Past Lectures
2011 SERIES: LINKING HALACHAH TO CONTEMPORARY AUSTRALIAN LAWThe 2011 lecture series was planned by Ann Cebon, Rabbi Stephen Boroda and Dr Deborah Golvan. LECTURE 1 DATE: Sunday 13 February 2011, 8.00pm George Golvan QC, holds degrees in law and jurisprudence from Monash University, Melbourne, and the degree of Juris Doctor (J.D.) from Arizona State University (USA). He actively practices as a commercial Arbitrator and Mediator, and has been involved in numerous court referred commercial, engineering and construction disputes, specialising in complex construction and engineering disputes. He is a Past Chairman of the Institute of Arbitrators (Victorian Chapter) and the Building Dispute Practitioners Society. He is a Graded Arbitrator by IAMA (Grade 1). Rabbi Meir Shlomo Kluwgant is the General Manager of Cultural and Spiritual Services at Jewish Care. He is Immediate Past President of the RCV (Rabbinical Council of Victoria). During his five years as RCV President (2004-09), he brought many new initiatives to the RCV, funded by a grant from the Victorian Multicultural Commission, including the Professional Development Project. As part of this project, a three day Rabbinical Arbitration Course for rabbis was organised in August 2010, certified by The Institute of Arbitrators and Mediators Australia. LECTURE 2 DATE: Sunday 15 May 2011, 7:30 pm Judge Cohen will give an overview of sentencing in Victoria today - the law and applicable principles - and discuss the issues behind sentencing, including retribution vs rehabilitation and the appropriateness of supporting victims offenders' families along with supporting victims. Rabbi Dahan will compare these principles with those that underpin the Jewish legal approach to punishment and sentencing. Her Honour Judge Susan Cohen was appointed to the County Court of Victoria in August 2001. Judge Cohen comes from a strong legal background. Her father, the late Senator Sam Cohen QC, was a barrister. Her mother, the Honourable Judge Judith Cohen, was a Federal Court Judge. Judge Susan Cohen is the first woman in Australia to follow her mother as a judge. During her 20 years at the Bar, Judge Cohen was a founding committee member of the Women Barristers' Association. Judge Cohen is a member of KHC. Rabbi Elad Dahan is the Rosh Kollel of the Kollel Torah MiTzion at the Eugen Yaakov Weiss Mizrachi Centre in Caulfield. Rav Dahan was a graduate of the Karnei Shomron Hesder Yeshiva, serving in the artillery corp, where he received Rabbinical Ordination in 2008. He completed a BA in Education, also in 2008, specialising in Bible and Oral Law. LECTURE 3 DATE: Sunday 7 August 2011, 7:30 pm Justice Stephen Kaye graduated from Monash University with a Bachelor of Arts in 1972 and a Bachelor of Laws with First Class Honours in 1974 and shared the Supreme Court Prize. As a barrister he worked in all areas of the law including civil law, personal injury including medical negligence, commercial law, defamation and criminal law. He became a QC in 1991, served on the Bar Council from 1996 to 2000 and was Chairman of the Aboriginal Law Students Mentoring Committee from 1999 until he was appointed as a Justice of the Supreme Court in 2003. Since 2007, he has been chairman of the Judicial Officers Aboriginal Cultural Awareness Committee. Rabbi Stephen Boroda will present the thoughts of the Late Professor Daniel J Elazar on “Obligations and Rights in the Jewish Political Tradition. Professor Daniel J Elazar, of blessed memory, was the author or editor of more than 60 books and many other publications including a 4-volume study of the Covenant Tradition in Politics, as well as Community and Polity, The Jewish Polity, and People and Polity, a trilogy on Jewish political and community organization from earliest times to the present. He also founded and edited the scholarly journal Jewish Political Studies Review. Professor Elazar was the founder of the Jerusalem Center for Public Affairs and Professor of Political Science at Temple University, Philadelphia, USA.. LECTURE 4 DATE: Sunday 4 December 2011, 7:30 pm Jonathan Slonim started his professional life as a biochemist before becoming a lawyer. He was a solicitor for almost 15 years and has served as a barrister for the past 12 years. Jonathan has given evidence to the Industry Commission and a number of Senate committees on behalf of the Law Council regarding various aspects of Customs policy and legislation and drafted several policy papers. Jonathan appears regularly before the Commonwealth Administrative Appeals Tribunal in Customs and Excise matters and before the Federal Court in appeals from the Administrative Appeals Tribunal. Jonathan has also appeared before the Magistrates Court in Quarantine prosecutions as well as general commercial disputes. Jonathan is an occasional student of Torah, Gemara and both Jewish and secular philosophy. He has a love for both Jewish and general history and literature of all sorts. _________ 2010 SERIES: RELATING JUDAISM AND HALACHAH TO SCIENCE AND MEDICINEThe 2010 lecture series was planned by Ann Cebon, Rabbi Stephen Boroda and Dr Deborah Golvan, with suggestions from Dr Miriam Munz. LECTURE 1 DATE: Sunday 7 February 2010, 8.00pm Scientists are only now starting to unravel the interaction of our genetic nature and the influence of our environment. Our genetic lineage and culture influence disease susceptibility, our approach to ethical issues and the way we deal with the challenges of our lives. Professor Agnes Bankier is the Director of the Victorian Clinical Genetics Services, which is part of the Murdoch Children's Research Institute at the Royal Children's Hospital in Melbourne. She oversees the provision of clinical and laboratory genetic services, research and education. This lecture is available to be streamed from our website - please click here. LECTURE 2 DATE: Sunday 9 May 2010, 8.00pm Historically, Science and religion have been perceived to be “in conflict”. How and why did this come about, and is it correct? By examining the various interfaces between Science and Religion and varying descriptions of the creation of the world, we ask whether this conflict can be resolved or if it needs to be? Rabbi James Kennard is an educationalist in the Australian Jewish community. He was previously Headteacher of King Solomon High School in Barkingside, London. He was educated at St Paul's School in London and read Mathematics at New College, Oxford. He received Rabbinic ordination in Israel in 1989. He was the founding Head of Jewish Studies, and subsequently Head of Yavneh, a division of the King David High School in Manchester, England. He has served as Headteacher of Broughton Jewish Cassel Fox Primary School in Manchester and Headteacher of King Solomon High School Barkingside, London. In January 2007 he took up the position as Principal of Mount Scopus Memorial College in Melbourne, Australia. He has contributed articles to The Age, London Jewish News, Australian Jewish News, London Jewish Chronicle and appeared on BBC radio and TV. This lecture is available to be streamed from our website - please click here. LECTURE 3 DATE: Sunday 8 August 2010, 8.00pm The Mishnah, written 2,000 years ago, tells us that the best of the doctors goes to hell. Numerous explanations of this statement have been given by the rabbinic commentaries. Professor Robert Berkowitz, a children’s ear, nose and throat surgeon, who holds clinical, administrative and academic appointments in the public hospital system in addition to conducting private practice, argued that nothing much has changed. Professor Berkowitz outlined what the Talmud has to say about the medical profession and illustrated these teachings with examples from his own career. LECTURE 4 DATE: Sunday 5 December 2010, 8.00pm Our two speakers, Jonathan Keren-Black, Co-Founder and Vice President of the Jewish Ecological Coalition, and Pablo Brait, Director of Strategic Planning for Beyond Zero Emissions (BZE), covered the surprising environmental detail and imperatives found in our tradition, a clear update of the latest climate research, a look at government responses and big picture solutions. Jonathan Keren-Black discussed the environmentalist message contained within Jewish texts and household scale solutions. Pablo Brait presented a nationwide solution currently available that would enable Australia to run our economy from 100% renewable energy within a decade. The speakers also looked at some ways that individuals and communities can take action and get involved. Pablo's presentation was based on the Zero Carbon Australia 2020 Stationary Energy Plan. You can order a hard copy of the plan from the University of Melbourne Energy Institute. A short video featuring Malcolm Turnbull, Tim Flannery, Sir Gustav Nossal and Dr Peter Doherty discussing the plan is available here. Here are some links to media coverage of BZE’s plan for you to explore and share. Sydney Morning Herald Further information is on BZE’s website, facebook, and Twitter. If you are interested in making a donation to BZE, go to this link to donate. If you are interested in volunteering with BZE, contact Pablo at pablo@beyondzeroemissions.org. _________ 2008-2009 SERIES: COMPETING JEWISH IDEOLOGIESLECTURE 1 DATE: Sunday 7th December 2008, 8.00pm The Melbourne Jewish community is vibrant and multi-facted and this is exemplified by the amazing range of ideologies that underpin its Jewish Day Schools from Adass Israel through to Sholem Aleichem. Dr Miriam Munz, a Research Associate in Jewish Studies at the Australian Centre of Jewish Civilization at Monash University, drew on her extensive knowledge of these schools, through working in and with them for many years, to provide us with an overview of the rich diversity of the community. She looked at how the schools came to be set up, their philosophies, and their challenges for the future. Miriam has served as Principal of Leibler Yavneh College and Head of Jewish Studies at Mount Scopus Memorial College. She was the founding President of Bet Aharon, the Modern Orthodox Congregation based at the Gandel Besen campus of Mount Scopus Memorial College. LECTURE 2 DATE: Sunday 15 February 2009, 8.00pm From the pre WW2 years in Europe to 2009, Israel and the far flung Jewish Diaspora with the focus on Melbourne; what have been the important developments in Yiddish Language and Culture? Is the language, its literature and music and the ideology of the BUND still relevant today? What are the challenges for the future? Who better to lead us through this fascinating topic than Bobbi and Michael Zylberman. Bobbi is a Lecturer in Yiddish Language and Culture at the Australian Centre of Jewish Civilization at Monash University and serves on the International Association of Yiddish Clubs Advisory Board. Michael is the Chairperson of the BUND in Melbourne and convenor of the Jewish Broadcasting Group at Radio 3ZZZ 92.3FM. LECTURE 3 DATE: Sunday 19th July 2009, 8:00 pm Rabbi James Kennard is Principal of Mount Scopus Memorial College. He holds a master's degree in mathematics from Oxford University and was previously Head of London's King Solomon High School. He received Rabbinic ordination in Israel in 1989 and has served as a Hillel director/chaplain on campuses across England. Rabbi Kennard is a dynamic speaker who addressed the topic of "Charedim and the Knesset; the history, philosophy and the politics of the different Charedi parties and their impact on Israel's past, present and future". This lecture is available to be streamed from our website - please click here. LECTURE 4 DATE: Monday 17th August 2009, 2:00 pm When first promoted, political Zionism attracted few supporters in the Jewish world. This situation began to change when it became clear that very few states were willing to provide refuge for most Jewish victims of Hilter’s Germany. Non-Jewish attitudes to Zionism have varied depending according to views of the Israel-Arab cum Palestinian conflict. This talk explored these developments in the Australian context from the early 1900s to the present. Rodney Gouttman has worked at the University of SA, as a political analyst at the B'nai Brith Anti-Defamation Commission and is a past editor of the Australian Journal of Jewish Studies and Journal of the Australian Jewish Historical Society. Presently, he is a Research Associate in the School of Historical Studies at Monash University. His current research concerns the Australian Jewish community's attitude to both World Wars I and II, and the ideological Left's view of anti-Semitism and Zionism from the 1920s to the present. This lecture is available to be streamed from our website - please click here. |
