This week I attended the first King David School Parents’ Association (KDSPA) planning meeting of the year. I left the meeting feeling greatly uplifted. Here was a large group of representatives who had given of their time to work collectively on ways to enhance the experience of our students, staff and families. Their friendship, support […]
“Is this it?” This is the creeping, disquieting question that has persistently bubbled to the surface over recent months as we have experienced the abhorrent rise in domestic antisemitism. I am not often prone to catastrophizing and logically I know that our community is resilient, strong and, by most measures, the envy of the Jewish
This week, we conducted our annual Back to School Service. I would like to share with you the words that I delivered in my address. Around this time of year, 34 years ago, as an impressionable young person I went to see Bill and Ted’s Excellent Adventure. The film tells the story of Bill S Preston
Last night we celebrated our collective achievements for 2023 in a wonderful Presentation Evening. I would like to share a section of the speech that I delivered. The world since October 7 is a different one. As you, our graduating students, stand at the threshold of a significant transition, I want to share with you
This week, we hosted the Rozkin family, past and current students, staff and community members in a truly moving memorial for our beloved teacher, Vera Rozkin, who passed away earlier this year. I would like to share with you the words that I delivered on both my and past principal Michele Bernshaw’s behalf. Vera Rozkin
This week we celebrated a wonderful Graduation Dinner for the Class of 2023. I would like to share with you an extract from the speech that I delivered to them at the event: As is traditional at Graduation Dinner, it is my privilege to try to convey some wisdom to our graduates as they reach
In my family there has been a long lasting joke that is applied whenever someone complains about something no matter how trivial. The response passed down from my grandmother is “Write a letter!” This comes from a time before social media, when the primary channel of activism was to write to your Member of Parliament
This week we marked the Shloshim for those murdered in the Hamas atrocities of October 7. It has been such a trying month for all in our community. From the shock and disbelief at the scale and depravity of the terrorist attacks, the deep-seated worry for the hostages, the global surge in antisemitic rhetoric and
It has now been almost a month since the dreadful terrorist attacks on Israel of October 7. At the time of writing, Hamas is still holding around 242 hostages captive in Gaza. The vast majority of these are civilians and the Israeli government believes that 138 of the hostages also hold foreign passports. The truth
“The most hurtful part of it all? Many of my outspoken, larger-than-life, stick-it-to-the-man, ally-to-the-minority mates – silent.” These are the words directed towards a non-Jewish readership in an article entitled ‘How it feels to be a Jewish Australian right now’ in the online journal Missing Perspectives by King David alumna, Hannah Cohen. Hannah exposes the double standard