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Jun. 1, 2021 1:55 PM
A scandal at a leading Jewish organization in Melbourne has once again thrust the issue of equal gender representation in the top levels of Australia’s Jewish community into the spotlight – an aspiration female community members have been working tirelessly to achieve for years.
Last December, Keren Zelwer was a leading candidate to join the executive of community organization Mizrachi Australia. In a secret ballot, however, she was unanimously rejected by the executive members, all of whom were male.
The decision created a strong public backlash. Local Jewish community organizations, including NCJWA (Vic), a separate arm of the National Council of Jewish Women of Australia that operates independently in Victoria, slammed Mizrachi Australia (the umbrella body for religious-Zionist Jewry in Australia).
I spent the night in a bomb shelter with my kids from This link opens in a new window Fire erupts at an energy facility in Ashkelon, Israel, after it was hit by rockets fired from the Gaza Strip, May 12, 2021. (Ashraf Amra/Anadolu Agency via Getty Images)
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Last night was the second time that I hugged my children in a bomb shelter.
The first time was on Nov. 12, 2019. That day, I heard a siren indicating that rockets were headed to my new home in the city of Modiin, having just moved to Israel in 2018. I picked up my kids early from school and brought them to a play date at a friend’s house. I wasn’t sure what the protocol or etiquette was for a situation like this.
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