Sonia Newell – Development Officer – Alumni & Community Connections

Good health and better times for 5781

In spite of COVID-19 and all the changes we must make to stay safe, we hope you and your family enjoyed a sweet New Year, and we hope 5781 brings good health and better times ahead for us all. We hope your fast is an easy one.

With school holidays upon us now, and social distancing still very much needed, many holiday plans have had to be revised or maybe even cancelled. There are however, still plenty of ways to keep our students and their families busy, be it volunteering or maybe travelling around NSW.

Friendship Circle is still seeking volunteers for their October Day Camp on the 6 October 2020 and the 7 October 2020. The camp will be lots of fun and a great chance for volunteers to connect with their buddies as we all transition to our COVID-Friendly approach.

Alumnus Sean Torban (Class of 2018) started volunteering for Head Space when he was a student here at the School. It is an Australian non-profit organisation for youth mental health established by the Australian Government in 2006. Here is a recent post from the NSW Department of Health which features an interview with Sean.

Sean is also founder of Talking Holocaust – created because the number of Holocaust survivors still alive gets lower and lower every day, and hundreds of stories are forgotten or never have a chance to be told.

Daniel Brockwell

Daniel Brockwell (Class of 2015) recently launched a newsletter called Earlywork that curates the top tech & start-up job opportunities in Sydney (+ remote) for students and recent graduates every week, as well as free career resources and tips.

Daniel says: “I am conscious it’s a tough job market right now, so feel free to share with any peers job-hunting in the tech and startup scene. If you or a friend are currently hiring for entry-levels roles in this space, please shoot me a message on enquiries@earlywork.co and I’d be happy to feature a role in our next edition. Always happy to have a chat with any students/alumni interested in the tech or careers space”.

More writers among us

Within our Emanuel community we have number of journalists who write for both the Jewish Press and for wider publications.

Parent and journalist, Sharon Berger, writes for Plus61JMedia, Israel, Australia and the Jewish World – you can read her recent articles here. Another parent, Natalie Buchter-Chesler, has turned her love for travel into a series of travel guides and although COVID-19 has put a stop to overseas and most interstate travel for now, we can still travel around NSW. Some of her recent guides include The Blue Mountains, Byron Bay and Mudgee. Parent and past School Board member for many years, Shira Sebban, is a writer and volunteer refugee advocate. Her first book Unlocking the Past: Stories from my Mother’s Diary is a series of creative non-fiction short stories about Israel in the 1950s, based on her mother’s diary. She is currently working on her second book about her work with Vietnamese refugee families.

Remember September

Ruth Bader Ginsburg

Pancreatic Cancer knows no boundaries and, just last week Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg was one more of the many people who have died from metastatic pancreatic cancer. Known as “Notorious RBG” she was an incredibly accomplished civil rights lawyer who devoted her entire legal career to the pursuit of equal justice and eliminating discrimination of all types.

Remember September has raised over $270,000 since it began in 2015 and this year it is breaking records with over 250 challengers signed up for this year’s event. Emanuel alumnus, Ben Wilheim, (Class of 2008), founder of this most worthy annual event to raise funds in the fight to find a cure for pancreatic cancer says: “We thank the Emanuel School community for past support and current support”.

B’nai B’rith and JNF Jewish Changemaker Awards 2020

The Australian Jewish News has come on board to support the prestigious Changemaker Awards 2020. Nominations can be made online. 

Emanuel School has so many students, both past and present, who volunteer their time to an array of worthy causes/ organisations. The competition is divided into two age groups – youth (age 14 – 18) or young adults (18 – 35) so if you know someone in our community who is making the world a better place, nominate them for these awards. Don’t we all love the opportunity to recognise such wonderful volunteering efforts. Anyone can nominate – parents, staff and even the nominees themselves. It would be amazing to see some of our students and alumni nominated again this year.

Nominations must be received no later than Monday 16 November 2020.

Stay safe and Shabbat Shalom. We hope you have a relaxing term break and we look forward to sharing our news with you again in Term 4.

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