Aleph Melbourne sends a hearty Mazal Tov and congratulations to Co-Convenor Colin Krycer OAM on receiving a Medal of the Order of Australia for service to the LGBTIQ community.
Colin has been an amazing contributor to Aleph Melbourne since 1997 and the wider LGBTIQA+ community since the late 1980s.
Within Aleph Melbourne Colin has committed himself to supporting LGBTIQA+ people in the Jewish community. The Jews of Pride contingent in Pride March would never have been the success that it is without Colin’s amazing skills.
Most notably, Colin has selflessly dedicated many years and countless thousands of hours to supporting people living with HIV/AIDS initially through the Victorian AIDS Council and ongoing volunteering efforts through Thorne Harbour Health, along with additional past associations with the AIDS Memorial Quilt Project and Candlelight Vigil.
Colin also has a long and proud association with JOY Media since it launched on World AIDS Day in 1993.
We are so proud of our Colin. He is a quiet, behind-the-scenes kinda guy. He doesn’t seek or want attention, and just gives of himself, tirelessly.
Thank you Colin for your commitment, passion, enthusiasm, guidance and sense of humour. We are so much richer for what you do and who you are.
END
MEDIA CONTACTS Michael Barnett OAM (Co-convenor) | michael@aleph.org.au | 0417-595-541 Colin Krycer OAM (Co-convenor) | colin@aleph.org.au | 0411-441-691
Federation Chamber CONSTITUENCY STATEMENTS Zyngier, Dr David
Thursday, 30 November 2023
Mr BURNS (Macnamara) (09:33): I rise with sadness to acknowledge the passing of Dr David Zyngier this past weekend. David was a sitting councillor in the city of Glen Eira and a passionate advocate for social justice, education and our community. David’s passing came as a great shock to all of us. David was the son of Holocaust survivors from Poland, and he was the first in his family to complete high school and attend university. He graduated from Monash University, where he later returned as an academic and as an educator.
David was a well-respected member of our Jewish community. We didn’t always agree on things—in fact, we often didn’t agree on things—but I respected his intellect and his willingness to tackle difficult issues. He was a leader in the youth movement Hashomer Hatzair, a principal of the King David School, an active member of his synagogue, a member of the Jewish Climate Network and a fierce advocate for LGBTIQ+ rights in our community. He was elected as the councillor for Camden Ward in the city of Glen Eira just a few years ago, and he quickly became a passionate advocate for climate action and public services on the council. He co-founded the Glen Eira Emergency Climate Action Network and helped to develop the council’s target of achieving net zero council emissions by 2025.
David and I belonged to different political parties. Indeed, not only did he not vote for me but he actively campaigned against me at the last election. He was a proud member of the Greens. But, before he drifted into that journey, David actually launched my campaign, in 2014, when I was a candidate in the state election. He was a friend. I think he probably had sympathy for both our parties, but in the end he made the decision, he stuck with it and he was proud of that association.
David was respectful, kind and compassionate. He was an active member of our community and he always sought to represent people in the best way he knew how. He came into my office frequently. He would sit down and, as we had a cup of tea, he would try and convince me of what actions needed to happen, usually on a council matter. He would push for things like greater bike paths, greater active citizenship and, obviously, climate action as well. He joined our campaign in the referendum and was a big part of the Macnamara for Yes campaign, even though he was unwell at the time.
Throughout his life he committed himself to research, to education, to activism and to community life. He was a good man, he was a smart man, he was a community man and he enriched our community by all of his efforts. To his wife, Suzanne, and his children, Romy, Talia and Joel, I send my deepest condolences. I also send my condolences to the Greens and the broader Greens community. As we say in the Jewish tradition, may his memory be a blessing.
On the afternoon of October 7 Susie Danziger and I arrived at the JOY studios in St Kilda to record interviews with Demetra Giannakopoulos for her show Life is a Disco.
We spent a good couple of hours in the studio at the back overlooking the huge peppercorn tree. The tree captivated me because it was full of birdlife, most notably a wattlebird and a currawong.
Demetra was a delight. She asked the most thoughtful questions and was congenial, sensitive and refreshing. We were at ease, and our conversation happened naturally.
I went first, Susie followed. We gave the JOY audience our all.
Following the interview I dropped Susie home and we went on with our day.
It was only a matter of hours later that the terrorist organisation Hamas perpetrated an unforgivable able act of evil upon innocent people in Israel.
Our interviews were edited and they aired over the subsequent two weeks.
The world had changed yet again. War had broken out.
It was very challenging, knowing that we had recorded interviews before the terrorist attack, with them going to air afterwards. It’s hard to say if we would have even done the interviews after October 7, just because of the way everything panned out.
Despite that, it was a privilege being part of Demetra’s show and having the opportunity to tell our stories.
From 27 July to 8 September 2023, the ABS undertook phase two of the 2026 Census topic consultation. This consultation invited feedback on proposed changes to Census topics.
During this consultation, the ABS specifically sought feedback on topics where further information was required to help inform our assessment and recommendation. These topics included:
Ancestry and Ethnic identity
Labour Force status
Main language other than English used at home
Number of children ever born
Number of employees (employed by owner managers)
Number of motor vehicles
Religious affiliation
Status in employment
Unpaid work – domestic activities
Published responses
Only answers from respondents who gave permission are published. However, all responses are included in the analysis of this activity.
Aleph Melbourne was established in 1995 to provide a safe place for gay and bisexual Jewish men in Melbourne. Since then we have expanded to include LGBTIQA+ people, families and allies.
In all the years of the group’s existence we have lived in relative harmony with the wider LGBTIQA+ community.
However in recent weeks, since the October 7 terrorist attack on Israel by Hamas and the ensuing war, many of our members, their family members and their friends have contacted me regarding reports of feeling unsafe in the LGBTIQA+ community.
These people have reported being scared of presenting as Jewish in public and on social media. There have been reports of antisemitism and calls for boycotting Jewish organisations by LGBTIQA+ people. There have been reports of feeling unsafe in LGBTIQA+ venues.
Aleph Melbourne’s purpose has always been to stand up for LGBTIQA+ people on the grounds of sexual orientation and gender identity.
Now I am finding I need to support our members on the basis of their Jewish identity. This takes a personal toll on me, as it means I need to spend many more hours of my personal time fighting a different sort of intolerance.
I ask you, my friends, my community members, the leaders of the LGBTIQA+ community, to think of the ramifications of taking sides, especially when it has direct impact on the very people you care most about.
If LGBTIQA+ people are hurting in Melbourne or elsewhere in Australia because of antisemitism, or Islamophobia, or any sort of intolerance, then we are no longer a cohesive community. Together we stand. Divided we fall.
Please think hard before you take any side, especially if it’s going to cause division amongst your peers, friends, family (chosen or otherwise) or community.
Chanshi is a dark comedy television series about a Jewish girl from Brooklyn who runs away to Israel to become the free, adventurous woman she was born to be. Unlike her peers, Chanshi carries with her a fantasy that good religious girls like her shouldn’t — a fantasy involving Israeli soldiers. She takes off for Israel under the guise of surprising her best friend, who has upcoming nuptials of her own, but her friend confesses that she thinks she is making a mistake and she’s a lesbian. Together they rebel against their traditional upbringings and find new ways of being young Jewish women.
All I Can Do is a powerfully moving and incendiary courtroom drama focusing on the legal aspects of sexual violence. Reut, a young prosecutor, reluctantly takes over a sexual assault case, based on the sole testimony of Efrat, a rebellious yet fragile victim who lives with her wild female partner. As the case evolves, Reut’s personal life resonates with the challenges of the case and the courtroom. Both women must learn to work together to learn the true nature of strength, love and sisterhood.
I was recently approached by Hashy to deliver a talk at their 2023 Queer Night, having done so at their 2022 event. I was delighted to be invited back, and warmly accepted the offer.
I asked the date and was told it would be Sunday October 15. That’s going to be a big day for the country, being the day after the referendum. I had to come up with a topic for my talk and after a few minutes I realised I had lived through a moment in history that perfectly connected my journey with Aleph with where we are today with the Voice referendum, and that would inform my talk.
Let me explain.
In 1998 Aleph Melbourne approached the Jewish Community Council of Victoria about applying to become an affiliate of the council. The rationale for wanting to join the council was to be a voice for gay and bisexual men (as that was who we supported at the time, prior to us representing LGBTIQ+ people in 2007). We wanted to have a place at the table, to talk about how we were discriminated against, faced unique health issues, suicide, stigma, taboo, etc. We felt that if we had a voice at the council people might understand our issues better, and be more open to helping us defeat the hurdles and setbacks that challenged us.
Our application was supported by their executive and the then-president Philip Bliss. We were also forewarned the journey might be difficult. Our committee resolved to proceed with the application, which set in motion a chain of events that led to one of the biggest controversies the Melbourne Jewish community has ever experienced. Once the news of our application hit the Jewish media there was constant media coverage, with many in the community – notably schools and youth groups – showing support, and (not so) many claiming a homosexual group in the Jewish council would divide the community and cause irreparable harm. Orthodox Rabbis and conservative community stalwarts spoke stridently about how we had an agenda, and how halacha (Jewish law) considered homosexuality a sin, and Aleph was an organisation that was not deserving of a seat at the community table.
At one stage a collection of mainstream organisations threatened to withdraw their membership if Aleph became a member. And then Rabbi Lubofsky stood up at the fateful meeting in May 1999 and wove a hurtful story of how Aleph wanted to go into schools (yes, we wanted to give educational books to school libraries), and how parents should fear our agenda. We were apparently going to split the community, infiltrate schools, run rampant through the community and wreak harm at every step of the way. I do remember in particular a young Gabi Crafti spoke up and eloquently spoke in favour of Aleph’s membership application. She was the voice of reason, the voice of humanity, and the voice of a generation who understood why it was important for gay and bisexual men to be included, not excluded.
We failed in our opportunity to become a member of the council in 1999 at a vote of the plenum, but not by much. In 2015 the now-defunct Keshet LGBT group did become a JCCV member, a sign of how times had changed. In 2017 the JCCV affiliates voted unanimously to support the civil marriage equality campaign. Being queer in 2017 was no longer the problem for the mainstream Jewish community that it was in 1999.
We reaffirm our full-hearted support for: – amendment of the Commonwealth of Australia Constitution Act to enshrine a First Nations Voice in the Constitution;
Aleph represents people who face discrimination, marginalisation and health challenges. Our people also have a lot to offer society. And on that basis we stand up alongside other communities who face similar challenges, have similar ideals and aspirations, and who want to live their lives to the fullest. We all want gaps closed, disadvantages turned around, and lives celebrated.
To that end, with our history in mind, and having committed in 2020 to supporting a First Nations Voice, we stand strong in believing that a constituted voice will do more good than bad for first nations Australians. The Voice is simply an advisory committee to the Parliament and the Executive Government, and amounts to a place at the table.
If you’re voting in the referendum, I urge you to take time to find out the facts and make an informed decision. I certainly won’t tell anyone how to vote, but I know in my heart, having come on this journey, that it makes for an easier time if you have a voice at the table than if you don’t.
From co-ed camp rooms to degendered Hebrew, non-binary inclusion is becoming a high priority for some Jewish youth movements. RUBY KRANER-TUCCI reports.
Attending a youth movement is a rite of passage for many Jewish Australians. Finding a like-minded tribe, connecting to community and creating memories that last a lifetime – youth movements are often bonding experiences.
For those who identify as non-binary, finding safe and welcoming spaces to explore one’s identity is particularly important. Thankfully for them, Jewish youth movements in Australia are responding in spades, prioritising inclusion in all areas of programming, policy and leadership.
Federal Chairperson of Netzer Australia Avishai Conyer, 21, believes his generation is leading the way. Jewish youth movements “should serve as an example to the rest of the community on inclusivity”, he said.
“Youth movements are such special places for young Jews to build their identity, so it is our role to create safe spaces for kids to be themselves, feel included and grow to become active and passionate values-driven members of our community,” Conyer told Plus61J Media.
For Netzer Australia, this comes in the form of queer programs including LGBTIQ+ sex education; asking participants and leaders to introduce themselves using their preferred pronouns; and co-ed camp bunks for those in year 11 and above.
“As we do not split chanichimot [campers] by gender in any other aspects of our programming, it no longer made sense to do so with rooming arrangements for our older participants,” Conyer said.
“[We] will support kids below that age with different rooming preferences to find an arrangement that everybody is comfortable with.
“We have found that this leads to fewer social splits based on gender, promotes dignity and increases respect between kids of different genders, and supports non-binary participants to feel more included in Netzer spaces.”
“I’ve never felt at odds between my Jewish identity and my non-binary identity at Netzer. If anything, it’s celebrated.”Theo Boltman
Theo Boltman, 17, has been attending Netzer since grade five and identifies as non-binary. They say the offering of co-ed bunks for older participants “makes it easier” – an experience that differs from other circles of their life.
“When I go on school camps, I have to send a list of girls’ [names] I’m comfortable sharing a room with, and then the school has to get approval from those girls’ parents,” Boltman said.
“While at Netzer, it’s never an issue. I never have to worry about being uncomfortable because I know everyone is in the same boat, it’s been amazing.”
Raffy Blay is personally aware of the impact of inclusive leadership in Jewish youth groups. Blay started attending Hashomer Hatzair – affectionately termed Hashy – at 13 years old and “instantly found connection and purpose”.
Almost a decade later, Blay is now its Central Coordinator and identifies as non-binary, helping to represent gender diversity in Hashy’s upper echelons.
“[It is] a huge privilege to be the leader of the movement and non-binary, and to take up space in the community holding this identity,” Blay said.
Like Netzer, Hashy runs a number of initiatives to promote inclusivity, from using gender neutral Hebrew suffixes to permitting co-ed rooms on camps.
While on the whole, the youth group has experienced little pushback about its welcoming agenda from the broader Jewish community, Blay identified some negative engagement on social media when endorsing Hashy’s annual Queer Night event. Thankfully, Blay said “nothing eventuated from it”.
“Letting kids be kids and not emphasising their gender as a point of difference works to build respectful relationships,” they added.
“The years spent in a youth movement are incredibly formative and important, and everyone should have the opportunity to have that experience.”
The visibility of non-binary leaders resonates with Boltman, who says embedding inclusion from the top down has helped to form an “incredibly supportive” environment for participants at Netzer.
“The whole point of Jewish youth groups is that it’s the space where Jewish people can find each other in a sea of, for lack of a better word, goys – a sea of people who aren’t like you,” Boltman said.
“It can be so hard, especially for Jewish kids going to public schools, to find [other] Jewish kids in the first place and for them to be non-binary too. It’s so important that their identities be prioritised.
“I’ve never felt at odds between my Jewish identity and my non-binary identity at Netzer. If anything, it’s celebrated.”
While co-ed bunkrooms have been accepted as a standard offering by some Australian youth groups, the US scene has been slower to embrace them. Only a handful of Jewish camps surveyed in the US have non-gendered bunk rooms as an option, let alone a standard offering.
Hashy campers (supplied)
Of 153 Jewish overnight camps surveyed recently in the US, 90 say they welcome transgender and nonbinary campers. Most allow them to choose the bunk that best fits them but don’t offer a non-gendered option.
Another way inclusion is expressed is through changes is language, an issue that is even more potent in the heavily gendered Hebrew language than in English.
Netzer’s global parent movement, Netzer Olami, recently implemented a gender-inclusive form of Hebrew through an Israeli-led initiative that aims to de-gender language.
Conyer uses the mixed gender term chanichimot, a blend of chanichim (male campers or student) and chanichot (female), where previous generations would have followed the language convention of subsuming females under male language and ignoring those who didn’t fit.
But when it comes to prioritising other forms of inclusion, such as disability, youth groups are still struggling.
Netzer has policies around choosing physically accessible campsites and spaces for activities, but Conyer says its volunteers lack much-needed practice and understanding.
“While disability inclusion is very important to us, our young volunteers do not have much experience working with kids with disabilities,” he said.
“We try to provide as much training as possible and would like our programming to be accessible to all, [but] our lack of professional experience means there are some people we do not yet know how to fully include, despite our best efforts.”
Blay said many members of Hashy have been active in vocalising their desire to increase disability inclusion by making its building more wheelchair accessible and hiring Auslan interpreters for events, in addition to the camp sensory room and fidget toys already on offer.
“No one should miss out on Hashy if we can help it. We work hard to find ways to include everyone in our activities and accept everyone for who they are.”
Photo: Hashy campers with a rainbow version of the youth group flag (supplied)
