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Mr Herman (Harry) Gutman was wont to say (and I paraphrase for those who remember Herman): "Rabbi, if only you would change up the Shabbat morning services somewhat, we would attract many more congregants to shule. Every week you put on the same show. Nothing seems to change. Imagine paying to watch the same movie at the Ritz every Saturday morning. If only you would put on a new movie, people would surely come." Mr Gutman was right... but he was also wrong. He was right beca

It’s been a whirlwind past fortnight during our Mendel’s wedding celebrations with his bride Sheva Lipsker. Who would have ever thought that we would celebrate a destination wedding at that God forsaken destination place of Mexico. Mexico was never on my bucket list and it needn’t be on yours. It seems to be the end of the earth the place where the world simply ends. It’s a 24 hour arduous plane flight transferring through the US and then you must catch a ferry to the island

Any sports team will know that you are only as good as your reserve bench. The reserves on your team provide impact energy and reinforce the momentum that is so demanded of any team sport. The reserves are absolutely critical in maintaining that winning mentality and focused edge. I am a keen follower of the current State of Origin Series and the players picked on the reserve bench are as important as say your halfback on your team. For NSW we have Nathan Cleary as our half b

Last Saturday night, Miri, I and Kovi went to Vivid Sydney. Shabbat finishes early at 5.30pm. We had an afternoon shlof (sleep) and still a whole Saturday nightto kill, so off to Vivid we went. I have been to Vivid before and have enjoyed the spectacle of lights, sound and people watching. This time the whole experience was a flop, in my opinion anyway. There was no energy, the exhibits were underwhelming except for the food outlets on the back of these huge pickup trucks, th

My 29 readers will wonder why my Think Again this week is headlined Shavuot. Shavuot, we celebrated last week, it’s been done and dusted, we read the Ten Commandments, received the Torah anew again and undertook to dedicate our lives to the Knowledge and study of the Torah. The children certainly agreed with us as they came in numbers to receive the Ten Commandments. The promise of ice cream had nothing to do with their attendance. They had fun as they came into the main sanc

I feel somewhat of a traitor. We were all looking forward to our sons Mendel (Lipman) Gestetner’s wedding in Hadera Israel. It was going to be one of those incredible family celebrations of a lifetime. All of us were going to converge as family onto Isreal for a full two weeks and just party at Mendels and Sheva’s (Lipsker from Boston) wedding. We were to meet together with the Lipskers and have the privilege to spend time money (lots) and excitement in our beautiful country.

Harry Jacobs passed away this week. He was 96, the husband of the late Adelle Jacobs who was South Africa’s premiere ballerina post WW11. Harry was not a member of our shule but his son in law Wilfred Lax is our esteemed president which makes Elana Jacobs-Lax our first lady. That alone is enough for us to dedicate in this our esteemed newsletter publication a tribute to a wonderful full life that was Harry’s. My relationship with Harry was through his shule circle. He was a m

Some of my 29 readers may have heard my radio conversation with the morning 2GB presenter Mark Levy this week. As a radio host Mark has been steadfast in his support of the Australian Jewish Community. He has called out terrorism for the hideous sin that it is. He decries the terrible Terror attack at Bondi Beach and genuinely shares the pain that he feels. He is not afraid to place blame on our elected leaders for not speaking up. He speaks forthrightly against radicalism. H

Probably the most revered day on the Australian Calander is ANZAC Day. It commemorates Australia’s and New Zealand’s heroic War Effort during World War I. The day goes down in folk lore as the day Australia became a nation, the day she found identity. The day she accepted and embraced the values principals of the Democratic way of life. It became the war that defined who we are, the battle for freedom; freedom of race religion gender and equality. Anzac Day became the call fo

There is another side. The side of the living souls, the place, where souls reside in that great big ballroom of heaven. Souls, excuse the pun feel like that they are living in heaven. We reach out to souls through prayer. We even speak to them, sort of, by reaching into ourselves, speaking to the other side, we reach out kindling those many spirited neshamot (souls). They in turn cross over to our side, reaching out to touch our dimension to fill our spirits, speak to us, to

Pesach is about tradition. As Tevya of Fiddler on the Roof fame proclaims It’s a Tradition. No festival is replete with tradition as is Passover. It stems from the injunction that you shall retell the story of the Passover Exodus to your children and grandchildren . The retelling of the story if necessary, can go on all night long. There are that many Passover traditions. There are Ashkenaz, Sephard, Hungarian, Polish traditions and even particular traditional Afrikaans songs

We were saddened to hear of the passing of the late Giora Ungar, he was 83 years of age. I of course officiated at his funeral this afternoon he was buried on Rosh Chodes Nissan the month of Passover. It was only yesterday on his hospital bed before he had a massive heart attack that he was singing the Rosh Chodesh songs of Hallel. It was as if he knew that he would be buried on Rosh Chodesh with the Rosh Chodesh Hallel song. Giora was part of our core minyan over many years,

Miri and I came down to Melbourne this week to attend the funeral of the great philanthropist, communal activist, and pillar of Jewish Life in Melbourne Australia the honourable, the late Mr. Mendel (Max) New Z”L. He was 97 years old and is survived by a beautiful rich extended sturdy family tree with many branches of growing and extended children, grandchildren, great grandchildren and great great grandchildren, five generations. His person, his philanthropy, his generosity

First up a big thank you to the many of you who participated in our charity Day of Giving. Your generosity to Coogee Synagogue was overwhelming and will pay for all those little and big extras, that just happen in the life cycle of a synagogue. It will pay for our Purims, Pesachs, ice cream parties and cheesecakes on Shavuot. It will pay for our L’chaims, life cycle events, kiddush’s, brocho’s, Simchat Torah, guest speakers, our weekly Shabbat children’s programmes, our Frida

This week I received on my news feed the news of the passing of Rose Girone. Rose was the oldest Holocaust survivor in the world who had just celebrated her 113th birthday. She was born in Janov Poland on January 13, 1912. She was in her thirties during the war, married to Julius Manheim. Both were interned in Buchenwald and both ran and escaped on a forced March eventually fleeing and escaping to Vienna Austria. They were given Chinese visas by the righteous gentile the amba

There is something about a freezing white cold wintery day. Miri and I have returned from New York and whilst we missed one of the coldest recorded winters in decades it was still blistering cold during our visit. The cold permeates your vey bones, it penetrates from the ground up. The cold makes its way from the icy black pavement through layers of shoes and socks, rendering your toes unfeeling and body shivering even with layers of clothes and puffed down jackets. On the ot

“Saving grace” is that one redeeming quality that makes a person or situation easier to handle and easier to cope with. When everything else seems to be falling apart, when everything looks and feels hopeless, there is that one small bright light in the depths of our being that makes it more bearable - more survivable. That is your saving grace. The visit of the President of Israel to our shores, to the site of Australia’s worst-ever terrorist attack was a saving grace. Presi

The Gaza War Is Now Over! Ran Gvili Is Home!! I trust that I still have some of my 29 loyal, faithful, and lovable readers with me. Miri and I have been overseas in the United States for the past four weeks, and I have missed you all. During this time, Tirtzah gave birth to a baby girl, and we arrived just in time to miss the birth. Little Zehava was born in Atlanta, Georgia, to Moish and Tirtzah Ciment-Gestetner, with siblings Amos and Emunah. She arrived ten days early, on

As we step into a new year, we also open the book of Shemot, the beginning of Exodus. It is a parsha that does not begin with freedom or miracles, but with people who feel overwhelmed, stretched, and uncertain about what comes next. And yet, this is where redemption begins. The Jewish people are not rescued all at once. Change starts quietly with courage in small moments, with names remembered, with the decision to keep going even when the path forward is unclear. Moshe himse

There are moments in time when the world feels louder, more fragile, and less certain. When headlines weigh heavily and conversations feel charged. In times like these, community becomes more than a comfort, it becomes an anchor! The Jewish community has always understood the importance of standing together. Not loudly. Not defensively. But with care, dignity, and responsibility for one another. Strength has never meant hardening ourselves. It has meant remaining connected. R