In high demand: At the Melbourne Bait Midrash

New Straus-Amiel graduate Rabbi Elad Dahan, who will be serving as an assistant rabbi and rosh kollel in Melbourne, joins four OTS alumni holding positions in community leadership, outreach and youth work in the city. Together with the two OTS graduates in Perth and two more in Sydney, this ever-growing team is infusing the energy and unique approach of OTS into Jewish communities across Australia.

Rabbi Yoni Rosensweig, who heads the Melbourne Beit Midrash, reports that he and his wife, Ilana, can barely keep up with the demand for new Torah classes for young Australians who have returned from their post-high school year in Israel. “This group has added 10-15 regulars to our beit midrash,” Rosensweig notes.

The couple also organizes community events, often in conjunction with Bnei Akiva, whose activities in Australia and New Zealand are coordinated by another OTS graduate, Ori Meir. “In July, we had a very successful winter camp season, with more than 500 campers,” says Meir, who is especially proud of establishing Shevet Yuval, a program which enables children and teenagers with special needs to participate in Bnei Akiva activities. The program is the first of its kind to be established outside Israel.

Meir’s goal is building Jewish and Zionist identity among youth in Australia and in New Zealand, which poses a special challenge. “The young people in New Zealand are struggling to preserve their Judaism in small, distant, communities. Many have to travel several hours to get to a Bnei Akiva event, their sole connection to Jewish life. I’m using my Beren-Amiel training to find ways of encouraging activities they can carry out at home, in school and in the community to maintain Jewish continuity,” he says.

Former Israeli Chief Rabbi Yisrael Meir  Lau presents Rabbi Elad Dahan with  his Straus-Amiel graduation certificate

At the Kehilat Masada synagogue in Sydney, a range of social and educational programs initiated by Rabbi Gad Krebs has drawn many young new members to a formerly aging congregation. While the rabbi’s shiurim on such current topics as medical ethics and business dilemmas are attracting people who never attended Torah classes before, a volunteer-run community chessed organization set up by Krebs is connecting many people to the synagogue. Rabbi Krebs, who originally arrived in Australia to serve as assistant rabbi of Kehilat Masada, was recently promoted to become the rabbi of the now 470-member congregation. “The situation of the synagogue has become much more positive and strong,” he notes proudly.