SYDNEY JEWISH MUSEUM features M.C. Escher-type staircases that angle up and down around a Star of David.

Trip 'Down Under' worth long shlep

By JUDITH FEIN

article created on: 2008-10-01T00:00:00

It may be half a world away, but magnificent Sydney, Australia, in New South Wales, is worth the schlep.

There are pristine beaches, a vibrant harbor proffering cruises, museums featuring everything from fine art to live koalas, restaurants, Aboriginals playing didgeridoo by the water, galleries, boutique hotels, a world-famous opera house, bars, a good quirk quotient, surfers and safety. It’s no wonder that wandering Jews have discovered it and left their imprint on the city.

A visit to the Sydney Jewish Museum is a great way to score bagels, fish balls and veggie soup Down Under, and find out the story behind the more than 100,000 Jews who populate Australia today.

The first Jews to arrive were about 1,000 convicts, who landed on the Aussie shores between 1788 and 1852. Few of them were violent, and most were shoemakers, tailors, watchmakers, grooms, ostrich-feather manufacturers, silk-glove makers. They had names like Abraham, Levy, Jacobs. One of the Abrahams, named Esther, was l5 years old, pregnant and sentenced to a seven year “transportation” to the colonies for stealing some lace. Her baby was born in jail, and she has been dubbed “The First Lady of New South Wales.”

Another convict, named Teddy Davis, alias George Wilkinson, was sentenced to seven years because he pilfered a wooden till. He escaped four times, and became the leader of a group of escaped cons called “The Jewboy Gang.” They terrorized people for two years and, in Robin Hood fashion, robbed the rich to help the poor.

The first recorded act of Jewish observance in Australia was the formation of a chevra kadisha in 1817, to ritually prepare bodies for burial. By 1848, on bustling George Street in Sydney, 70 Jews were in charge of businesses out of a population of 600. They were surgeons, jewelers, auctioneers, tobacconists and one owned a Temple of Fashions. The street is recreated in the museum.

When Australian soldiers went to fight in the two World Wars, many Jews were among them, and the lobby of the museum lionizes them for their sacrifice and bravery.

Charles Aronson, the marketing and development director of the institution, says his family story is an iconic WWII tale of persecution, escape, ingenuity, pain, luck and resourcefulness.

“My family came from Amsterdam,” he said, adding his parents were captured by the Nazis and shipped out by train.

“The train crashed, the doors burst open and my parents ran out. People were shot all around them,” Aronson said. “Over seven months, they walked to Madrid—sleeping in fields and eating farm crops. My father also had some jewelry hidden in his shoe. After the war, they went back to find one of their two surviving relatives in Amsterdam. And then they left, to get away from the memories, because so many had died.”

Few countries would accept refugees then. Aronson’s parents thought the United States had too many people, Canada was too cold, South Africa had racial problems, New Zealand was too far away and Australia seemed to be the best choice.

In fact, Australia attracted the largest group of survivors of any country except Israel. Today, between 38,000 and 42,000 Jews live in Sydney. Most are Ashkenazi. They have the highest percentage of kids going to Hebrew day school in the world.

Aronson says there are liberal and Orthodox communities in Sydney, but no Conservative congregation. Chabad is very strong. The two biggest synagogues are the Great Synagogue (a Victorian World Heritage building) and the Central Synagogue, but there are also a lot of little shtibels (shuls).

“I recently counted l7 in an eight-mile radius,” said Aronson proudly.

There is major outreach on college campuses throughout New South Wales through the Shalom Institute, extensive adult education, an old age home, five Jewish day schools and Jewish welfare organizations. There are a few kosher cafes and restaurants in the affluent Eastern suburbs of Sydney.

“We have a very active and homogenous community,” Aronson said. “For consecrations and memorials, all the rabbis and people get together.”

The upper levels of the museum contain complex, moving exhibits about the Holocaust. There are video clips of survivors telling their stories, and a special memorial dedicated to the children, where dripping water represents the sound of their tears.

Throughout the museum are testimonies about how welcoming and supportive Australia has been to its Jewish population, and how the latter has risen to and excelled at the highest levels of science, the military, arts and politics.

In recent years, however, there has been a marked increase in anti-Semitism and anti-Zionism. Most incidents come from the extreme right wing, neo-Nazi groups, the extreme left (in its condemnation of the Israeli occupation and policies), and some Arab and Muslim perpetrators.

As proponents of social justice and human rights, Jewish groups have condemned any generalized backlash against Australian Arabs and the vilification of Muslims.

Among Australian legislators, the Federal House of Representatives, the Federal Senate and the parliaments of the largest states have adopted resolutions condemning anti-Semitism. Officially, the support of Jews Down Under is unwavering.

Before leaving the museum, check out the gift shop. There are yarmulkes emblazoned with ’roos and Aboriginal themes, and other unusual and place-specific Judaica. They are apt reminders of the creativity, intelligence and pluck that Jews have contributed to the fabric of Australian life.