A credit to the community
THE Australian Jewish community this week celebrates our latest crop of Queen's Birthday honorees.
THE Australian Jewish community this week celebrates our latest crop of Queen’s Birthday honorees.
Of the 778 award recipients in the General Division of the Order of Australia, no fewer than 35 – or 4.5 per cent – are Jewish, in a community that constitutes a mere 0.4 per cent of the Australian population.
At this time of the year, as on Australia Day, we ask ourselves why the Jewish community appears to be punching so far above its weight in achievements.
The value we place on educating ourselves and others is part of the Jewish culture, and it is often also said that those who have come here, or whose families have come here from countries where they were persecuted, are inspired by the unique opportunity they have been given in what is an imperfect, yet an overwhelmingly warm, welcoming and open society, which encourages all Australians to do their bit.
Jews have been recognised for making a difference in a wide array of fields – in many different branches of medicine, as well as philanthropy, Indigenous education, and civic leadership, including leadership roles in the Jewish community, to name just a few areas.
In a touching tribute, the late Professor David Cooper of Sydney was posthumously recognised as a Companion of the Order of Australia (AC), a source of pride and fulfilment for his wife Dorrie Cooper. He conducted extensive research and clinical work into HIV/AIDS.
In Melbourne, the family of the late community stalwart Johnny Baker has taken comfort and pride in news that he has been recognised with a Medal of the Order of Australia (OAM) for his widespread contribution to Jewish communal life over many decades.
The high achieving Jewish Australians singled out for acclaim as Officers of the Order of Australia (AO) are philanthropist Max Beck, science researcher Professor Halina Rubinsztein-Dunlop, psychologist Paula Nathan, educator Julie Singer Scanlan, scientist Professor Sever Sternhell, and clinician Professor Frank Vajda.
Each of the awardees is a credit to the Jewish community and to the wider Australian community, and we wish them all a hearty mazal tov on their recognition.
For full coverage, see this week’s AJN
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