Description

Published annually, this Journal comprises a number of fascinating articles and book reviews.

We learn of the story of one of Australia’s most distinguished musicians, the pianist Jascha Spivakovsky, as told by his musician son Michael.

‘The Spark in the Ash’ depicts the remarkable life of the scholarly Aaron Patkin, who dedicated himself to the intellectual life of the Jewish community, written with affection by his granddaughter Vivien Altman.

The delightful essay by Louis Waller, ‘A Book for Five Shekels’, pays homage to the Bentwich family and echoes the outstanding research of our own Dr Ann Mitchell.

Also in anecdotal vein is the account of ‘The Return of Reverend Jacob Lenzer’s Piano’, the entertaining saga of what happened when Rabbi Dovid Gutnick received an email from a total stranger.

Daniel Tabor tells the story of his scientist father who came to Melbourne to assist with top-secret investigations for the war effort and of his mother who came to Australia as a refugee from Berlin.

Mark Dapin, the well-known journalist, author and noted war historian, has meticulously researched the previously untold story of the Australian Jewish National Service men who fought in the Vietnam War.

Amongst the exceptional people who came to Australia as refugees from Nazi Germany in the 1930s was the young Walter Lippmann, whose focus on public service and community affairs led to him becoming a leading advocate of community needs, social justice, and particularly multiculturalism.

In another reflection on arrival and survival John Goldlust has written ‘The Russians Are Coming: migration and settlement of Soviet Jews in Australia’.

In the latest chapter in the history of the highly controversial AJDS, Dr Philip Mendes updates its activities from 2000 to the present day.