Reflecting on history and looking to the future

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.

In May 2020 Aleph, together with 21 other Jewish organisations, co-signed a statement “Voice, Treaty, Truth – Jewish organisations reaffirm support for First Nations Australians from the heart”. Part of the statement, at the link prior, reads:

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.

Michael.

AJDS Motion to JCCV Plenum – March 2019

The following motion was put by the Australian Jewish Democratic Society to the Jewish Community Council of Victorian Plenum meeting on March 4 2019. After significant debate at the meeting it was decided that the motion not be voted on, but rather, redrafted through a consultation between Aleph Melbourne, the AJDS and the JCCV.

Motion to JCCV Plenum – March 2019

To acknowledge the 20-year anniversary of Aleph Melbourne being denied membership of the Jewish Community Council of Victoria

Moved by AJDS:

1. On the occasion of 20 years since the failed attempt by Aleph Melbourne to join the JCCV, this Plenum places on record that:

Aleph Melbourne submitted an application for membership of the JCCV in January 1999 with the backing of the then President Phillip Bliss and the executive of the JCCV.
Aleph Melbourne met all requirements for membership of the JCCV.
Aleph Melbourne’s membership of JCCV would have given the Jewish LGBTIQ community visibility, within the Jewish community and provided them an important support base.
When the application was brought to the Plenum on 10 May 1999, much was said that was supportive and welcoming for Aleph Melbourne but much was remarkably hurtful, shameful and homophobic, including remarks from some leading Melbourne rabbis at that time.
When the Plenum voted on the application, the vote was 39 For and 49 Against, resulting in the application being denied.

2. Accordingly, this Plenum:

Apologises to Aleph Melbourne, its past committee and members, and to all LGBTIQ Jews for the denial of the safe space at the JCCV Plenum on the day of that vote as well as the subsequent distress, further marginalisation, and stigmatisation caused by the rejection of membership by the JCCV, and for the subsequent decade of inaction by the JCCV in terms of any outreach to LGBTIQ Jews.

Acknowledges Aleph Melbourne’s significant efforts to encourage us all to speak out against hate and intolerance of LGBTIQ people, and that as a direct result, and following the attack on the LGBT Youth Centre attack in Tel Aviv in 2009, the JCCV then undertook its first actions in support of LGBTIQ Jews.

Correction: the 1999 vote was actually 39 For and 46 Against

20190304-AJDS-Motion-to-JCCV-Plenum

JCCV Plenum votes in favour of admitting Keshet as an affiliate

On Monday evening (Aug 3 2015) the Jewish Community Council of Victoria voted on the admission of Keshet Australia as an affiliate member. The well-attended meeting, held at the Blake Street Hebrew Congregation, was orderly, efficient and respectful.

Photos from the evening (below). Permission is granted for use (with accompanying credit to “Aleph Melbourne/Michael Barnett”) for supportive promotion of the event.

Additional media coverage here and here.

A packed JCCV Plenum meeting — Rarely is a JCCV Plenum meeting packed to capacity. PHOTO: Michael Barnett.

JCCV Plenum votes for Keshet — The ‘Yes’ vote. PHOTO: Michael Barnett.

JCCV admits Keshet — (L-R) Alan Samuel, Philip Bliss, Jonathan Barnett, Jennifer Huppert, Mark Cherny, Jonathan Cohen. PHOTO: Michael Barnett.

Jewish gays fight for admittance to Jewish Council in Vic | ABC RN The Religion Report

ABC Radio National – The Religion Report

Jewish gays fight for admittance to Jewish Council in Vic.

Broadcast: Wednesday 19 May 1999 8:30AM (view full episode)

(Download MP3 6.6MB)

The Religion Report 19th May, 1999

John Cleary: Today is about fundamental change, from Melbourne to Romania.

…

But first to the pressure of change closer to home, and the issue of homosexuality in religion is once again the cause of a deepening split, this time in the Jewish Communities Council of Victoria.

Orthodox members of the Council are maintaining their rage over moves by a gay Jewish organisation called ALEPH Melbourne, to join. While ALEPH has so far failed in its bid to be an affiliate member, there are renewed threats from Orthodox groups that they’ll quit in protest is ALEPH is accepted.

And today, a provocative invitation for the JCCV, (Joint Communities Council) President, Dr Phillip Bliss, to step down over his very support of ALEPH.

Toni Hassan spoke to Rabbi Ronald Lubofsky and the head of ALEPH, Michael Barnett, and prepared this report.

Ronald Lubofsky: The JCCV was very seriously threatened by this. There are a number of organisations that would have possibly seceded from the board had this been successful.

Michael Barnett: These are the sorts of attitudes that really do the most damage to people who are having troubles dealing with their sexuality. That’s why we have such a high youth suicide rate.

Ronald Lubofsky: There are certain things which they don’t like talking about, but they have done now because it’s forced into the open and is sort of they want to enter into Jewish schools, into sex education. And this is something which will ring the alarm bells with Jewish parents.

Michael Barnett: There’s nothing whatsoever in our organisation’s objectives or ideals to say that we are going to infiltrate or we’re going to convert or we’re going to subvert or whatever. We’re just a very straightforward support group and social organisation, we don’t have a hidden agenda.

Toni Hasssan: Some of the high emotion echoed at a recent meeting of the Jewish Communities Council of Victoria. On one side is ALEPH Melbourne, a group whose objective is to provide assistance, support and companionship for gay and bisexual Jewish men. Michael Barnett is the group’s President.

Michael Barnett: The objection to our application was that a homosexual or gay organisation is contravening Jewish law because homosexual practice is one of the forbidden acts in Jewish law. In Leviticus 18, 22 it says –

Toni Hasssan: Well that’s commonly argued. How do you get around that?

Michael Barnett: It’s not an issue for me. I mean I’m not a religious Jew and if I was, it wouldn’t bother me either way I don’t think, because that’s me as a person doing what I want to do. But that doesn’t come in to our organisation. Our organisation isn’t set up for the practice of homosexuality, it’s for the support of homosexuals, which is a slightly different issue, very subtle.

Toni Hasssan: And do you think the Rabbis, the conservative Rabbis who rejected your proposal, do not see that distinction?

Michael Barnett: Oh well, they may see it, but they choose to ignore it I believe. They are very stubborn people, they stick to the letter of their law and it may be a guise for homophobia, it may not be. But either way it has no bearing on the JCCV, it’s not an issue as far as I’m concerned, or our members are concerned.

Toni Hasssan: Ronald Lubofsky is Rabbi Emeritus at the St Kilda Synagogue. For him the inclusion of ALEPH amounts to tampering with the Ten Commandments.

Ronald Lubofsky: The core of the philosophy, the religious philosophy, the political philosophy of being Jewish, is in the written word. The Christians call it the Old Testament, the Hebrew Scriptures. Some would reduce it to the Ten Commandments etc. and that excludes the notion of homosexuality, and as a consequence it’s a contradiction in terms. You simply cannot consider the two ideals as being compatible. So true enough, the members of this group are Jewish and it may well be that they are secular in their intent, but I’m afraid that as a group, as an organisation, they cannot claim parity as individuals absolutely. This is a point which I and others have made, that Jewish gay people, lesbian people, they can join synagogues, they can join the organisations which are represented under the umbrella of the Jewish Community Council of Victoria, they can be the Presidents of those organisations, but as an organisation, as an ideology, they’re not compatible.

Toni Hasssan: Doesn’t the JCCV, the Council in Victoria, recognise sporting organisations, many voluntary organisations of that nature?

Ronald Lubofsky: Yes, what you’re saying in actual fact is a point of view which many espouse, but there is simply no comparison. You’re talking here of fundamentals of life, you’re not dealing here with a sporting organisation where people make a choice to do this or to do that. These are individuals who do not produce families, these are individuals who perform sexually in a way which is aberrant, to say the least, with regard to Judaism. It is something which runs counter to the fundamentals of Judaism, that is the family unit. It’s not simply playing a sport.

Toni Hasssan: What’s really got under the noses of Orthodox groups affiliated with the Jewish Communities Council of Victoria is the public support given to ALEPH Melbourne by the Council’s President, Dr Phillip Bliss. Without his support, the matter wouldn’t not have seen the light of day. Rabbi Lubofsky.

Ronald Lubofsky: If he followed the Westminster rules, he should resign, because it was something that he espoused, it was a motion that he himself moved. He now indicates he’s prepared to take it further. He’s going to endanger this organisation as a result of his monocular vision.

Toni Hasssan: Are you calling on him to resign?

Ronald Lubofsky: No, I’m not, I’m just saying that he should. That would be a normal procedure in any other organisation. If there’s something which the President wants his organisation to follow and he is prepared to go as far as he was, knowing how controversial the whole thing was, and that it could well have his organisation disintegrate, and he was roundly defeated under those circumstances I’m surprised that he’s still there.

John Cleary: Perhaps an issue for the attention of anti-discrimination bodies. Don’t know. That report from Toni Hasssan who’ll be back a little later in the program to talk with ABC Jerusalem correspondent Jim Gale about the religious influence in Monday’s General Elections.

…

New PJV president’s 2020 vision | AJN

The Australian Jewish News
Friday, January 11, 2013
Page 6

New PJV president’s 2020 vision
Peter Kohn

NEW president of Progressive Judaism Victoria (PJV) Brian Samuel said he was confident of exciting times ahead, as he took office at the annual general meeting.

Samuel, who has spearheaded PJV’s new marketing strategy, has also worked on its Vision 20-20 program, looking at the organisation’s goals for the year 2020.

The past president of Temple Beth Israel, Samuel paid tribute to Dr Philip Bliss – who stepped down as PJV president after a three-year term – crediting him with transforming the organisation from a synagogue-based body into a communally based one, which incorporates The King David School and Netzer youth movement.

Samuel signalled further changes in the coming year, with a strategic development day on February 10 to lay the groundwork for Progressive Judaism at the end of the decade.

He welcomed former state MP Helen Shardey, who has taken on a community-relations portfolio, and will strengthen links between the PJV and the broader Jewish community, and within State Parliament.

In his report, Bliss outlined advances in outreach to smaller regional communities during the past year, as well as in education, Israel awareness, the United Israel Appeal Progressive Trust, shlichut (recruiting volunteers from Israel), and gay rights. “As I stand down, I know this year will be very exciting and rewarding.”

The meeting was addressed by Menachem Leibovic, deputy chair of Keren Kayemeth LeYisrael – Jewish National Fund, who have an update on his organisation’s ties with the Israel Movement for Progressive Judaism.

PJV board member Jonathan Barnett – a fire safety and forensic engineer who was on the investigative team set up by the American Society of Civil Engineers and the Federal Emergency Management Agency after the 2001 terrorist attack on the World Trade Centre in New York – spoke about how the 9/11 experience has led to preventative engineering for the future.

Progressives to embrace far-flung Jewish Victorians | AJN

2 Dec 2011
The Australian Jewish News Melbourne edition
PETER KOHN

Progressives to embrace far-flung Jewish Victorians

PJV will extend a hand to the GLBT community.

VICTORIA’S Progressive Jews will further broaden their scope to welcome those who feel detached from the Jewish community.

At the annual meeting of Progressive Judaism Victoria (PJV) on Monday, president Philip Bliss outlined a threepoint outreach program to be rolled out in the next year.

An outreach committee is being formed to extend a Progressive Jewish voice to fringe areas of Melbourne and to regional Victoria, with plans to raise awareness of PJV in Melbourne’s outer suburbs and in the Geelong area, as well as enhancing Kehillat Sdot Zahav, the nascent central Victorian Goldfields congregation.

PJV will also extend a hand to the gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender community and will run educational workshops for rabbis and volunteers on the most effective ways to build bridges with it.

PJV will establish a presence on Victorian university campuses to provide an alternative Jewish resource to Chabad.

Reflecting on PJV’S first year of operation since it was reconstituted from the old Victorian Union for Progressive Judaism, Dr Bliss stated: “Next year will be most exciting in terms of getting on with our projects.”

At its annual meeting, at the King David School, the Progressive roof body welcomed Lior Argaman, the new PJV shlicha who arrived from Israel with husband Didi and son Adam. Argaman was previously based in Jerusalem where she directed the shnat program of Netzer Olami, the international Progressive youth movement for three years.

Special guest was recently retired Jewish Community Council of Victoria (JCCV) president John Searle, who is the new chair of the Victorian Equal Opportunity and Human Rights Commission (VEOHRC).

He outlined the highlights of his JCCV presidency, emphasising his aim of “bringing in Jews who are outside the tent”, and spoke about the JCCV’S work with Jews formerly from India.

Developing guidelines for constructive interfaith relations, and combating racism and anti-semitism, specifically the Boycotts, Divestment and Sanctions movement, were also priorities of his JCCV presidency, he said.

During that time he forged new links with police, the Victorian Multicultural Commission, state ministers, and VEOHRC.

Searle said one of his aims as VEOHRC chair will be to find increased communal support for refugee children.

Aleph Melbourne denied JCCV membership on May 10 1999

These are the minutes from the JCCV Plenum Meeting at Beth Weizmann on May 10 1999 at which Aleph Melbourne’s membership application was rejected.

19990510_JCCV_Plenum_meeting_minutes