Volume 31 Issue 4 25 Feb 2022 24 Adar I 5782

Fascinating, insightful and so inspiring

Sonia Newell – Development Officer – Alumni & Community Relations

Fascinating Trivia facts : 22/02/2022

Tuesday (TwosDay) was indeed a very special day. Did you know that it was both a palindrome and an ambigram? The date reads the same from left to right, from right to left and upside down!

 

COVID Restrictions

As of today, most of the previous restrictions due to COVID in NSW will be lifted. Members of our community with family and friends in Western Australia (WA) will be especially excited as, from next week, they will have the opportunity to visit loved ones there and likewise their WA friends and family can come here to Sydney. As we are all aware, only time will tell how these latest changes impact on us, our families and our friends. There are many in our community for whom getting back to as close as possible to “normal” life may bring with it ongoing and new challenges. We wish everyone in our wonderful close-knit community only happy and safe times ahead. We look forward to welcoming parents and grandparents back to School soon but in the meantime, we hope you continue to enjoy reading this page and the whole of Ma Nishma each week, along with the opportunity to follow us on Facebook. If you are not already a member of our wonderful Emanuel Community Facebook page, please join here.

Grandparents – we will always want you!

I say it each week and will continue to do so – a huge thank you to parents who have been in touch to provide grandparent updates for our database. No one can accuse me of not being persistent! My ideal goal is to have a complete set of grandparent contact details for all students with living grandparents, no matter where in the world they live. This week, I want to say an extra special thank you to parent Odin Kay for her update. Odin’s daughter, Katya Sandy, now in Year 2, started at Kornmehl Pre-school aged 3 and has just one living grandparent Lea, Odin’s mother, who lives in Israel. She will celebrate her 89th birthday on Monday 14 March 2022. We hope Lea, also known as Leni, will enjoy reading Ma Nishma each week as of today and see some of the wonderful things happening at her granddaughter’s school thousands of kilometres away. Lea has only met Katya once, when she came to Sydney for her birth in 2015, but they do stay in touch via Skype.

As you know, it doesn’t matter how close or how far away our grandparents live from us, there are so many ways to stay connected and we hope you all continue to enjoy reading about our amazing School. Odin also told me she has an uncle (her mum’s brother, and Katya’s great uncle) Joseph Schwarzberg, who lives in Toronto. He is now 95, turning 96 on Friday 17 June 2022. He unfortunately does not use email these days, but Odin thought it might be of interest to some of our readers, to know he wrote a book about his life through WW2 in the French underground.

Ryan Miller – 2020 Swimming Championships

Good luck

Club President Elan Miller and Coach Anthony Goodridge, both Emanuel parents, are very excited about this annual event, as are all the participating swimmers. This is a photo of Year 4 student Ryan Miller, Elan’s son from the 2020 Swimming Championships, the first time he ever entered. He competed then in the 7 year old races and won a gold and two bronze medals!

I would love to include some news and photos from this year’s event, so please send them through to Sonia Newell.

 

 

 

More connections

Rebecca Kummerfeld with Eddie Jaku OAM

The connections between Emanuel School and the Sydney Jewish Museum go on and on and on.

Although I mentioned some of these connections on my page last week, here are a few more:

Members of the Museum Board include Emanuel grandparents Charles Aronson OAM and Paul Drexler, along with current parent Daniel Grynberg whilst grandparent Rita Prager looks after Major Gifts, Fundraising and Plaques and alumna Dr Rebecca Kummerfeld (Class of 2003) is Head of Education. She is pictured here with the late Eddie Jaku OAM, author of “The Happiest Man on Earth” He was a Holocaust survivor, SJM volunteer guide and an Emanuel great-grandfather, who passed away last year aged 101. Current parents Ilana McCorquodale and Lee-Anne Whitten are also Educators at the Museum and our previous Social Media guru, Kira Friedman, now works there too.

If you have not visited the Museum, I would encourage you to do so – they offer not only guided tours of the permanent and temporary exhibitions but also lectures and book launches, and they have a wonderful Museum Shop where you can find beautiful Judaica plus an amazing range of books. You may want to join them on Sunday 6 March 2022 for International Women’s Day for a very special presentation “Survivor Talk: Break the Bias – Women of the Holocaust, where, as Rebecca Kummerfeld says, “you will meet some of the powerful, inspiring women I get to work with”. Buy your tickets here.  

If you are interested in becoming a Volunteer Guide at the Museum click here to apply direct for this year’s G2G Course.

Fascinating, insightful and so inspiring

Dr Ilana Feain ((nee Klamer, Class of 1996) dropped out of School in Year 10 after deciding school was not for her.  However, she quickly changed her mind and enrolled at Emanuel for Years 11 and 12, and, then after completing a PhD in Astrophysics at Sydney University she worked as an astrophysicist at the CSIRO for a number of years, with many other major accomplishments and awards since then, including running her own very successful company.

She was the guest speaker at our 2012 High School Speech Night, where her final message to the graduating Class of 2012 and to all the students was “Don’t stand by and allow things to occur which are unacceptable, but if you find yourself in a situation beyond your control, then you need to find a way to see what opportunity it might provide in the longer (sometimes even much longer) term”. Ilana and I speak from time to time and, late last week, she contacted me about a recent interview she did for labnotes” – “Thought you might like this one – those teachers and school I refer to that changed my life after I quit and went back of my own volition were my maths and physics teachers at Emanuel.” 

Dr Ilana Feain with Year 11 students Stephanie Knespal & Sasha Buch at 2012 High School Speech Night

Friendship Bakery Care Packages

Even with COVID restrictions and isolation rulings changing now, there will still be members of our community who need help with food deliveries, so if you know someone in isolation, Friendship Bakery Care Packages might just be the thing to organise for them. Deliveries in the Eastern Suburbs are on Wednesday between 10.00 am and 1.00 pm, and orders must be placed by Tuesday 5.00 pm. Soups, salads, quiches and sweet treats – delivered to your loved one’s home. These are perfect for lunch or a light mid-week dinner.

Friendship Circle (FC)

Volunteers are always needed for the many weekend and holiday camps plus other activities organised by FC for children and young adults with disabilities. The Young Adult Melbourne Getaway is on Friday 1 April 2022 – Sunday 3 April 2022. Some of our readers with older children who might be interested to volunteer for this weekend, can get in touch with Emma Sharp to register. Emma Endrey (striped shirt in the photo below), is the older sister of Year 11 student Tessa Endrey, who has spoken at School Assembly on a number of occasions about Autism and disabilities along with the wonderful work done by FC. Emma has been a participant of FC for many years, where she and the other participants love going on the many outings and camps they organise and then seeing many of Tessa’s friends who volunteer. Being a volunteer with FC is such a rewarding experience, and many of the older volunteers started their volunteering journey as young high school students at Emanuel and continue doing so way past their university/studies days, well into their late 20’s and beyond. FC is also planning a fun and exciting Day Camp from Monday 11 April 2022 – Thursday 14 April 2022 for their younger members, with orientation scheduled for Sunday 10 April 2022.

Registrations will be open soon, so watch this space. In the meantime, if you have any questions, about Friendship Circle and/or if you or someone you know would like to join their programs as a participant or a volunteer, please email: hello@sydneyfc.org.au

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 have a great weekend.