What an honour
Sonia Newell – Development Officer – Alumni & Community Relations
Queen’s Birthday Honours List 2021
Mazal tov to our honorees
Grandparent Carol Berg was awarded an AM (Honorary) for significant service to mental health, to social justice, and to the arts, whilst past parent Peter Ivany AM was awarded an AO for distinguished service to the community as a supporter of sporting, arts, film, not-for-profit, and natural science organisations. Two members of our extended community and generous supporters of Emanuel School, Charlotte Vidor and Greg Shand, both received an AM. Charlotte, for significant service to the multicultural community, to tourism, and to urban planning, and Greg for significant service to the Jewish community, and to charitable initiatives.
The alternative Archibald and Wynne Prize selection
Salon des Refusés
The excitement was palpable as 32 members of our School community attended the first off-site Gesher event in more than 18 months. A huge thank you to grandparent and Gesher committee member Kathy Passman for organising tis event. These parents, grandparents and friends joined our private tour to the S.H.Ervin Gallery at The Rocks on Wednesday morning, where our very knowledgeable tour-guide Angela Alcock, herself a passionate artist, was an amazing source of interesting facts about these paintings on display.
The Salon des Refusés was initiated by the Gallery in 1992 in response to the large number of works entered into the Archibald Prize which were not selected for display in the official exhibition. The Archibald Prize is one of Australia’s most high profile and respected awards which attracts hundreds of entries each year and the S.H. Ervin Gallery’s ‘alternative’ selection has become a much-anticipated feature of the Sydney scene.
Each year their panel is invited to go behind the scenes of the judging process for the annual Archibald Prize for portraiture and Wynne Prize for landscape painting and figure sculpture at the Art Gallery of New South Wales, to select an exhibition from the many hundreds of works entered in both prizes but not chosen for the official award exhibition. The Salon des Refusés exhibition, which is on until 15 August 2021, has established an excellent reputation that rivals the selections in the ‘official’ exhibition, with works selected for quality, diversity, humour and experimentation, and which examine contemporary art practices, different approaches to portraiture and responses to the landscape.
What did you do on the long weekend?
Last weekend’s LIMMUD-OZ was jam-packed with interesting talks and discussions, many of which were led by members of our extended Emanuel School community – parents past and present, alumni, grandparents and staff.
Alumnus Zac Levi (Class of 2015) is a 3D Specialist with an interest in Colonial Australian History, Culture and Architecture. He
uses his skills to recreate the past based on historical evidence. Zac studied Media Arts (Honours) at the University of New South Wales where he trained in CGI, Animation and VFX.
He designed a virtual tour of The Great Synagogue, Sydney’s first Synagogue, one of the sessions last weekend. Jana Vytrhlik, an art historian of Judaica and synagogue architecture with a PhD in Art History from the University of Sydney is a curator at The Great Synagogue in Sydney, and former curator of the Jewish Museum in Prague. Drawing on Jana’s research and based on Zac’s findings of interior plans and his 3D visualisation experience, they presented the first comprehensive art history and virtual recreation of the oldest synagogue in Sydney.
Zac is also involved with VIVID 2021 which is on in August, as one of the collaborators of “Crowded Cadmans”, a 3D animated artwork that comes straight from the imaginations of Sydney-based artists living with disability.
Fun run and walk
Get ready for a fun run and walk this Sunday morning
Don’t forget The Maccabi Running Group Fun Run and Walk this Sunday at Centennial Park. It’s not too late to enter. See poster for details.
Mum for Mum NCJWA
This non-denominational home-visiting program was established as an initiative of the National Council of Jewish Women NSW in 2008 and expanded its services to the North Shore of Sydney in 2017. Trained volunteers who are mothers themselves, visit an expectant mum in the last trimester of pregnancy and for the first year of their baby’s life in order to provide emotional support. Over the past year alone, Mum for Mum’s 160 volunteers supported over 250 new mothers experiencing difficulties whilst transitioning to parenting. The number of new parents seeking their service continues to grow rapidly, as does their volunteer base. Emanuel grandparent Nadene Alhadeff, Executive Director and Eastern Suburbs Co-ordinator, says “our aim is to affirm the joy of motherhood and to enable the mother to be fully attuned to her child’s needs in the vital first year of the baby’s life”.
If you are interested in becoming a volunteer, please get in touch on their website.
Sharing stories
We all have a story to tell – some of these stories take longer to be told, and some are more interesting than others, whilst some sadly are never shared.
Emanuel grandparent, John Havas and his daughter Bianca, provide a frank interview outlining his journey and acceptance of his Jewish heritage in spite of the atrocities of the Holocaust during World War 2.
John Havas and Bianca Havas
Friendship Circle July Day Camp
5 July 2021 – 9 July 2021
It would be great to see more of our students volunteer for this upcoming Day Camp. As we teach our children about giving back, it is wonderful to know they are helping others less fortunate than themselves. How fulfilling it is to help these children and young adults with a disability: www.sydneyfc.org.au/day-camp
Shabbat Shalom and have a great weekend.
If you have photos and/or news to share, please send to: snewell@emanuelschool.nsw.edu.au