Anyone in Paris next week?
Sonia Newell – Development Officer – Alumni & Community Relations
School mates and now business partners
Alumni, good friends and now business partners, Jesse Waller and Matt Gordon, both from the Class of 2020, are the co-founders of InnerSteps, a company that recently received 2nd place in the Hult Prize Foundation regional finals – Australia’s most prestigious competition for social impact. InnerSteps is an innovative mobile app that leverages artificial intelligence to craft personalised, clinical strategy-infused stories for children aged 5-12 facing mental health challenges. They now hope to progress to the Global Hult Prize in Bangkok, that saw over 100,000 applications from 120+ countries, narrowing down to 650 contenders across eight cities, all competing to win $1million. Another Emanuel connection for InnerSteps is having the privilege of working with past student, and now current parent, Associate Professor Aliza Werner-Seidler in her role as the Head of Population Mental Health at the Black Dog Institute. She helped steer the clinical research initiatives of InnerSteps, and she also offered continuous feedback and support for their upcoming Pilot Program, which will enable them to publicly test their platform and further refine their product. Aliza’s mum, Nehama Werner, is a past teacher from Emanuel.
Anyone in Paris next week?
Past parent Carolyn Saul, film producer and documentary filmmaker is super thrilled to share the news that on the evening on Saturday 23 March 2024, her short doco, ‘this bond i and Bondi‘ will be screening in a competition in ‘Bleu Paris Festival 2024’ at the Luminor Hotel de Ville, in Le Marais, Paris! It is the only documentary and one of 11 short films selected for the Festival – nine of the films are from France, one is from the Ukraine and one is from Australia. The screening will be the film’s European premiere.
Carolyn says: “As I can’t be in Paris on 23 March 2024, if anyone knows anyone in Paris who may be interested in attending the Festival, I’d love to hear how the film was received.”
Still in the family
We read in the media of Jewish actors, musicians, writers and university lecturers to name just a few, in Australia and overseas who have been doxxed for being Jewish. West Side Story, the triumph of Jewish composers Leonard Bernstein and Stephen Sondheim, based on the book by Jewish playwright, Arthur Laurents, returns to the iconic Handa Opera on Sydney Harbour stage on Friday 22 March 2024. The cast includes Doron Chester, brother of Emanuel teacher and alumna Hayley Ezekiel (nee Chester) from the Class of 2014. Doron says: “the musical explores young people wrestling with racial discrimination and the concept of the ‘other’ within their own societies. These cultural issues are something that we are all engaging with at the moment, especially within the Jewish community.”
Australian Jewish Klezmer fusion band, Chutney, launched its debut album Ajar, a compilation of Chutney’s best 13 tracks, featuring originals and fresh arrangements of classics honed over 100 shows over the past four years. Band founder is past Emanuel student Ben Adler, who proudly acknowledges that it was his early days as a student at Emanuel that inspired him to learn to play the violin. This album also features award-winning lead singer of The Potbelleez, past Emanuel parent Ilan Kidron, and the Israeli ballad Kama At Yaffa with soul singer Sarit Michael, who is one of our Music teachers here at School. Chutney released the song two months after the 7 October 2023 massacre, in solidarity with Israelis and its music video has been viewed over 400,000 times on social media platforms.
Chutney has played at community vigils and synagogues including the Never Again is Now rally, held on Sunday 18 February 2024, and you may also recognise Ben as a solo violinist, having performed at many communal events including the annual Kristallnacht Commemoration and Holocaust Remembrance Day.
Jewish Swimming Championships
The grandstand at Des Renford Aquatic Centre’s indoor 25m pool was packed to the rafters on Sunday 3 March 2024, for the 74th NSW Jewish Swimming Championships, presented by Maccabi NSW Swim Club, whose president is Emanuel parent Elan Miller. Records were broken and medals were won, and all swimmers, regardless of placings, had a fun-filled afternoon, supported by family and friends.
Many of our students swam in these championships. Thank you to parent Naomi Abeshouse for sending a photo of some of the Emanuel swimmers at the meet. Mazal tov to those who did win, including Year 4 student Sierra Miller, who broke three 9-year old girls’ records that had stood since the 1990s. In 1993 Emanuel student Natalie Coleman (Class of 2000) set the record for 50m butterfly – Sierra shaved 1.8 seconds off Natalie’s record. Sierra followed this win with another record swim in the breaststroke, slicing 0.38 of a second off another past Emanuel student, Cherie Silver’s record set in 1992. Although not from the Maccabi Championships, below is a photo of Cherie Silver and Natalie Coleman, with Danielle Lewis, taken in 1993 at the School Swimming Carnival.
In the Open Men’s 100m freestyle race, Year 9 student Jack Kessel, won silver with a time of 1:01.76 whilst Year 9 student, Aviv Farhy, set a new 50m backstroke record for her age, having won silver in the Open Women’s 100m freestyle race earlier. Sierra won the award for 12-and-under swimmer of the meet, whilst Aviv won the 13-and-under award. If you have photos to share from this event, please send them to me.
Jewish Education Matters – JEMs
Past and current students have been part of JEMs for many years, joining in their after school activities, which provide them with amazing opportunities to learn about Judaism and, for many of them, to prepare for their Bar/Bat Mitzvah. JEMs is based in Flood Street Bondi and was started in May 2011 by Rabbi Yossi and Rivky Shuchat, as a once a week after school classes that quickly grew into a friendly community, where everyone is welcome to join together for Shabbat dinners and lunches, classes for parents, Jewish holiday celebrations, excursions and amazing volunteering opportunities. Mazal tov to those participants who prepare to celebrate their Bar/Bat Mitzvah through the JEMs Program and, of course, to every student reaching this important milestone no matter where they study as they prepare to celebrate their big day.
We wish mazal tov to Sydney Owen from Emanuel School who recently celebrated her Bat Mitzvah ceremony through JEMS, and who did the extra-curricular Bat Mitzvah program at Emanuel School as well with our Director of Jewish Life, Adina Roth. Sydney says: “JEMs made my Bat Mitzvah so much fun. I loved doing the weekly classes with JEMs and other girls from a variety of other schools, where each week we learnt what it means for a girl to become Bat Mitzvah in a fun and interesting way.”
JEMS is an example of the wonderful variety of B’nei Mitzvah programs on offer in Sydney, in different communities and also here at Emanuel School. For more information on these programs, visit the B’nei Mitzvah tile on the School Portal.
Careers Space
Friday 15 May 2024
Do you have older children who finished school at Emanuel? We are looking for alum who would like to be part of our Careers Space event for our senior students. No preparation is needed – we just ask these past students to come back to chat with our students and talk about their journey to where they are now. Please pass this link on to them.
Save the date
Wednesday 14 August 2024 – Private tour to Refuse des Salone
August might seem like a long way off but it will creep up on us very fast, so watch this space for details about our Gesher private tour to Refuse des Salone on Wednesday 14 August 2024. This will be a morning event, open to all parents and grandparents.
Friendship Circle (FC) seeks more volunteers
Please tell your High School children to check out this link for the many opportunities available for them to volunteer for FC.
Visit Friendship Bakery, Laguna Street, Vaucluse every Friday morning where you will find freshly baked challah and a variety of savoury and sweet goodies. Check out their Friday menu where you can also order online beforehand and keep a lookout for their yummy Hamentaschen for Purim.
We look forward to sharing our news and yours, so if you have photos and/or news you would like to share with us, please send to Sonia Newell.
Shabbat shalom, stay safe and have a great weekend, as we continue to hope and pray for the safe return of all hostages still held in Gaza, and for peace to be restored in Israel soon.