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Judaism

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Ice cream is a feature of the Jewish festival of Shavuot – along with an all-night study session of the Torah.

The Jewish festival you’ve never heard of – and it involves ice-cream

The Shavuot festival memorialises the giving of the law to the Jewish people – and is intimately bound to dietary practices.

  • Nomi Kaltmann

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The public broadcasters have rejected the definition of antisemitism adopted by the government, royal comission and special envoy.

ABC, SBS reject federal government, special envoy’s definition of antisemitism

The ABC warned that examples associated with the definition could “risk conflating legitimate political and policy critique with antisemitism”.

  • Calum Jaspan
Illustration by Simon Letch

We have a choice with Herzog visit – futile fury or solemn solidarity

A protest against the president of Israel cannot make the least difference to even a single Palestinian in Gaza. But it can continue the roiling division inside Australia.

  • Peter Hartcher
Mimi Wise; Ernie Friedlander; Dasia Black-Gutman; Sabina Kleitman. (Clockwise from top left)

These Holocaust survivors took refuge in Australia. This is their message for the nation

Three Holocaust survivors and the daughter of another, Alex Kleytman, killed in the Bondi terror attack last month, reflect on their experiences of survival as Australia faces a reckoning.

  • Daniel Lo Surdo
Waverley Mayor Will Nemesh at Bondi Beach.

‘This is part of our history now’: How Bondi plans to rebuild after horror

A Sydney council will consider how to memorialise the massacre at Australia’s most famous beach, as the community grapples with the loss of “15 beautiful souls”.

  • Megan Gorrey
The Jewish calendar runs according to the moon, and its new year - Rosh Hashanah - comes next Wednesday into Thursday.

Reflecting on darkness and light on the eve of the Jewish New Year

After a torrid year for the Jewish faith, New Year offers the hope of a time blessed with light and love to help heal our wounded planet.

  • Ralph Genende
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An ultra-Orthodox protest against army recruitment in Jerusalem earlier this month.

Ultra-Orthodox rage against moves to force them into Israeli army

“The war has pushed everything to an extreme,” one professor explains, as tensions mount between a community that has always been exempt from military service, and the rest of the country.

  • Elisabeth Bumiller, Natan Odenheimer and Johnatan Reiss
Janice Furstenberg (left), Rebbetzin Rachel Gutnick and Jenny Segal at the East Melbourne Synagogue, lighting candles to bring in Shabbat.

‘Now we can all exhale’: Synagogue replaces darkness of hate with light

Still reeling from an alleged arson attack barely a week ago, East Melbourne Synagogue threw open its doors to all faiths and all-comers in a Friday night ritual to heal.

  • Kieran Rooney
The Wailing Wall, or Western Wall, in Jerusalem, highlights the ancientness of Judaism, having been begun by Herod. For more than 300 years, Christian Rome excluded Jews from Jerusalem, and therefore the Wall.

Why I love being Jewish, even with all the rules

Judaism is a demanding religion, unusual in not seeking to convert others, and deeply rewarding in its emphasis on learning, community and family.

  • Nomi Kaltmann

Call me a self-hating Jew, but what Israel is doing in Gaza is indefensible

Does criticism of Israel amount to antisemitism? No, it does not. And the cruelty we see in Gaza is chillingly reminiscent of Europe 80 years ago when Jewish people faced extinction.

  • David Leser