Tell Magazine - March 2018 / Sivan 5778

{ CEO UPDATE}
THROW A PARTY!
Why It’s So Important to Celebrate
Suzanna Helia
This past weekend I had the pleasure
to throw a party to celebrate the Bar
Mitzvah of my son, Oscar-Louis, along
with a beautiful community made up
of my family, friends, colleagues and
acquaintances. To my surprise, the joy
of being able share this momentous
occasion in my son’s life with all these
people was overwhelming. I love being
Jewish, and I am so glad that our
tradition allows for celebration of life’s
milestones. Hearing my son say (while
on a flimsy chair, in the middle of a
swirling hora, at the top Sydney Tower),
“I must be the highest Jew in the world
right now.” sent shivers down my spine.
Many of our friends are not Jewish
and for some, this was their first
bar mitzvah. Their expressions of
appreciation, admiration and respect
for Judaism touched me. I believe our
traditional celebrations are an excellent
opportunity for intercultural exchange
and understanding. Both children and
adults learn about other cultures through
these events. I see clearly the importance
of this exchange, and I’m not alone.
As Oscar-Louis said in his speech:
“Now I will tell you why my barmi is
so important to me; it is not because I
was pressured into doing it but because
I knew right from the beginning that
I would be proud of my effort and my
parents would throw a big party. If
you knew how much blood, sweat and
tears were put into this; no seriously,
the paper cuts were horrendous. Now I
get to the real part of why I wanted to
do my bar mitzvah, because I wanted
to know that I had done something
that I knew my ancestors had done.
I appreciate that the life of a Jew is a
life of a constant learning, and oh how
easy it must be for all the other religions
that do not have to study for two years,
stand in front of 200 people and read in
Hebrew and go through a bar mitzvah.
At the same time, it gives me strength,
as I feel I have now mastered what two
{INSIDE THIS EDITION:
HIGHLIGHTS}
TRANSFORMATIVE
LEARNING
7
THE BIRTH OF EMANUEL
Rabbi Jacqueline Ninio
14
A PASSOVER PARODY
Donna Jacobs-Sife
16
STARS AND KABBALAH
Rabbi Dr Orna Triguboff
25
THE FOUR CHILDREN OF EMANUEL
SYNAGOGUE
Donny Janks
28
SUDDEN VERVE
Nicole Waldner
INSPIRING PRAYER
11
THE RETURN OF CANTOR GEORGE
MORDECAI
Judy Kahn
21
PREPARING FOR BNEI MITZVAH
Donny Janks & Daniel Samowitz
24
TOWARDS A VIBRANT, DYNAMIC,
PLURALIST JUDAISM
Rabbi Rafi Kaiserblueth
26
THE GENIUS OF SEDER
Donna Jacobs-Sife