Sonia Newell – Development Office – Alumni and Community Connections

We send best wishes to our amazing extended Emanuel School community as we hope you all stay safe and well during these difficult and uncertain times of coronavirus. If you have time to spare and wish to read more about our School, please check out our alumni and Grandparents & Friends newsletters here.    

If you are at home and seeking ways to be entertained, have a look at these links:

Twelve museums with virtual tours from your couch click here

Fifteen Broadway plays and musicals you can watch at home online click here 

Unfortunately our private tour of Salon des Refuses 2020 on 13 May 2020 has been cancelled (the alternative Archibald and Wynne Prize selection). We hope to have the opportunity to bring you an alternate exciting event later in the year.

We love sharing our School-related news not only with you our parents, but also with grandparents, so please make sure we have correct grandparent contact details so that they too can receive relevant School updates including our bi-annual Grandparents & Friends newsletters and Ma Nishma if they would like to read that as well. I know we also have some very keen great-grandparents who wish to stay connected with us, so their details would be great to have as well. Please send these updates to: snewell@emanuelschool.nsw.edu.au

A documentary about the late Jeremy Spinak AM – past president of the NSW Jewish Board of Deputies and Emanuel alumnus (Class of 2000)

Facing his own mortality, Jeremy asked a filmmaker to document the final months of his life, “so that (my) his children will know who I am”. A film being made by documentary filmmaker Mitzi Goldman, Spinak’s first cousin, to honour Jeremy’s legacy, is in post-production with a view to airing on the ABC’s Compass in August this year. Click here to view 

Contact Mitzi for more information about this venture here 

Rashi

545^th anniversary of the printing of the very first Hebrew book

Dr Simon Holloway

It is interesting to share information we read from time to time, especially when there is a connection to Emanuel School. “Rashi” is one of our High School houses, named after the medieval French rabbi and author of a comprehensive commentary on the Talmud and commentary on the Tanakh.

Here is a recent Facebook post from alumnus Dr Simon Holloway (Class of 1997):

“As the nation prepares to hunker down and rediscover printed literature for a couple of weeks, it’s worth noting that ten days ago, on 10 Adar, we celebrated the 545th anniversary of the printing of the very first Hebrew book.

Printed on 10 Adar 5235 (= 18 February 1475) in Reggio di Calabria, at the southernmost tip of the Italian boot, the first of all printed Hebrew books was none other than Rashi’s commentary on the Pentateuch, edited by Avraham ben Garton ben Yitzhak.

The semi-cursive Italian hand in which this book was prepared has since come to be known as “Rashi script”, despite its having nothing to do, of course, with Rashi himself. 545 Hebrew years (525 in the Gregorian calendar) later, and the typeface employed by our Italian editor is to be found in diverse examples of printed Hebrew literature today.

Interesting to note that Rashi’s commentary remains one of the best-selling Hebrew publications today too, despite his never having lived to see it so disseminated – and despite what I imagine would have been his complete perplexity, had he ever encountered it in so foreign a script.”

If you have photos and/or news to share, please send to: snewell@emanuelschool.nsw.edu.au