Russian coordinator sought
A RUSSIAN-speaking Jewish community coordinator is being sought in Sydney, a role which will focus on engaging young adults in Jewish and Zionist activity.
A RUSSIAN-speaking Jewish community coordinator is being sought in Sydney, a role which will focus on engaging young adults in Jewish and Zionist activity.
The part-time role with the Zionist Federation of Australia (ZFA), which is funded by philanthropist Harry Triguboff, will see the successful applicant work closely with Melbourne-based shlichah Sasha Klyachkina in organising events for young adults in NSW.
Klyachkina, who has been working in Australia since November 2012, said although many changes have taken place since then, and many Russian Jews are now becoming involved in the community, “it is definitely not enough”.
“Most of the activities take place in Melbourne,” Klyachkina admitted. “Thousands of Russian-speaking Jews are still not involved in any kind of Jewish life, particularly in Sydney.”
She said one of the biggest challenges is the fact that Russian Jews are geographically very spread around Sydney, with most of them not attending Jewish schools or youth movements, “so they are very hard to reach”.
The absence of strong community leadership in the Sydney Russian-speaking Jewish community also means there are no secular cultural events for young Russian Jews and their families to attend, Klyachkina said.
“This gap needs to be filled as soon as possible, as the window of opportunities is narrow: the younger population is rapidly assimilating. The establishment of a professional position in Sydney underpins the future success of Russian-speaking Jewish activities in NSW.”
The applicant will be fluent in both Russian and English and understand the culture and needs of the Russian-speaking Jewish community.
ZFA president Dr Danny Lamm, who served as a member of the committee for Russian Jewry at the Jewish Agency for Israel, said he is confident that with such an appointment, “we may be able to still retain the community within our fold”.
“We seek to encourage their involvement in the Jewish day schools, in synagogues, in Maccabi, in AUJS, to encourage them to travel to Israel, to join our Kangarusski Birthright program and to engage with Jewish leadership to better advance the interest of the entire Jewish community,” he said.
Lamm added: “We are grateful to Mr Harry Triguboff for his generous support of this project.”
Applicants should forward their CV and brief cover letter to alexandrak@jafi.org before September 12. For more information, call Sasha on 0434 039 059.
EVAN ZLATKIS
The Kangarusski group in Israel earlier this year. Photo: Facebook
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