Bernard Axelrad Scholarship Fund

My wife and I finally took a long awaited journey to New Zealand and Australia in February 2001 and found it more than lived up to our expectations. While my wife, as usual, found her way to bookstores in Auckland, Melbourne, Sydney and Adelaide, I, also as usual, made the time to look into the Jewish presence in that part of the world. But first, let me rhapsodize about the lovely scenery and courteous accommodating people we encountered wherever we went.

Flying from Los Angeles into Auckland, the main gateway to New Zealand, we were struck by its gorgeous bay and beautiful harbor. Auckland is the current home of The America's Cup, yachting's greatest trophy, and the proud kiwis were not hesitant to let us know about it. The truly real natives of New Zealand are the Maoris, who came from Polynesia originally, and the cuisine and the culture reveal a blend of Polynesian and European themes and roots.

We visited Queenstown with its shimmering lakes and reveled in the snowy splendor of Mt. Cook and took in the world renowned botanical gardens in Christchurch. An exciting jet boat ride on Lake Wakatipu in Queenstown was a memorable experience for a graybeard like me.

New Zealand is divided into The South Island and North Island with a population well under 4,000,000. Its sheep outnumber its people 15 to one!

With so much space for everybody to move around comfortably, the people were exceptionally civil and obliging. Many times during our trip I thought how nice it would be if Israel were located in New Zealand - no Palestinians, no terrorism, wonderful fertile land, plenty of water and most of all, tranquility and peace.

Australia is a vast country with a total population under 20,000,000 - and also with plenty of room for sheep to roam.

Both countries are extremely aware of their natural habitat and are very protective of their environment.

In Australia we visited many of their scenic wonders, such as The Rainforest Habitat in Port Douglas area, we swam off The Great Barrier Reef, gazed in awe at Ayers Rock resplendent in the sunset, marveled at The Penguin Parade at Phillips Island near Melbourne and took a boat ride around Darling Harbor in Sydney with its world famous Opera House and its graceful Harbor Bridge.

Certainly the beauty and vistas of Australia are worth a visit. But for me the two Sabbath services I attended in Melbourne and Sydney were most memorable for the spiritual sustenance they provided me.

In Melbourne, with the help of an Israeli friend, Ian, I found my way to the Melbourne Hebrew Congregation and enjoyed traditional Sabbath morning services in a Synagogue seating 1300. There are several shuls in Melbourne, with a Jewish population of about 40,000, but this one was the largest - and fills up at High Holiday services.

In Sydney I attended services at The Great Synagogue which was consecrated in 1878, just 90 years after the first arrivals from England. The Great Synagogue is an imposing structure and was within walking distance of our hotel in downtown Sydney. I attended services with a good friend I made on the trip, Naftali Frankel, from Cincinnati. Both Naftali, who had a traditional Jewish rearing and was a music composer, and I found the services were quite familiar. The Torah reading was Jethro, which is one of my favorite parshas.

As many of you may know, Australia was initially founded by convicts sent over from England. Among the very first contingent arriving in Australia in 1788 were several Jewish convicts, and by 1820 a few hundred Jews were living in the area around present-day Sydney. To trace one's lineage in Australia is to risk running into a miscreant of an ancestor.

Jews were generally accepted into colonial society and occupied government positions and administrative posts and participated in every facet of civic, economic and social life in Australia. Eventually, Jews branched out into Brisbane, Perth and Adelaide.

The Jewish population of Australia before World War II was under 25,000 and more than doubled with the arrival of around 35,000 refugees from the Nazis and the Holocaust survivors who came from 1933 to 1961. Many more of our surviving European Jewry could have benefitted from a new (and peaceful) life in Australia but growing prejudice against Jewish migration resulted in a series of restrictive measures and quotas.

These later arrivals had a stronger sense of their Jewishness and helped revive some traditional practices among the existing Australian Jewish community. The Zionist movement is quite strong in Australia and it is estimated that about 70% of Australian Jews belong to a synagogue. At the High Holiday services all of the Australian shuls are full to overflowing but the Sabbath services I attended in Melbourne and Sydney were about as sparsely attended as our own congregation's Sabbath services. Since most Australians belong to orthodox congregations, they are often described as "non-observant orthodox Jews".

In Sydney I visited The Jewish Museum dedicated to both the Holocaust and Australian Jewish history and was guided by a Holocaust survivor through many of the exhibits. Both this Museum and Melbourne's Holocaust Museum were opened in the last 20 years as the refugee Holocaust survivors integrate their lives in the new land. They are profoundly loyal to Australia and yet want to keep alive the scared memory of the Holocaust and the many brethren who did not survive.

Today Australia has about 100,000 Jews, with 80% congregated in Melbourne and Sydney. The Australian Jewish community is vibrant, diverse and still in its infancy. In its short history there have been many prominent Jewish political figures, lawyers, doctors, judges, scientists, researchers, academics and business people as well as small shopkeepers. Living in a free democratic society, Jews have been able to thrive and achieve rapid social mobility.

Personally, I had a sense of acceptance as a Jew in Australia and New Zealand that I did not feel in my travels to Eastern Europe or even Paris or Zurich. Perhaps, representing far less than 1% of the population has something to do with it.

My Jewish experiences are just as memorable for me as my marvelous memories of attending the renowned Sydney Opera House for a Mozart opera or enjoying the exceptional beach at Bondi.

Truly, the journey Down Under was an uplifting experience in every way.