Day: 5 August 2015

Media Release – JCCV, Keshet and Social Inclusion | JCCV

[JCCV media release; DOC file]

Major Milestones In Social Inclusion For The Jewish Community

04 August 2015

The Jewish Community Council of Victoria (JCCV) Plenum on Monday night had a near record attendance of affiliate organisations, community leaders and interested community members to participate in two milestone events.

In a landmark decision, the JCCV Plenum voted to support the affiliation of Keshet Australia Inc, the JCCV’s first LGBT affiliate. Jonathan Barnett, President of Keshet spoke about the mental health and exclusion problems faced by Jews of diverse sexual orientation and gender identity, and Keshet’s role in combatting these.

Jennifer Huppert, JCCV President, stated, “This is the first time that a LGBT organisation has joined a Jewish community roof body in Australia and one of the few around the world.  Rarely has this happened in faith based communities anywhere in the world.”

This is a concrete step in our advancement of full social inclusion for every member of the Jewish community, regardless of sexual orientation or gender identity.  The discussions within our affiliates before the vote were important, as they raised awareness of the issues faced by some members of our community, and the importance of embracing diversity.  The vote was a comprehensive victory for inclusion and a strong statement by the Jewish community against homophobia, biphobia, transphobia and intersex exclusion.”

David Marlow, JCCV Executive Director stated, “This vote may not change the world, but will change the way many in our community feel about the world.”

The JCCV Plenum also voted to support the adoption of the new JCCV Social Inclusion Disability Policy, aimed at reducing stigma and improving inclusion and access to community based services and activities for members of the Jewish community with a disability.  The Policy was introduced by JCCV executive member Doron Abramovici, who said that “The JCCV has a proud record of advocating for inclusion all members of our community and today we extend this history with 2 motions”. David Southwick MP, Chair of the Social Inclusion Leadership Committee (SILC) was one of a number of people who spoke in support of the policy.

Bialik College urges the community to support Keshet

Last Friday, July 31 2015, the Principal of Bialik College, Jeremy Stowe-Lindner, issued this letter urging the community to support the application of Keshet Australia to become an affiliate member of the Jewish Community Council of Victoria at the plenum meeting on Monday August 3.

 

31 July 2015

Shalom Kehilla,

Rarely do I write to our Bialik community to pass comment on events beyond the College, but such is the situation at the moment with regards the inclusion of members of our community that I feel obligated to write.

It is with horror that we turned on our computers this morning and opened our newspapers to learn of the knife attack at the Gay Pride event in Jerusalem. The attack appears to have been perpetrated by a member of our own community and this makes the situation all the more shocking.

The Jewish people are a mosaic of difference. Whether we are Orthodox or Progressive, Ashkenazi or Sephardi, practising or non-practising, gay or straight we are all members of klal Yisrael, the people of Israel.

The rainbow spectrum of our community, and I use the term ‘rainbow’ deliberately, is something that we should celebrate. The idea of inclusion of those whose lifestyles are different to what may be seen as mainstream, but contribute positively to the community without impinging on the freedom of others, is a fundamental tenet of modern liberal Jewish values.

As the Jewish Community Council of Victoria debates on Monday whether to include Keshet, a group representing Jews who may not identify as heterosexual, I would like to express my personal view as Principal of a cross-communal pluralist Jewish school that the inclusion of such members of the community in our institutions should not be a matter of debate but simply a matter of fact.

Having just commemorated Tisha B’Av, the date when so many calamities have befallen the Jewish people and when we bemoan ‘baseless hatred’, now is the time to come together as a community and make a positive stand for inclusion.

Shabbat Shalom,

Jeremy Stowe-Lindner
Principal