, of which I am president, which appoints and supports our CEO and a team of around 10 staff who carry out all the work described above.
Add your voice to our communal future
The JBD uniquely brings together the breadth of organised Jewish life in NSW: our schools, synagogues, welfare organisations and major communal institutions, alongside deputies elected directly by individual members. That breadth is important at a time when Jewish voices are marginalised, our priorities distorted, and narrow fringe views are elevated to provide a fig-leaf for the opponents of the Jewish people.
Our future, however, cannot be defined only by the challenges we face. We can channel the energy and engagement of recent years into building a stronger Jewish future in Australia: strengthening our institutions, developing leaders, commemorating our history, sustaining our traditions, contributing to a better Australia, and maintaining our connections to Israel and global Jewry.
Anyone can become an individual member for a nominal fee. If you care about the future of Jewish life in NSW, join the Board of Deputies and make sure your voice is part of it.
Greg Joffe is president of the NSW Jewish Board of Deputies.
More info: nswjbd.org.au/join-the-board