International Dog Day
Sonia Newell – Development Officer – Alumni & Community Relations
Law Revue 2022: Pulp Jurisdiction
“Everyone knows that lawyers have the best sense of humour, that’s just a fact. It’s also a fact that everyone loves comedy, so there’s literally no excuse to not come and see us in our awesome show.” This is the advertising for the Law Revue, on now.
Tickets may be sold out by the time you read this, but here is a message from alumnus Beau Glass (Class of 2020), which he’d love you to pass on to your own children: “It’s been amazing to continue the love of performing that I developed at school into my university studies. Nothing makes me happier than being on stage and the School played a great role in fostering this passion. I encourage all students to seize any opportunity they have to perform whether at school or once they get to university – there really is nothing else quite like it. Please come support me in my first law revue! The best seats go fast! Bring all your family and friends”.
When: Friday 26 August 2022 at 7.00 pm and Saturday 27 August 2022 at 7.00 pm
Where: Seymour Centre
Tickets here
Advice to senior students from a wise alumna
Lauren Ulmer (Head Madricha, Class of 2010) was one of the presenters at our Careers Space event for Years 11 and 12 students in May this year. This is her recent LinkedIn post. It is long, but it is very insightful. I encourage you to read it and to pass it on to your High School children:
A few months ago I was invited to my High School – Emanuel School – to chat about my career with Years 11 and 12. The chat included mentioning all the unsexy parts, like the uncertainty of utilising a non-vocational degree and having several career crises along the way.
“Wasting time” is a phrase often used to dismiss things you consider to be enjoyable. Wasting time is considered to have no positive impact on your future. Yet, I made it clear that the hours spent messing around on myspace, playing with cameras, experimenting with short videos on iMovie, creating silly images on MS Paint, watching YouTube, reading, listening to podcasts and browsing blogs and forums was in fact, integral to where I was heading. But that wouldn’t become apparent to me for over 10 years!
The significance of an Arts degree is that your career path is not clearly defined. Being non-vocational tends to discourage young people from pursuing them, which was mentioned by several students. Governments recently disproportionately increased the cost of non-vocational degrees reinforcing the societal belief that they are less valuable than vocational degrees.
However, diminishing the value of creativity means everyone loses. “Welcome to Night Vale” was a podcast I reviewed and critiqued as part of my English Honours thesis. From this podcast’s initial success, it would never have been able to successfully produce global tours, release books and offshoot podcasts if it weren’t for the writers’ backgrounds in improv and community writing. By extension, any and all creative industries would suffer from diminishing the value of creativity. The entertainment industry doesn’t exist in a vacuum.
Merging my love of storytelling with the digital world helped me land a role as Social Media and Online Community Manager at the largest Independent Book Publisher in Australia, Allen & Unwin, but it was certainly not smooth sailing to get there. Many unpaid hours in internships, establishing my work ethic, and building my knowledge base was critically important. Having foundational interests in photography, reading and writing, internet culture, and editing software was integral to developing additional skills.
Most people don’t know what they want to do at 17 or 18. And that’s ok.
Several students asked what my career looked like in the future and my answer was that through building skills in copywriting, data analysis, photo, video and sound editing, examining internet trends, content creation and community management the possibilities are endless. The everyday work involved in Social Media roles is wide-ranging, fast-paced and oftentimes requires wearing a few hats at once.
In retrospect, I am thankful for the skills and knowledge that “wasting time” has given me. It’s also provided choices to change my career should at any time should I wish to do so.
So my final advice to the students? Waste your time on hobbies and interests that seem useless, and explore them with vigour and passion.
YOM LIMMUD 2022
Sunday 11 September 2022 – Roundhouse UNSW
Check out some of the many presenters from with our own Emanuel community at this one-day event on Sunday 11 September 2022 for an immersive, in person festival of Jewish ideas and culture. A quote from alumnus, Donny Janks (Class of 2012): Limmud does something no other event does in our community – it brings people together from different religious, political and cultural backgrounds and makes them talk. It’s truly a celebration of everything Jewish. Purchase tickets online.
Friendship Circle (FC) Walk
Sunday 27 August 2022
The forecast for Sunday is fine and sunny, which is perfect weather for the 2022 FC walk. I know some of our readers are taking part in this event which raises much needed funds so the FC can provide activities and camps for children and young adults with disabilities, whilst at the same time, allowing some of our own children to volunteer for these programs. If you and your children walk on Sunday, we’d love to see photos of you all in your purple t-shirts – please send to Sonia Newell.
2022 Primary Grandparents Day
Thursday 16 September 2022
Our Primary students and staff are all getting very excited about this upcoming event, the first one in three years. More than 250 grandparents have already sent their RSVP. If you know of grandparents who are also planning to join us for an amazing morning of fun and activities with our students, your children/grandchildren, please RSVP as soon as possible for seating and catering purposes.
Parents, if your children’s grandparents do not subscribe to Ma Nishma or are not on email, please let them know about this wonderful opportunity to come to School to share precious time with their grandchild(ren) on Friday 16 September 2022. If you have any questions about this event, please get in touch.
Remember September
September is less than a week away. Alumnus Ben Wilheim and many of his peers from the Class of 2008 are participating in this month-long challenge, along with hundreds of other people all around Australia. As a challenge-based fundraising initiative, Remember September aims to educate the public about pancreatic cancer as well as hopefully find a cure. Choose Give It Up and give up a ‘vice’ of your choosing like caffeine, alcohol, sugar or chocolate, or choose Move It and walk 63km over the month of September for the 63 Australians who die from pancreatic cancer every week. You can sign up as an individual or as a team. Entry is free – sign up now.
Jewish International Film Festival (JIFF)
Returns on Tuesday 25 October 2022
Ella Blumenthal, aged 101 with great grandsons Miles and Jesse Borovik
The full program will be released on 18 September 2022, with screening across nine venues in seven cities around Australia. For the first time, JIFF will screen at the iconic State Cinema in Hobart and the new Dendy Cinema site in Southport (Gold Coast). Most of our readers will see the films at The Randwick Ritz, whilst some might do so at Roseville Cinemas and for grandparents living interstate, you have cinemas in Brisbane, Melbourne, Canberra and Perth too. Early bird passes are on sale now.
Speaking of JIFF, some of you saw the delightful film I am Here at the film festival earlier this year, featuring Holocaust survivor and Emanuel great grandmother Ella Blumenthal, the then 99 year-old subject of that film. Ella has just celebrated her 101st birthday – happy birthday Ella! Here is a delightful photo of Ella and two of her eight great grandchildren, Emanuel students Miles Borovik (Year 1) and his brother Jesse (Year K) who travelled with their mum Kim Borovik to South Africa for this special occasion. Kim says: “My grandmother was living on her own in Sea Point until the start of COVID, and then she moved in with my aunt (and will stay there indefinitely). Her mobility has reduced significantly as she had to stay home during lockdown and stopped getting out as much.
“For her birthday which fell on Shabbat Nachamu (she doesn’t know the exact English date, just that it was on that particular shabbat), all her family gathered to spend Shabbat with her on Friday evening and Saturday. It was quite overwhelming for her. She walks with a walker and someone next to her to assist, so going out for a party wasn’t on the cards!
“Miles and Jesse are her legacy – something to be celebrated. When we were visiting for her birthday, my grandmother looked at me and said, ‘Ani Po’, ‘I am here’, and I said, ‘Anachnu Po’, ‘We are here’. And I think that says it all”.
Changemaker Awards 2022
Honouring young people making a difference in our community
A Changemaker is someone who demonstrates commitment and The B’nai B’rith Alfred Dreyfus Anti-Defamation Unit and JNF Australia are honouring individuals in our community who have made a difference and, in the process, inspire others to get involved. This year, the Awards program has streamlined the nominating process and there are now only three nomination categories with prize money as shown:
- Youth Volunteers for under 18’s: $1,500
- Young Adult Volunteers 18 to 36 years of age: $3,000
- Joshua Levi Professional Award 18 to 36 years of age: $5,000
Nominations close on 30 September 2022.
You can check out Emanuel student and alumni past winners since 2017 on the same link as for 2022 nominations.
International Dog Day
There is a day for anything and everything. I wonder how many of our readers know that yesterday was National Banana Split Day?
Today is International Dog Day which was established in 2004 to raise awareness about dogs in need of rescue. It is also a day to celebrate just how special dogs are to us and our everyday lives: from family dogs to canines who put their lives on the line as service or protection dogs.
In the last week of winter, I’m sure together with our readers, we are all looking forward to Spring with warmer weather and more sunshine.
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, stay warm and have a great weekend.