Leon Orbach – Board member  Nirit Eylon – President This week marks the official launch of Hatikvah Australia. For us, it is much more than the launch of another organisation. It is the culmination of a journey that began several years ago, when two communities discovered just how much they had in common. Both of us lived in Israel, and although Australia has long been our home, our connection to Israel has never faded. Yet for years, the Israeli community here and the broade

Nirit Eylon- Hatikvah President There are days in our lives that divide time into a before and an after. We remember where we were, what we were doing, who called us, and the moment we first understood that something had happened that would change us forever. For Jews around the world, October 7 became one of those days. A day we will always remember not only for the horror of what happened, but for where we were when we first understood that something unimaginable was unfold

Nirit Eylon- Hatikvah President Last November, I met Mira Shoshani in Kfar Aza. For several hours, she walked with us through the kibbutz, taking us from one place to another and telling us what had happened there on October 7. There was no stage and no camera. We stood with her outside the homes where people had been murdered and abducted, and she told us their stories. We stopped at the home of Smadar and Roy Idan. Smadar, like Mira, served in the Shin Bet. She and Roy were

Yochai Glick Cambridge Dictionary: poisoned chalice; noun [S] something that seems very good when it is first received, but in fact does great harm to the person who receives it. "The Poison Machine" is an expression in the Israeli press referring to the propaganda mechanism of distributing false or incorrect information, hate discourse, polarisation, incitement and false news against opponents, mainly through online social networks. The techniques and methods, however, are n

Dan Samovitz There is something about the sound of the shofar that has always felt different to me. It isn't music. It isn't a speech. It doesn't explain anything. It simply calls. For thousands of years, Jews have heard that call at the beginning of a new year. A call to wake up. To stop. To listen. To ask ourselves where we are and what we are doing. Ayekah? Where are you? It is one of the oldest questions in our tradition. And perhaps one of the most relevant questions we

Leon Orbach You may say I'm a dreamer But I'm not the only one I hope someday you'll join us And the world will be as one *Imagine/John Lennon https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rfNc7xPXYP8 The Jewish New Year תשפ"ז (5787) is upon us. A new year brings hope. Hope for security, hope for peace, hope for health, hope for wealth, hope for happiness, hope for some sense and meaning in the affairs of the world, hope for leaders who lead and unite, hope for a sense of stability in a w

Nirit Eylon, Hatikvah President As we prepare to welcome Rosh Hashanah, we are asked to do something that has become extraordinarily difficult in Israeli public life: to look back honestly. The Jewish New Year is the beginning of the Yamim Hanoraim (ימים נוראים), not simply a celebration of what lies ahead. It is a time of Heshbon Hanefesh, חשבון נפש, an accounting of the soul. We examine what we have done, what we failed to do, and what must change if the coming year is trul

Romy Zyngier, Vice President of Hatikvah Australia Our liturgy stopped being a metaphor a long time ago. You can take action this election; Victoria votes on 28 November. For a thousand years Jews have read those words as a meditation on the unknowable. Now we have dates and numbers. This year we did not have to imagine it. We only had to read the news. Recent years have turned the political and social discourse away from climate change and the collapse of ecosystems worldwi

Negba Dolev-Weiss, Hatikvah Australia Board There are moments when an image says more than a thousand headlines. This week, I found myself staring at one of those images: a sitting member of Israel’s parliament and Chair of the Education Parliamentary Committee, MK Zvi Sukkot, swinging a sledgehammer at a Palestinian terrorist memorial in the West Bank village of Madama, while under military escort. I found the image deeply disturbing. For some, it was a defiant act of deterr

Leon Orbach It's been a longA long time comin’, but I knowA change gon' comeOh yes, it will. Gospel Song by Sam Cooke – A Change Is Gonna Come Democracy in Israel is a strange beast. With the exception of The Democrats (HaDemocratim) and Likud, Party candidates are chosen by the Party leaders or internal bodies. Voters choose a Party and hand over, to the leader of the Party, their right to choose wise, representative legislators. The entire country is one electoral constitue

Nirit Eylon, Hatikvah President This week, according to the Hebrew calendar, marks two years since the murder of the Beautiful Six: Carmel Gat, Hersh Goldberg-Polin, Eden Yerushalmi, Almog Sarusi, Alexander Lobanov and Ori Danino. Two years, and I can still remember exactly where I was when I learned they were gone. Before I arrived at our weekly United With Israel rally in Melbourne that morning, a rumour had begun circulating through the hostage families' forum. Six bodies

Aaron Lemberg, Hatikvah Community Engagement Officer I know that it’s said every single time an election comes around (which isn’t that rare these days), but this years Israeli election really does feel like it’s by far the most important one of our lifetimes. And the lead up to it has already left me feeling a whole lot of existential dread. Juggling what it has been like to be a young progressive Jew in Australia in the context of the current government in Israel and

Leon Orbach Come gather 'round people Wherever you roam And admit that the waters Around you have grown And accept it that soon You'll be drenched to the bone Change is about to sweep Israel (and in the not too distant future the USA). Do we know what sort of change? No. But surely, whatever the outcome of this year’s elections, there will be transformative changes. If the Netanyahu government is thrown out, then a National Commission of Inquiry will be set up, the corruption

Esther Takac is the writer-director-producer of RISING – Voices of Protest and Hope, an award-winning filmmaker and author, child and adult psychologist and program founder. Memory, democracy and moral responsibility in Israel and the Jewish world today I recently travelled to Israel for the birth of my first granddaughter in Tel Aviv. Becoming a grandmother, or Saftush as I’m now called in Hebrew, has been pure naches. Yet alongside that joy was deep concern for the countr

Israel will head to the polls on 27 October 2026. After years of war, political turmoil and deep divisions, Israelis will once again have the opportunity to decide the country's direction. The date has now be en formally confirmed, and the Knesset will conclude its final sitting before entering the election recess this week. For many in our Australian community, this election feels different. Over recent weeks we have heard from an increasing number of Israelis living in Aust

What happens when a nation’s government completely freezes during its darkest hour? Last night, Hatikvah Australia hosted a deeply raw and urgent community conversation with Ami Dror—entrepreneur, Harvard leadership lecturer, and former Shin Bet security officer who once protected the likes of Yitzhak Rabin, Shimon Peres, and Benjamin Netanyahu. For over an hour, Dror pulled back the curtain on the internal mechanics of Israel’s current political crisis, the untold story of t

By Leon Orbach & Nirit Eylon One thousand days ago, many of us woke to messages we could not comprehend. For Israelis, it was the deadliest day in the history of the State. For Jews around the world, it shattered an assumption many of us had carried our entire lives: that, whatever disagreements we had with Israel, it would always remain a place of safety for the Jewish people. Nothing has felt quite the same since. Over these 1,000 days we have lived through emotions that fe

Article by United With Israel Over the past year, United With Israel has continued to stand beside the people of Israel as their needs have evolved from emergency relief to long-term recovery. Thanks to the generosity of our community, we have helped furnish homes for displaced families and hostage survivors, provided practical assistance to those rebuilding their lives, and, most importantly, expanded our support for mental health. Working with trusted partners on the ground

Kedem Levy Australian Entrepreneur Energy Expert Most of us have heard about the risks of climate change, and many have heard of the energy transition. Australia has clear targets to reduce carbon emissions. We know Israel as the “Start-Up Nation.” So, a question is: how can Israel and Australia create partnerships to accelerate the journey to a low-emissions world? The potential is actually quite high, and it's linked to the nature of the transition with the need for inno

Ravit Glance: Associate Producer, RISING: Voices of Protest & Hope There are moments in a nation's history when remaining a spectator is no longer enough. Over the past three years, hundreds of thousands of Israelis chose not to stand on the sidelines. They stepped into the public square because they believed the future of their country was too important to leave to others. RISING is an Australian documentary, created by an Australian filmmaking team, that has just concluded