Flashback Friday
Sonia Newell – Development Officer – Alumni & Community Relations
Flashback Friday
As we celebrate 40 years of Emanuel School, we reflect on the amazing changes and growth of the School and the family feeling of our wonderful community as it continues to flourish, going from strength to strength. Having started with just 53 students in February 1983, by the time this whole School photograph was taken later that year, the School had already grown to 75 students. Some of these students are parents here now – perhaps you will recognise some faces or maybe some names – Bianca Gehl, Daniel Vasin, Jacob Kaplan, Jonathan Hirst, David Hirst and Nadine Weinberger, whilst Ronnie Aron is a past parent. One of the teachers in this photo, Linda Zurnamer, is a grandparent here, with granddaughter Stevie in Year 3 and grandson Finn in Year 1. Over the years we have managed to find names of most of the students in this photograph, but we are still missing six names. If you know any of the missing names, please get in touch as we would love to complete the list. As we are getting close to the end of Term 1, I thought you might like to see a page from the official Roll Call record for 4th Class, Term 1 1984. Methods for recording student attendance have certainly changed since then!
Gardening Australia goes to Adamama Farm
Gardening Australia and Costa Georgiadis visited Adamama Farm to interview Farm Manager, alumnus, Mitch Burnie (Class of 2011). You will be able to watch this episode on iview and on the Adamama Facebook page, after it goes to air. The farm, located at 27 Munda Street Randwick, is a wonderful place to visit for you and your children to partake in the many activities they organise. You can also order fresh horseradish and parsley for Pesach.
95 years young
Emanuel great grandparent, Yvonne Engelman OAM, featured in a post on the Sydney Jewish Museum (SJM) FB page last week.
“My husband and I were the first (Holocaust survivor) orphans to get married in Australia. It was a big occasion to see survivors getting married. Members of the Jewish Welfare Organisation came out to help us celebrate. We had nothing. People pooled together their resources to buy us presents. I didn’t know how to cook or bake. It was trial and error, my poor husband! We were married 66 years.”
Holocaust survivor, Yvonne Engelman OAM, reminisces about her wedding day back in 1949. She arrived in Australia as a refugee on 5 November 1948 and met her husband, John Engelman soon after. Their wedding was one of the first between Holocaust survivors who met on Australian soil.
“I was penniless but happy to walk the street as a free person where no one abuses you. Together we worked hard, bringing up our family without relatives, cousins or grandparents.”
“I have four generations; I am the winner, not Hitler.”
Today, Yvonne is 95, and still comes to the Museum to share her story of survival with visitors. Her husband John passed away in 2015.
📷 SJM Collection.
The importance of geneology tools for tracing family roots
This Sunday 26 March 2023
There is still time to register for the lecture on Navigating Polish Ancestry by Michal Maiewski at the Sydney Jewish Museum (SJM) this Sunday. It may be of particular interest to some of our readers, both as parents and/or grandparents, especially those of Year 7 students, as you prepare to help them with this year’s Shorashim, where the students delve into their family roots. Perhaps some of our older students might also be interested in attending this free lecture. Michal, a historian and professional genealogist, will share his knowledge of the best websites, records and most recently digitised archives relating to the shifting borders of Greater Poland.
There are many lectures and exhibitions that may be of interest to you and your family at SJM. If you have never been to the Museum, I highly recommend you book a guided tour – your guide might even be one of our Emanuel grandparents. The amazing interactive high-tech exhibition “Reverberations: A Future for Memory” is a must. This exhibition shines a light on the humanity and life experiences of 43 Holocaust survivors who have shared their stories with visitors to the Museum in recent years – many of them are Emanuel great grandparents and grandparents.
Mazal tov
Mazal tov to alumnus Dr Guy Klamer (Class of 2000), Director at Sydney Cord Blood Bank. He is the recipient of the 2023 Early Stage Professional Spirit of ISCT (International Society for Cell & Gene Therapy) Award and will travel to Paris at the end of May to receive this prestigious award.
Well done to alumna Miriam Itzkowitz (Class of 2020), a Linguistics and Philosophy student at University of Sydney. She is a keen, passionate writer, with an interest in creative writing, and hopes to work as a full-time writer one day, specialising in novels, poetry and scripts. She has just had her first book published. It is available on Amazon.com. Her book is also available at Barnes & Noble and as an e-book.
Friendship Circle (FC) Camp – still seeking volunteers
FC creates inclusive friendships between people with and without disabilities through fun opportunities, for a community where everyone is included and celebrated for their unique abilities. FC produces a monthly newsletter, to which you might like to subscribe to. Teenagers as well as adults can volunteer with FC, so check out their website for details. FC Day Camp (Monday 17 April 2023 – Friday 21 April 2023) is being held here at Emanuel School, so how extra special would it be to have some of our own High School students (ages 12-18) as part of the volunteer group for this camp. Volunteer registrations are now open.
Maccabi LIFE and Maccabi All Abilities
Maccabi is a fantastic way for connecting our Jewish community through sport and wellbeing, no matter anyone’s ability.
The next major community event is the Maccabi Life FUN RUN this coming Sunday 26 March 2023 from 8.00 am – 10.30 am. Open to all ages.
There is still plenty of time for grandparents and friends who like to be active and meet new people to sign up for the next Maccabi Life Senior Walkie Talkies event for over 60s on Tuesday 18 April 2023. This is a wonderful opportunity to enjoy meeting new people over a walk and a talk.
Gift of Life
Still looking for a blood match for a member of our Community
Please help to spread the word to help a member of our community, Murray Foltyn, the 41 year old brother and uncle of an Emanuel family, who has a rare blood cancer and requires an urgent blood stem cell transplant to help save his life.
Here’s how everyone can help:
🙏🏻 If you fit the heritage criteria, please check your country’s age limit and the testing process below. Most countries are an easy mouth swab kit at home!
Australia: https://www.lifeblood.com.au/ If you’re having trouble booking in please call them on 13 14 95.
🇺🇸 US: https://my.bethematch.org/s/join (18-40yo) – cheek swab
https://www.giftoflife.org/swab
https://www.dkms.org/register-now
🇬🇧 UK: https://www.dkms.org.uk/get-involved/become-a-donor (18-55) – cheek swab
🇮🇱 Israel: https://www.ami.org.il/ (18-45) – cheek swab
🇿🇦 South Africa: https://sabmr.co.za/ (16-45) – cheek swab
🇸🇰 Slovakia: https://swabtheworld.com/en/country/slovak-republic (18-45)
🇷🇺 Russia: https://swabtheworld.com/en/country/russia (18-45)
🇨🇦 Canada: https://www.blood.ca/en/stemcells/donating-stemcells/stemcell-eligibility-and-registration (17-35)
🇳🇿 NZ: https://www.bonemarrow.org.nz/#join-now (18-35)
🇨🇿 Czechia: https://www.darujzivot.cz/how-to-register (18-40)
🇲🇽 Mexico: https://bethematch.org.mx/
🌎 Other: https://swabtheworld.com/en/become-a-donor
A match overseas is as good as a match in Australia, as a donor’s stem cells can easily be sent to Australia once they’re on the worldwide register.
Careers Space 2023
We are still looking for a few more past students to join us for this event – planned for Friday 19 May 2023. Please help us and pass this message on:
“Dear Emanuel graduates who finished school between 2007 and 2021, would you like to be involved in sharing your career story with our current students? Do you work in the field of Engineering, Science, Law, Design/Visual Arts, Health/Allied Health/Nursing, Start Ups? Would you like to help shape the workforce of tomorrow? We are looking for Alumni who would like to come in to School and share their stories in an informal Q&A style setting. If you have had a messy or zig-zag path to your current role, even better. We would love to hear from you.
Details are:
Date: Friday 19 May 2023
Time: 8.30 am – 11.00 am
Where: Meet at Emanuel School Reception
Register: Please register your interest via this link
What: No preparation or presentations needed. Conversational style event.
Contact: Sonia Newell or Claire Pech
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.