A is for Apple
Sonia Newell – Development Officer – Alumni & Community Relations
Pesach 2022/5782
Pesach 2021/5781 was a very small gathering for most of us, as we were all in lockdown and could only celebrate this most important festival with those who lived under the same roof. For some in our community, that meant celebrating “alone” in the physical sense but, thankfully, Zoom allowed the festivities to be shared on-screen no matter where one lived. Just one week from today, we will hopefully all be sitting around the Seder table with family and friends, as was the ‘norm’ before COVID. Wishing you all Chag Pesach Sameach!
The traditional Seder meal can be challenging for some households, given that vegetarian and vegan diets are now quite common in our community. Here is an interesting article Ethical Eating – the new Jewish food, written by Emanuel parent Sharon Joffe Berger, which includes interviews with Rabbi Jeffrey Kamins and alumna Ondine Sherman, who is the Founder of Voiceless, the animal protection institute.
The name Sherman is a familiar one in our community – Ondine’s brother Emile is a world-famous film producer and Academy Award winner (for The King’s Speech in 2010) and nominee for a number of other internationally acclaimed films including “Lion” and most recently “The Power of The Dog”. Emile is a current parent and their father Emanuel grandparent Brian Sherman AM, has co-written a book with AM Jonson “Walking Through Honey – my journey with Parkinson’s disease” a powerful and sensitive account of his personal story about his struggles with this disease.
Ave Regina – Luminescence Chamber Singers – Glebe Town Hall
Sunday 10 April 2022 at 5.00 pm
Read this wonderful review of Ave Regina, performed by the Luminescence Chamber Singers, a group founded by alumna and Head Madricha AJ America.
Book tickets for Sunday’s performance.
Sydney Jewish Museum – Theresienstadt Art and Memory
Sunday 10 April 2022 at 2.00 pm
Holocaust survivors Litzi Lemberg and Paul Drexler, both Emanuel grandparents, together with survivor Tom Fleming, were just children when they were incarcerated in the Theresienstadt ghetto and concentration camp. In this session on Sunday afternoon, they will delve into what it’s like to remember the horrors of day-to-day life while in the ghetto, through impressionable eyes of a child.
Book tickets here
Here is a list of topics for all upcoming Sunday sessions for the remainder of 2022 when Holocaust survivors tell their powerful and diverse stories:
Jessica Bellamy
Small world – “A is for Apple”
Jessica Bellamy worked part-time at the School some years ago during her undergraduate Bachelor of Arts studies – first in the Specialist Learning Centre (SLC) helping Lynn Joffe with administration duties and then as PA to Patricio Alvarado, Director of Studies at the time, before leaving at the start of 2010 to follow her passion in the Arts and study at NIDA. She moved to Melbourne in 2014 and is now an award-winning playwright who has worked with a variety of companies across Australia, as well as in Singapore and the Philippines. Her latest play A is for Apple which, to quote Audrey Journal speaks to modern Jewish women’s struggle to find resonance in the old myths, to uncover new interpretations and ways of being which allow them to hold true to their dignity, autonomy and power. The Sydney Morning Herald review gave the play a 4-star rating “Some plays make you happier than when you were before the play begins. ‘A is for Apple’ is one of them”. Showing at Griffin Theatre, Darlinghurst this month long season ends tomorrow night. It’s not too late to book tickets.
Alumna Paris Freed (Class of 2017) is Production Assistant on “A is for Apple” and she also helps Jessica with community engagement. Paris recently starred as Joanne in the production of Stephen Sondheim’s musical comedy COMPANY with the UNSW Music Theatre Society.
Yom Hashoah Commemoration 2022
Keeping Alive the Stories of Survival will be the theme of the NSW Jewish Board of Deputies’ Yom Hashoah commemoration this year, which will take place at Moriah College on Wednesday 27 April 2022.
Holocaust survivor and Emanuel great grandmother Olga Horak OAM will deliver the keynote address and the ceremony will be live-streamed. Register here.
Delta Goodrem at Friendship Bakery
Delta Goodrem visits Friendship Bakery
It is not uncommon to visit the Bakery and hear Delta’s songs playing in the background. She is the favourite singer of many of the bakers-in-training and last Friday their dream to meet her in person came true when Delta made a surprise visit the Bakery.
The bakery is certainly worth a visit whether you go Monday to Wednesday from 8.00 am to 2.00 pm for their kosher yummy salad bar, quiches, pastries and coffee or on Fridays from 8.00 am to 2.00 pm for their Shabbat Shop. You can also order online.
Call out for 2022 Careers Event
We are still seeking alumni who left school 10 years ago or less to come back to speak to our current Year 11 and year 12 students for our Careers event here on campus on Wednesday 18 May 2022 from 8.30 am – 11.00 am.
This is an informal and small group setting where groups of 5-10 students will rotate to chat to Alumni from all professions – healthcare, design, the creative industries, businesses, human services, the STEM areas, Law, government or anything else.
We are also seeking alum still studying for a student-group too. The pathway is what interests us, regardless of whether if it was smooth or bumpy! Parents, please pass this request on to your older children who were students here and ask them to complete this form if they are keen to join us and/or for them to pass details on to their old classmates.
We love our Grandparents and Great grandparents
Our database continues to grow, and we thank our readers for getting in touch to provide grandparent updates. There are still quite a number of families for whom we have no grandparent contact details. If you think they would like to read about our wonderful school, even if they live overseas, please send through their email contact.
After last week’s Ma Nishma come out, I received a lovely email from a grandparent who had just been added to our database following my call out here week after week: I am the Bobba of Gemma Wertheim. Thank you so much for including us in your Newsletter mailout. We live in Cape Town and will be emigrating to Sydney in November. Thank you for keeping us up to date and part of the Emanuel Family. So my message is, it doesn’t matter how far or how close your children’s grandparents live to you and your family, it is wonderful for them to still be a part of our community and read about what is happening here and how much we value them as members of our wonderful Emanuel family.
We look forward to sharing our news and yours, so if you have photos or news you would like to share with us, please send to Sonia Newell.
Shabbat shalom, stay safe and Chag Pesach Sameach. See you again at the start of next term.