The Zionist Federation of Australia is offering 4 free tickets to see Mosh Ben Ari perform in Australia.

In Mosh’s first solo visit to Australia, he is scheduled to perform for one night each in Melbourne (March 27), Sydney (April 1) and Byron Bay (March 29). The ZFA is offering a pair of tickets to one winner each in Melbourne in Sydney.

How to win:
1. Go to the ZFA Facebook page
2.Click on the “Like” button
3.In no more than 3 sentences, write in the comments section why you want to see him perform live.

Contest runs from 22 February – 7 March.

About Mosh Ben Ari
Mosh Ben Ari is one of Israel’s foremost singer/songwriters. His music and performances are the celebration of Groove & Spirit, blending Rock, Soul, Reggae and World Music. Of Yemenite Iraqi descent, he brings the colours of his cultural heritage to his music. In 1997, Mosh Ben Ari co-founded the World Music ensemble ‘Sheva’ consisting of Muslim and Jews, which released four albums and toured the world, playing dozens of shows in the most prestigious festivals & events. In 2001 Mosh started his solo career and since then his four albums have been best sellers. Mosh Ben Ari sings about peace, respecting the other, accepting the differences between people and has many great and touching love songs. 

Tour dates and locations:

• Melbourne, at the Prince Bandroom on Tuesday 27th March 2012
• Byron Bay, at the Mullumbimby Civic Hall on Thursday 29 March 2012
• Sydney, at the Oxford Art Factory on Saturday 1 April.

Tickets available at www.moshtix.com.au or 1300 GET TIX (438 849)

Participant numbers on Academy, Taglit-Birthright increase from previous year

On 5 February, participants from the last summer Taglit Birthright Israel trip left Australian shores for Israel, rounding off one of the most successful years of Australian Israel short term program participation in recent history.

In total this season, there were 200 registered Birthright participants among 5 bus tours – compared with 120 during the 2010-11 summer. Birthright is a free 10-day tour of Israel, introducing young adults to Israel and their relationship to it as young Jews.

Meanwhile on 13 January, 82 participants ended the 5-week Australasian Union of Jewish Students (AUJS) Academy, an increase from 68 in 2010-11.

The ZFA partners with Taglit-Birthright and AUJS.

The participation increase for Academy and Birthright is happening simultaneously with the increased participation on long-term Israel programs, such as the year-long Shnat or other long term programs through MASA Israel Journey that are taking similarly aged young adults to Israel.

“It’s pretty exciting that so many young adults are interested in learning about and immersing themselves in Israeli culture and history,” said ZFA President Philip Chester. “These programs not only strengthen Zionism and support for Israel in our community, they also expose our young community to an eclectic mix of opinions, backgrounds and people.”

Academy is the flagship AUJS program that’s been around for 50 years; it’s a 5-week touring and volunteering program that is generally designed for school leavers or students in the first year or two or university. It’s a cornerstone program of the Australian Jewish community.

“It was the most amazing experience with a group of people that came together: To travel around Israel, to see Israel in depth, just to have a great time and enjoy the program and enjoy seeing the country,” said Jonathan Ruben, 18, a participant on Academy.

Although Jonathan graduated last year from a Jewish school, and he played soccer for Maccabi, he was passive towards Israel.

“In the past I wouldn’t argue if somebody else said something about Israel or if I saw something anti-Semitic, but now I feel an obligation to defend the Jewish people; you feel you need to defend your country,” Jonathan said. “That comes from my experience in Israel and my maturity. Hearing personal anecdotes from people around the country has changed my attitudes about what’s going on. In the newspapers, you don’t get that full perspective.”

Birthright is the free 10-day peer-educational tour of Israel facilitated between Taglit Birthright Israel and local community partners, which in Australia is the ZFA. It’s designed for participants 18-26 who haven’t been to Israel on an organised tour.

Rabbi Daniel Rabin was the madrich in December for a bus that the ZFA partnered with Chabad on Campus.

“The participants got a political appreciation of the country and a deeper connection to their religious side,” Rabbi Rabin said. “They got to see Israeli soldiers, and they saw that these kids are just like them, that they are just young guys who want to protect their country.”

Rabbi Rabin said that the optimism, positive attitude and interest during the tour was universal among all participants, despite few of them being friends before the trip and despite them coming with different purposes and backgrounds.

“You had a very big range of different backgrounds, personalities and universities. They came from Jewish schools, non-Jewish schools; traditional or not,” Rabin said. “They got to experience all aspects of the country in such a short time. They got the agricultural side, and they went all the way to the North. The excitement is still very strong, and the enthusiasm is definitely very alive.”

Sarah Myerowitz brings more than 10 years experience working with young adults to her new role as Israel Programs Director of the ZFA. As Israel Programs Director, Sarah will oversee dozens of programs with more than 500 young adults who plan to visit Israel on organised programs, including Taglit-Birthright and long-term programs from MASA.

Before coming to the ZFA, Sarah was the Hillel Director at the Shalom Institute, in Sydney. She earned her Master of Arts in Jewish Communal Service from Gratz College, in Pennsylvania, USA, and a BA/BS from the University of Pittsburgh. Sarah moved to Australia from the United States about 4 years ago.

“I am very excited to continue my career working in the Jewish community with the ZFA,” Sarah said. “Because I’m very passionate about doing my part to make the Jewish community a more vibrant and engaged place.”

Is distorting Israel the latest hot fashion?

We’re angry at Grazia’s gratuitous misrepresentation of Israel in its latest issue.

If you are as angry at Grazia’s as we are, we encourage you to let Grazia know.

In the 20 February 2012 issue, the “Big Fashion Double Issue,” on page 26, among a spread of photographs of children’s rooms from around the world, a girl from the West Bank is featured. The pictures come from a photography book “Where Children Sleep,” by James Mollison, and Grazia shows eight children and their bedroom, from a book that is 120 pages.

What is shocking here isn’t the art; it’s about the presentation and the editing – the choices that Grazia made.

Its rhetoric is editorialising and sensationalist, whereas the photograph book editor – as far as we can tell because we don’t have access to the original source – is more subdued and just tells facts.

Grazia’s caption (emphasis added by us to highlight the rhetorical devices Grazia used):
“Douha, 10, shares this tiny bedroom – in a Palestinian refugee camp in Hebron, near Jerusalem – with her five sisters (she has 11 siblings in total). Her life has been severely affected by the conflict between Palestine and Israel; her brother Mohammed killed himself and 23 civilians in a suicide bomb attack in 1996. The family home was destroyed by the brutal Israeli military as a result.

And here is the what we suppose is the original caption:
Douha, 10, lives with her parents and 11 siblings in a Palestinian refugee camp in Hebron, in the West Bank. She shares a room with her five sisters. Douha attends a school 10 minutes’ walk away and wants to be a paediatrician. Her brother, Mohammed, killed himself and 23 civilians in a suicide attack against the Israelis in 1996. Afterwards the Israeli military destroyed the family home. Douha has a poster of Mohammed on her wall.
Source

Yes, the Palestinian girl in the picture doesn’t have a very large room, and she has a very sad look in her portrait. But so do most of the other children in the book, which had seed money from “Save the Children,” an international charity to help disadvantaged children. So there was a purpose to the photographs when the photographer started – to show the sad state of poor children’s beds across the world.

Certainly, the Palestinian girl is not the best off, but she’s not the worst off, by far. And Grazia doesn’t editorialise as much on any other caption.

Other things of note:
The original book of photos was released in September 2010, yet Grazia chooses now to highlight it as one of This Week’s Top 10 stories, as if this is new.

Both the original caption and, obviously, the Grazia caption downplay the brother Mohammed’s suicide bombing. For instance, we don’t know who died and where he bombed people, such as if it killed any children who would otherwise have had their bedroom been possible subjects for the photographer. Meanwhile, we are incredibly disappointed that after murdering 23 civilians, Mohammed is viewed heroically by his family that a mosaic of him smiling, proudly and smugly holding guns are in a prominent poster in the middler of his sisters’ room.

This is art, not journalism. They are in a documentary style, but they are also representing a certain viewpoint. The portraits of the children and their bedrooms and both posed, and the bedrooms framed and cropped in order to invoke the perspective of the photographer.

Much of Israel advocacy of the news focuses on newspapers, but this magazine is more dangerous. According to the company, Grazia has a circulation of 55,000 and readership of 170,000. Newspapers are thrown away, but this can circulate around a doctor’s office for two years or more. Grazia is part of a large conglomerate in Australia, and it is part of a large network of international magazines of the same title. There is no way to know who is responsible for this or how wide it is. This is something we are worried about, and we hope you might be able to help us keep track of it.

10 February 2012

Scroll down for video

The 144 Australian Shnatties landed and started their gap year on a high at the Zionist Federation of Australia (ZFA)/Australian Zionist Youth Council (AZYC) opening seminar from 31 January-5 February.

“The seminar was a huge success and it appears that we have a great group on the programs this year,” said ZFA Israel Director Yigal Sela. “The exciting reports to parents while they were on the buses back to the hotel pay witness to the success.”

Soon after arriving, after an excellent evening peula in which the various movements presented their ideologies and answered questions, the participants spent the day at Ramat David visiting the combat F16 squadron. The excursion included a visit to the briefing room, a presentation about the squadron, unique squadron footage of the Iraq nuclear facility, round table discussions with the pilots and ground crew on similarities and differences between life in Israel and the Diaspora, and a close-up view of the jet.

In the evening, the Australians had a private performance in Yafo of Mayumana, an Israeli dance and rhythm troupe.

On the final day, they visited the Kotel and Machane Yehuda Market (“The Shuk”), with a special yachad shabbat [Shabbat celebration] at Ma’ale HaHamisha, a kibbutz outside of Jerusalem.

Video at end of story

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About 340 Australian young adults aged 18-30 will be on long-term programs facilitated by the ZFA and supported by MASA Israel Journey in the 2011-12 season. About two-thirds of the participants are on gap-year programs, who are leaving within the next two weeks.

“The increasing numbers underscore how committed young Australians are to Israel. They have multiple options from which to choose, including the youth movement shnat programs, AUJS Aviv, Israel By Choice and up to 200 other choices, including studying in a yeshiva, professional internships, performing arts, environmental programs, university studies and many more. I’m thrilled that the ZFA’s Israel Programs department has been busier than ever this year.”said Philip Chester, President of the Zionist Federation of Australia. “We are proud to know that these 340 young adults will come back and take their place as active and engaged members of the Jewish community.”

A large number of teenagers, madrichim and family members gathered outside the International Terminal at the Melbourne Airport 30 January for a ceremony to send off youth group shnat participants from Melbourne. In all, 147 participants from across Australia and New Zealand from Betar, Benei Akiva, Habonim Dror, Hashomer Hatzair, Hineni and Netzer plan to get to Israel on 1 February.

“It’s great that so many of them are taking a year off, but what is more exciting is that they all committed to coming back to be leaders in the community for two years after they return,” said Reuben Bolaffi, Chairperson of Australasian Zionist Youth Council (AZYC). “Like so many others before them, they will have a phenomenal time and a life-defining experience, and they will come back ready to step in to lead others in a similar capacity.”

Eden Adler was leaving from Melbourne Airport 30 January for shnat with her youth group, Habonim Dror. While standing and talking with her friends and getting bombarded with hugs from her parents and program leaders, Adler’s smile was permanently fixed on her face. “I’m so excited for a fulfilling year,” Adler said. “I will be experiencing a different culture, and it will be amazing because you know that everybody there still shares many of the same things we do, that you know that everybody is going to Shabbat each Friday and it’s special. Israel feels like it will be home.”

Nearly a year after stepping foot in Australia knowing nobody else and having nothing besides the clothes on his back(pack), American and former Australian Jewish News staffer Joshua Cole has found his permanent place in the Australian Jewish community: Josh is the new Communications/Events Director for the Zionist Federation of Australia.

“We’re excited to have him because he comes with the broad skills to perform in both functions – not to mention he has so much energy, optimism and knowledge of the Australian Jewish community based on his participation meeting people in the Jewish community over the last year and on his work at the Jewish News,” said ZFA Executive Director Ginette Searle. “We anticipate much success from Josh as he takes on this exciting and challenging role.”

In the joint role of communications and events, Josh will increase awareness for ZFA, the national umbrella organisation for Australian Zionist organisations and affiliates, critically enhancing and developing the online presence and use of social media. In addition, he will manage a range of events and activities, including, in 2012 the biennial Educator’s Conference, a two-day affair scheduled for August with international and national experts for more than 300 educators from across Australia and New Zealand.

Josh arrived in Perth in February 2011, and he was hired as a part-time video editor by the Australian Jewish News in May. In addition to filming and editing videos that were posted on the AJN website, Josh also taught basic video interview skills to all Melbourne-based Grade 3 Jewish day school students who went on excursion to the AJN offices.

“Americans don’t travel, and even though I was living out of a backpack for a couple of months I didn’t feel like a traditional ‘backpacker’,” Josh said. “When I worked for the Jewish News, I was so fortunate for the opportunity to be part of the community, to learn new skills and to be part of a wonderful staff. I’m thrilled to be able to have the same sort of opportunity at the ZFA of being part of a great staff and community and being in a creative role.”

Josh comes from Denver, Colorado, although, “I was a fat little kid, so I didn’t ski,” he said. “I’m athletic now, but I’m here now, next to the water instead of the mountains.” After graduating from Northwestern University, in Chicago, with his Bachelor’s in journalism, Josh studied for his secondary teaching license, including spending four months in Ramla, Israel, but he left the education field to work in journalism full-time, as a community reporter and photographer. He completed his Master’s in English in December 2010 and two months later came to Australia.

Further information:
Joshua Cole, Communicatons/Events Director – 03 9272 5618 / 0405 075 856, jcole@zfa.com.au
Ginette Searle, Executive Director – 03 9272 5517 / 0412 251 343