Helen Shardey, President of ARZA, David Knoll Co President of UPJ and Gusti Yehoshua-Braverman, head of the Wold Zionist Organization’s Department of Diaspora Affairs had the great pleasure of attending the ceremony to award the Prime Minister, Scott Morrison the Jerusalem Prize for his enormous contribution and support for the Jewish Community and Israel. The ceremony took place at the Intercontinental Hotel at Double Bay in Sydney on November 21.
The Prime Minister’s speech was heart felt and at times quite emotional as he recalled stories of this Father, who he described as a great supporter of Israel. He also spoke fondly of reading the Bible stories that are for us to be found in the Torah and for Christians in the Old Testament. Among those congratulating the Prime Minister were Jeremy Leibler ZFA President, Gusti Yehoshua-Braverman and the Israeli Ambassador Mark Sofer.
The large gathering included amongst many others, Helen Shardey, Steve Denenberg, Philip Levy and past president Barbara Simon representing ARZA Australia and David Knoll representing the UPJ. It was a great opportunity for us to get together.
Helen, David, Barbara and Gusti also attended Shabbat services and dinner at Temple Emanuel, the following night, where Gusti spoke eloquently about the role of women in Jewish organisations and more broadly. The service was a “Live Shabbat” musical service conducted beautifully by Rabbi Jaqui Ninio.