Australian Jews

Also, since the question is optional, many practising Holocaust survivors and Haredi Jews are believed to prefer not to disclose their religion in the census.

The history of the Jews in Australia is contained in comprehensive major general histories by the academic historians Hilary L. Rubinstein, William Rubinstein, and Suzanne Rutland, as well as in specialised works by such scholars as Rabbi John Levi and Yossi Aron covering specific topics and time periods.

The twice-a-year (June and November) Journals of the Australian Jewish Historical Society (the June issues edited in Sydney by Professor Rutland and the November issues in Melbourne by Dr Hilary Rubinstein) carry many useful original articles by both professional and amateur historians, and should not be overlooked.

[7] At first, the Church of England was the established religion, and during the early years of transportation all convicts were required to attend Anglican services on Sundays.

Over the following years, overtures from Jewish communities led the government to drop its previous stance on entry of Mizrahi Jews.

Hitler's ascent to power and the horrors of World War II and the Holocaust also brought large numbers of refugees from central Europe.

From the mid-1930s, Temple Beth Israel in Melbourne became the basis of a Reform community because of its newly arrived German members.

It also attracted many Jews from Germany and other parts of Central Europe, who arrived in Sydney prior to the outbreak of the war.

In the 1940s and 1950s, due to the conditions leading up to and resulting from the Holocaust, the HMT Dunera being diverted from the United Kingdom to Australia, and the stifling of the Hungarian Revolution of 1956 saw the emergence of ultra-Orthodox Haredi and Hasidic communities in Sydney and Melbourne.

Although a small Hasidic community existed in Shepparton since the 1910s supported with additional families by Rabbi Yosef Yitzchak Schneersohn.

However, in 1930, under the leadership of Ada Phillips, a Liberal or Progressive congregation, Temple Beth Israel, was permanently established in Melbourne.

The services are loosely based on the Humanistic Jewish movement in the United States and the musical-prayer group Nava Tehila in Israel.

The Jewish day school system provides an excellent academic, religious, Zionist, sporting and social experience.

Further, a number of education boards also attend to Jewish students in the smaller centres of Adelaide, Brisbane and Canberra.

[29] Adass Israel has also established a junior religious seminary (yeshivah ketanah), to prepare students for overseas yeshivot by in depth study of Talmud and Jewish law.

These include B'nai B'rith, the National Council of Jewish Women (NCJW) and Kadimah in Melbourne which sponsors Yiddish culture.

Several thousand Hassidic and Haredi Jews predominantly in Melbourne speak Yiddish as an everyday language.

Under the Labor government of Gough Whitlam, the Minister for Immigration, Al Grassby, recommended the establishment of ethnic broadcasting stations.

Australian Jewish Media comprises radio,[37][38] television, newspapers and newsletters, online magazines,[39][40][41][42] blogs,[43] and zines.

Israel has recognised this by continuing to provide strong funding and other support for the Zionist Federation of Australia, which also enjoys representation at the senior level of the Jewish Agency.

The Sydney Beth Din has had problems recently when its members were ruled to have had contempt of court in a number of its decisions.

[49] In Adelaide Australian Jews have been present throughout the history of the city, with many successful civic leaders and people in the arts.

The nearby Kadimah Cultural Centre shows Jewish and Yiddish drama, and has a large library of Judaica.

The Jewish report is published monthly in Melbourne and Sydney, and the Hamodia Australian edition services the Haredi community.

Notable Writers academics, and journalists, such as Arnold Zable, Elliot Perlman, Mark Baker, John Safran; broadcasters, such as Raphael Epstein, Jon Faine, Ramona Koval, and Libby Gorr have been prominent in old media and are now joined by a younger generation increasingly making its voice heard through new media, such as comedian YouTubers Michael Shafar and Justine Sless.

Most of the remainder live on the Upper North Shore, predominantly in the suburbs situated between Chatswood and St Ives.

They have erected an eruv making travel to and from the shul easier for the large number of orthodox families.

[67] Since February 2017, Professor Ghil'ad Zuckermann from the University of Adelaide has been the President of the Australian Association for Jewish Studies.

[73] There was a 45 percent increase in percentage of immigration in 2010, the highest of the English speaking countries; 240 Australians moved to Israel, up from 165 in 2009.

Similar research, conducted in 1999 by Sydney's Jewish Communal Appeal, concluded that one third of that generation have a non-Jewish partner.