In a satirical interview, David examines the factionalism within Jewish people. [Times of Israel].
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Tech Entrepreneur, author, public speaker, and advisor David Werdiger sat down for an interview regarding his thoughts and feelings about Israel. [Yinonro].
After judges from the Sydney Beth Din are found in contempt of court by the NSW Supreme Court, David considers the wider implications of this precedent, and how Beth Dins need to adapt to their role when embedded in secular society [Times of Israel and J-Wire]
As the restructure process at Yeshivah Centre inches forward, and we draw closer to elections, the big question is: who will nominate to hold board positions on the new legal entities that will operate the school, shule, and other business units of the Centre? Three new legal entities will require over twenty people to put their hands up. There are a few challenges in taking the leap from where we are now to where we need to be. 1. Despite…
David reflects on how he became involved with the Shabbat Project, and how it helped bring diverse communities closer. [The Shabbat Project]
The Jewish community is reeling after the recent case study as part of the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse. From the perspective of an ‘insider’ who personally knows almost all of the people involved, it’s especially painful. I am related to victims, to people accused of abuse, and to people in senior positions in the community. That’s the way things work in close-knit communities: there are many overlapping and complex inter-relationships,…
Some Australian Rabbis have been in the news a fair bit lately – and unfortunately for all the wrong reasons (although it must be said that popular media sources are hardly chasing puff pieces featuring Rabbis, unlike lehavdil Khalid Mishal). Whether it’s the role they have played in dealing with sexual abuse, or the descent into farce in a couple of current beis din cases, the common denominator is the erosion in the authority of and respect…
Rabbi YD Groner OBM was often described as “larger than life”. He was an imposing character: large in size, strong in voice, autocratic in nature. From his arrival in Melbourne in the 1950s, he worked tirelessly for the organization, and can take deserved credit for the strong positive influence Chabad had during the majority of his tenure as its leader. This Sunday, as the local Chabad community will mark his yahrzeit, many have mixed feelings. Despite…
“I won’t let my child ever walk home alone again from school”, I heard a mother say, in the wake of the tragic abduction and murder of Leiby Kletzky in the supposedly safe Orthodox Jewish suburb of Boro Park in New York. An alarm and fear has descended upon a global community who until now collectively felt that “these things don’t happen in our neighbourhood”. The natural reaction of parents is to become extra protective….
Following his Hamas-hummus prank in the movie Bruno, one could imagine a Sacha Baron-Cohen character quickly dismissing the idea of banning the burqa: How could we do that!? Throw away so much tradition? Pastry filled with delicious mashed potatoes … even cheese or mushrooms. The burqa has been one of the great contributions to middle eastern cuisine … it’s hard to believe that any country would want to ban it! Following bans in France and Belgium, the burqa debate has now…
