Yom Yerushalayim marked at Caulfield Shule

The Australian Friends of the Hebrew University, together with Caulfield Shule, marked the 59th Yom Yerushalayim with an evening exploring Jerusalem from ancient times to the present.

In the absence of Rabbi Daniel Rabin, Rabbi Philip Heilbrunn welcomed guests, before Rob Schneider, CEO of the Australian Friends, took over as MC.

Schneider said Yom Yerushalayim held particular significance for the Hebrew University, as prior to the Six-Day War in 1967 the institution had limited access to its first campus on Mount Scopus, which has since thrived as the headquarters for its five other campuses across Israel.

Schneider introduced Professor Gil Davis, director of the Ancient Israel Program at the Australian Catholic University, which currently has more than 1000 students enrolled.

Davis was supported by Professor Larissa McLean-Davies, executive dean of Education and Arts at the Australian Catholic University and a staunch supporter of the program’s collaboration with the Hebrew University.

Davis examined the archaeological evidence for the early kings of the Davidic monarchy, including questions of their existence, dating and links to Jerusalem and other key sites in Judah, drawing on excavations conducted by and in collaboration with the Hebrew University.

He said the research was critically important in the current political debate about the connection of the Jewish people to the land of Israel, “because it proves the accuracy of the Biblical narrative about the early formation of the Davidic kingdom around 3000 years ago”.

The audience then enjoyed songs about Jerusalem performed by Chazzan Sheni at Caulfield Shule, Zalman Simons, accompanied by Jason Antman.

Schneider said their “angelic voices surely reached the heavens”.

Jewish educator and licensed Israeli tour guide Ilan Bloch followed, exploring Jerusalem not as a city of simple binaries, but as a “city of seam lines” in which legal, religious, demographic and political systems overlap, often in uneasy ways.

“Jerusalem is so important to me not only as a holy city or historical symbol, but as a living city where multiple identities, narratives and communities exist, and its complexity is precisely what makes it meaningful,” Bloch said.

Attendees praised the event as “creative and different”, with one guest commenting that they had “learnt so much”.

Schneider thanked Caulfield Shule, Rabbi Rabin, Geraldine Roth and Dr Yifat Biran, the Australian Friends’ Victorian representative.