AJN WATCH - the on-line voice of Australian Orthodox Jewry observes and comments on matters of interest to that community.
We particularly monitor prejudice and monopolistic abuse of influence in the pages of the Australian Jewish News - the main source of information to and about Australian Jewry. We spotlight errors, expose misrepresentations and vigorously advocate our community's positions.
While we'd like to claim that the following article in the AJN this week was inspired by our 'classic' post 2 years ago, we can't. After all, the AJN has been listing names by popularity for years. However, while we see that the craze of lumbering kids with outlandish and strange (and often embarrassing tags hasn't diminished, it was nice to see a few good old traditional Jewish names (mainly for boys, mind you) on the list.
We here at AJNWatch have watched with amazement and pride at the accolades, admiration and esteem expressed by virtually all the leaders in Australian politics, academia and the media about former Governor General, Sir Zelman Cowen. We cannot recall such an outpouring of respect, affection and gratitude about any other individual in the past decades.
Despite not exactly living his life as a Shomer Torah u'Mitzvos, the story of his life and his astonishing achievements must be considered to be a huge Kiddush Hashem. To illustrate this, we republish the an article in The Age, written by Michael Shmith, which encapsulates much of the respect and fondness for this extra-ordinary individual.
Sir Zelman lived to a ripe old age and was zocheh to see the majority of his children, grandchildren and great-grandchildren living a true Torahdig lifestyle. No doubt that while he was אוכל פירותיהם בעולם הזה, their ongoing life בדרך התורה will also merit him הקרן קימת לעולם הבאה.
We unite the rest of the community in offering our condolences to his family.המקום ינחם אתכם בתוך שאר אבלי ציון וירושלים
PS: We understand the enormous predicament that his son Rabbi Shimon Cowen found himself in when considering whether he should be cross the threshold and speak in a בית מינים ומינות. No doubt he asked a שאלהfrom a recognised Posek and acted accordingly.
Goodbye to a good man: nation's big names gather to honour former governor-general
Former Australian Prime Ministers: Bob Hawke, John Howard and Malcolm Fraser at the service for Sir Zelman Cowen. Photo: Pat Scala
STATE funerals can often compress great achievements and personal qualities into too small an emotional space to do them justice. Not so yesterday's grand occasion at the Temple Beth Israel synagogue in St Kilda for former governor-general Sir Zelman Cowen, who died last week at 92.
Jewish funerals are, by tradition, as simple and unadorned as the coffin itself - this one being draped with an Australian flag. This did not preclude an opulence of affection and recollection bestowed on Sir Zelman in a service that, while talking of 92 years, stretched back thousands of years in its liturgy and Hebraic harmonies.
All this was exactly what Sir Zelman would have wanted: in fact, as we were told, it was exactly what he had ordered. Everything from the choice of speakers to what music should be played was, as it were, pre-ordained. Thus his beloved Mozart and J.S. Bach and, to see us out, Widor's thunderously pealing Grand Toccata to make sure, as Rabbi Dr John Levi said in his eulogy, ''the job is done''.
Lady Anna Cowen and Rabbi Dr Shimon Cowen leave the service. Photo: Peter Haskin
What was possibly beyond Sir Zelman's control was what people chose to say about him or who would turn up on the day. As it happened, this funeral burst the bounds of statehood. How could it have been otherwise? There were the nation's highest officials, from Governor-General Quentin Bryce and Prime Minister Julia Gillard and Opposition Leader Tony Abbott, to a litany of former GGs, former PMs (Malcolm Fraser, Bob Hawke and John Howard, sitting together, three old men in their yarmulkes). Also there were Premier Ted Baillieu and his predecessors John Brumby and Steve Bracks; and a generous sprinkling of politics past and present - the rich, the cultured, the judicial and the academic.
There were many from abroad. As one speaker remarked, ''The old man has gone, and they had to be here to say goodbye''.
One of Sir Zelman's qualities, said Dr Levi, was ''there was no frontier between the public and the private man''. He drew on another ancient analogy - of the three crowns: of learning, of priesthood, and of royalty. ''But there is also a fourth crown that exceeds them all: the crown of a good man.''
Prime Minister Julia Gillard. Photo: Pat Scala
Steven Skala, one of Sir Zelman's former students and long-time friend, recalled with affection how, almost by osmosis and ''simply by being in his presence'', Sir Zelman transferred his own knowledge and wisdom to younger minds and, in the process, ''helped us to shape ourselves''. A distinctive method, Mr Skala said, and once the matter was sufficiently explained, Sir Zelman would smile, and say: ''So there. You have it.''
Another extraordinary gift, he said, was the ''sudden and imperceptible transition from teacher to friend''. Friendship was very important to Sir Zelman, ''who had an extraordinary range of friends from all walks of life in all parts of the world''.
Federal MP Josh Frydenberg, a protege of Sir Zelman's, spoke warmly of what he called his regular Sundays with Zelman, and the ensuing lengthy discussions on law, music, philosophy or war. ''It was as if a back window was open, and all the great stories of the 20th century came flowing in,'' Mr Frydenberg said.
The two-hour service, as much celebration as commemoration and not without moments of pure Cowenesque comedy, expertly and excellently encapsulated a long and fortunate life that embraced the law and great offices of academia and state, but also an unfailing sense of religion and family - especially, as many of the speakers recalled, Sir Zelman's 66-year marriage to a woman who, as we were reminded, but for her religion would be called Saint Anna.
The Zelman Cowen approach to life was certainly direct and uncomplicated. As his son, Rabbi Dr Shimon Cowen, told the capacity congregation, ''Dad was a doer. I once asked him what was his philosophy of life. He said, 'The next thing, and then the next thing'.'' Dr Cowen, again reaching back through biblical history, compared his father to Abraham: how Sir Zelman also unified human beings by rebuilding and healing, particularly as governor-general. ''He had an immensely confident, exercised mind,'' he said.
On the way out, The Age encountered in quick succession three former PMs. This is what they said of Sir Zelman:
Sir Zelman Cowen.
Bob Hawke: ''When you think of the history, of the three great Jewish figures: Isaac Isaacs, General Monash and Zelman Cowen. All fantastic.''
John Howard: ''I saw a lot of him when I was treasurer and he was governor-general. I tell you what, if a poor innocent junior minister or parliamentarian hadn't done their homework, he'd give them a bit of a flick.'' The Age: ''But not you, Mr Howard?'' JH: ''No, no.''
Malcolm Fraser: ''When I asked him [to be governor-general], he kept saying 'why me?'. I said he was better than anyone else I could think of. It had to be someone who was not a personal friend, who was not involved in politics … who was distinguished, whose name was known and recognised.''
It really is a bit sloppy of our friends down at the Temple Beth in not yet having introduced a "Blessing the Animals" ceremony. Not doing so, they are forcing fine Jewish families to have their pets blessed in church. Not nice.
After all if it is good enough for the church and their brethren in American Reform temples to offersuch services, why not the locals?
Had there been such a "Jewish" option available, our MP David Southwick would've been able to bring his family's menagerie to Alma Road, rather than the church around the corner. And even if the Southwick family animals are not Jewish, the Temple could no doubt have arranged for a quickie conversion at the same time as the Blessing was conducted.
And if their rabbis and rabbiettes require assistance with some meaningful input for the program, here's what one American temple does:
"...Following the blessing, those gathered sang appropriate animal songs, including "Old MacDonald's Farm" in Hebrew, and ate snacks of donuts and animals crackers..."
(Just wondering, would a quickie conversion also work for a pet pig? We can see some debate amongst the "progressive" sages on that one. After all, the porker is no more chazir treif than a dog.
On the other hand, chazir bleibt chazir.Presumably, once the Blessing of Animals becomes part of the local reform ritual, this important matter will get serious consideration at their semi-annual gatherings.)
If anyone thought that the Jewish News couldn't sink lower than the smutty scribbling of their dreckerati recorder Adam Kamien, (read here, here, here and here) they were in for a real shock when replacement - Bob Meiser - made his appearance last week.
The stench from the unadulterated filth in the page 2 "Shmooze" sewer (which should be renamed "Shmootz") was even worse than the usual pong we have been putting up with. Being that the manure being flung at us weekly is"Jewish" - this cr-p qualifies for a place of 'honour' of the newspaper. Yes, Meiser has quickly proven that he is no slouch when filling in for 'Bilaam's donkey'.
However, what, we ask, was editor Zeddy Lawrence thinking? And more so, the publisher, Robert Magid? Have they lost their marbles? Does Magid really want the world to think that he has no values or shame? Are both these men happy to be purveyors of 'snigger-snigger smut' to the community?
We previously posted about the AJN advertising porn on their website. Obviously they continue to wallow in filth.
While many observant Jews don't allow the rag into their homes for such and similar reasons, there are others who do. Why do they (as well as non-religious/secular readers with any sense of decency) accept being offended time and again when reading such muck at their Friday night dinner tables?
We all know that porn sells. And if Magid and Lawrence are into smut-peddling, it's none of our business. But why "Jewish" porn? Go into the bigger and more lucrative general market and take your well- deserved place amongst hard and soft pornographers. Why the hell must you associate your schweinerei with the Jewish community?
Seriously Mr Magid, aren't you embarrassed before your own family and Jewish cronies? And even more so your associates in the business world? You think that they are impressed when learning that your publication dishes out sniggering toilet-block 'humour' on a weekly scale?
One community leader we discussed this with suggested that maybe Magid will come to his senses if and when he realises that the outside world - especially the media - get wind of the kind of material being featured in his plaything.
We forward his suggestion to our readers. Please go ahead and cut, paste and email this post to all journalists, media representatives etc that you have on your email address list. And if you know of any business associates of Magid, let them read this as well.
Additionally everyone should forward this to rabbis, Shuls, and organisations. Remember, if it upsets you (and we know of many such people), it isn't good enough to kvetch and sigh. Do something about it!
Talking of which,why DO rabbis and orthodox Shuls and indeed all respectable organisations - religious or not - suffer in silence whilst pained by these depravities? Can anyone imagine the reaction if a Christian or Muslim publication - religious in nature or not - allowed the kind of cr-p that Adam Kamien and now his understudy slop out regularly? It is the sacred duty of the spiritual and lay-leadership - and more so organisations like the RCV, ORA, COSV, COSA etc to be expressing their concerns about such matters. They have far more influence and power than has this humble blog. We hear that some weeks ago, Robert Magid had a meeting with Sydney rabbis to resolve a number of issues that had been upsetting them. Why didn't they take the opportunity to express their objections to the appalling and offensive standards of sections of the paper?
Can anyone imaginesimilar filth being published in the mainstream media? The Age, SMH, Herald-Sun, Daily Telegraph? Of course not! They would never get away with treating their readers with the contempt and arrogance that we get from the Jewish News. Even the secular London Jewish Chronicle or the New York Jewish Week, would never sink to such lows. It is only here in Australia that we endure below-zero standards of the Jewish weekly.
Maybe it is time to launch a "Hasbara" campaign towards the AJN's major advertisers - Jewish and non-Jewish - suggesting that they refrain from spending their dollars with this rag until it cleans up its act. Once advertisers realise how much the Jewish News is upsetting large sectors of the community, they may decide that their money could be better utilised.
Such campaigns have worked very successfully elsewhere (most recently the Kyle Sandilands affair) and there is no reason why it wouldn't work here.
Shame on you Robert Magid for lowering AJN standards beyond anything that your predecessors achieved.
A brief report in "Yediot Jerusalem" reports about the new craze among Chassidim: Purchasing replicas of their Rebbes' chairs ● A distritbutor in Jerusalem teamed up with wood carving professionals in Australia to bring you an exact replica of the Rebbe's chair for $770 ● Full Story
The new craze in the Chassidic world: Replicas of chairs of the Great Chassidic Rebbes. In the recent months, replicas of various chairs are being sold, some of famous personalities of the past, and some of current Rebbes.
The idea is of Mr. Mordechai Regev, a Breslev Chossid who started by selling replicas of Rabi Nachman's Chair from the original which sits in the Me'ah Shearim. That replica sold for $2000 and many Brelev Chassidim purchased it.
Following his success, Mr. Regev proceeded to create a replica of the chair of the Lubavitcher Rebbe, and he plans on selling it to Lubavitchers around the world, and to individual Chabad Chassidim.
The chair he replicated is the one the Rebbe sat on since 5748, and after measuring the exact dimensions he contacted professional sculptors in Australia who will do the wood carving. The chair will be sold for $770.
We know of Doktor Rabbiners and Rabbi Drs, but "Rabbi chef" is definitely a new one.
Seeing that there are so many people who have received some sort of Semicha but didn't follow it up with a rabbinic post, we won't be surprised to see "Rabbi plumber", "Rabbi-taxi-driver" and "Rabbi-hairdresser".
And does a "Rabbi-chef" get an invitation to join the RCV?
UPDATE: We now find an even odder rabbinical combination: "Rabbi-boxer"!
Old-timer writes: I was a bit surprised to read that Central Shul-Chabad will be sharing its new building with the Betar youth group.
I cannot recall other times that Chabad and a Zionist organisation have combined. I realise that Betar is one of the few Zionist groups that is not anti-religion, however to the best of my knowledge Chabad was always officially non-Zionist and even anti-Zionist.
Would the Rebbe have approved? I doubt it, (though I would be relieved to hear that he allowed such partnerships in his lifetime).
Did our Vaad Ruchni give their approval to this? If so, what about inviting Bnei Akiva and even Hashomer Hatzair to open branches in Yeshiva - or at least in the new Chabad Youth building?
I was most disappointed to read in last week's Jewish News about Elwood Shul and the Yesodei Hatorah college battling it out in the Supreme Court of Victoria, with the report that the Shul has already spent $430,000 on the case!
Both sides are supposed to be Torah-observant organisations, so how come they didn't do the proper Torah thing and go to a Din Torah?
Whilst I am unsure on who the religious authority currently is for Yesodei, it was established by a group of frum Jews headed by Rabbi D Nojowitz of Beth Hatalmud with the approval of the late Rabbi Chaim Gutnick and offers a Charedi agenda and curriculum. Similarly Elwood Shul, has always been Orthodox and currently lead by Rabbi Mordechai Gutnick, who heads the Melbourne Beth Din and Melbourne Kashrut.
How is it then possible that such groups defy the stern and unambiguous Halacha of not bringingour arguments to the secular courts? Rashi states that this is a Chilul Hashem - which as we know is one of the greatest Aveiros and about which our Sages say that במקום שיש חילול השם אין חולקין כבוד לרב.
And what lesson doesthe average Halacha-abiding Jew learn from this? If Shuls (in this case one whose rabbi is the acting head of Beth Din!) and religious schools shun Din Torahs why should he be any different?
Additionally, onemay ask, is Elwood Shul truly so flush with money? Can they really afford to squander half a million dollars fighting another Jewish institution? And what about Yesodei?How much have they spent on lawyers?
I have no inside knowledge of the case, but from what I read and heard, the case is nowhere near the end. Isn't there anyone in the community who can knock some sense into both sides?
Can someone explain why have organisations and lay-leaders of our community - especially those who regularly criticise sections of the local media for anti-Israel bias and mis/disinformation - not made submissions about this to the current Independent Media Inquiry?
Wouldn't this have been an outstanding opportunity to publicise the frequent anti-Israel slant of the usual suspects, eg, the Canberra Times, the SMH, The Age, SBS and the ABC?
We may have missed it whilst browsing the free on-line edition of the AJN, but we cannot recall any comment or criticism by it about this bungled and missed opportunity.
Where are they all? AIJAC, ECAJ, ZFA, JCCV and all the other acronyms that claim to be representing the interests of Israel and the local Jewish community? Not sure why our fearless MP, Mr Michael Danby isn't there. Maybe being a parliamentarian has something to do with it. But where are all the others? Has there been a massive slip-up? Or what?
(At the same time, members of the Orthodox community and especially the Chabad leadership should have considered raising their concerns on the history of biased and unjust articles published in the Jewish News when reporting on the observant community.)
I am extremely disappointed to learn that Blake Street Shul, which labels itself as Orthodox, is co-sponsoring a book festival where the majority of featured speakers are married out. Whilst I am not condemning those persons for their assimilated lifestyle - no doubt influenced by their upbringing which lacked authentic Jewish values and traditions - there is absolutely no justification for an orthodox Shul to feature such speakers. Why didn't the rabbi and lay leaders of Blake Street consider the influence such well-known - but totally detached from Judaism - personalities may have on young and impressionable members of their community? Aren't they being totally irresponsible and reckless in supporting this project? There is still time to withdraw and remove their Shul's name from this blunder. For the sake of your kids, Blake Street, do it!
An AJNWATCH reader writes: While I understand the need for the KCA and Kosher Aust to publicise easily available brands of acceptable tunas, for those who seek a higher standard in Kashrut, it may be advantageous if you published the attached article from the OK Kashrut magazine "Kosher Spirit", which gives some background to the tuna Kashrut debate amongst supervising organisations. The article makes it quite obvious that the OK has more stringent requirements in approving tuna than does the OU or Kosher Australia. (I have no idea what standards are held by the NSW KA.)
Thank you for being מזכה את הרבים.
Once, tuna fishing thrived on the Pacific coast of the United States. Pioneered by adventurers straight out of the novels of Herman Melville and "Papa" Hemingway, it blossomed into a major industry, employing thousands and filling countless American lunchboxes.
Then came the dolphins.
Tuna and dolphins, it seems, travel together-the dolphins on the water's surface and the tuna below. Inevitably, the nets used for tuna caught dolphins, as well. Could we allow Flipper such a painful demise? Soon, most tuna production had shifted to the Asian Pacific, and the American tuna industry was no more. Whatever the environmental and quality standards, the world's tuna production was now in the hands of fishing industrialists in Thailand and the Philippines.
Enter the Rabbis.
In Vayikra (Leviticus) 11:9, the Torah says: "This may you eat of all that is in the waters: everything that has fins and scales." The Talmud (Chulin 66b) states that, in fact, every fish with scales has fins, making scales the sole determining sign. But what exactly are kosher fish scales? After all, some reptiles also have scales.
Biologists identify four types of scales, two of which, cycloid and ctenoid, are found on kosher fish, such as tuna.
In the pre-industrial world, fish fresh from the monger were not skinned, and their species could be identified. Even absent the actual signs, as with an immature fish of a type that grows scales late in life, the fish's kosher status would depend on its species. Only fish with the skin removed, and arriving with no clear sign of their species, demanded special measures such as constant supervision or an untouched seal with two separate Hebrew signs, indicating that it had been sent by a person trustworthy in Jewish law.
The Debate:
In 1962, prominent authority Rabbi Yosef Eliyahu Henkin wrote that without supervision from the beginning of production, consumers could not trust a can's assertion that it contained tuna. However, many tuna brands were already certified kosher without such supervision.
In place of constant supervision, the best-known supervising agency arranged intermittent visits to factories abroad to check that production was according to kosher standards. As is the case with other areas of kosher supervision, it was assumed that fear of the supervisor's appearance at any moment would motivate management and workers to prevent non-kosher fish from entering the production line. Despite these less-than-ideal conditions, widespread distribution of the tuna continued.
In the years following, Torah authorities from around the world, both Sefardi and Ashkenazi, in Israel and the Diaspora, joined in demanding constant supervision. In 1977 and 1984, the highly respected Rabbi Moshe Feinstein entered the discussion, outlining the reasons for this exceptional vigilance.
Finding it unfeasible to identify a fish as kosher without overt signs, Rabbi Feinstein insisted that a reliable kosher supervisor examine every fish before skinning. The large volume of industrial fishing, he said, makes it certain that non-kosher fish will be present in the nets. Intermittent visits, even if sufficiently frequent and surprising, would not serve their traditional purpose. At the speeds of a mechanized cannery, workers could expect any non-kosher fish to be gone before anyone would notice.
The function of supervision, Rabbi Feinstein wrote, is not to make life difficult for the producer in order to reduce the percentage of non-kosher fish to an acceptably insignificant level. Supervision, he explained, is testimony; it indicates that a reliable witness has seen production and can testify that the contents are kosher.
While certain agencies (including OK Kosher Certification) followed Rabbi Feinstein's guidelines, in most tuna supervision, upgrades were slow in coming.
In 1988, the controversy bubbled over in rabbinic journals. Arguments for and against constant supervision were passionately presented. Most leading rabbinic authorities favored constant supervision. However, invoking the classic talmudic principle that a tradesman will not jeopardize his reputation, Rabbi Tzvi Schacter asserted that since it is in the fisherman's business interest to deliver albacore tuna, for example, to the factory, he would surely allow only albacore to remain among his catch. And in the name of "quality control," the factory would check again before skinning the fish.
Have we reached a stalemate? Perhaps. Yet, by his own admission, Rabbi Schacter's position rests on the assumption that virtually no non-kosher fish slip through quality control. Kosher supervisors tell another story, and undeniable gaffes in the intervening years, such as octopus and clams in tuna cans, cast doubt on his premise. Much more problematic (as the Talmud cautions and ichthyologists corroborate), appearance and taste do not always reveal the identity of a fish fillet. Without our eyes wide open, we cannot know what we have received.
The market may take care of itself, but does it take care of kashrut? How deep is a producer's commitment to quality control? I once heard the following anecdote: A supervisor arrived late to a Philippine factory for a kosher production run. Discarding the fish processed prior to the supervisor's arrival, the plant manager remarked: "Really, rabbi...would it be so terrible if someone ate a bit of catfish?"
Well, well, well. My previous post here has achieved a quick result. The KCA has now forwarded the entire list of approved tunas which was previously banned from further publication by Melbourne's Kosher Australia. Actually it seems from the time and date that their reaction was almost immediate! Good work.
Looks like a bit of public kvetching still works.
Thank you AJN Watch for you assistance by publishing my earlier complaint.
From: KCA_Sydney@yahoogroups.com On Behalf Of Yankel Wajsbort Sent: Wednesday, October 12, 2011 9:43 AM To: Joe.Newman@lpi.nsw.gov.au; efranklin@westpac.com.au; KCA_Sydney@yahoogroups.com Subject: [KCA Sydney] Full List of Recently Certified Tunas
The following varieties of Coles brand canned tuna, marked ‘Made in/Product of Thailand’ are kosher certified pareve by the Orthodox Union and are acceptable even without the OU symbol:
1.Smart Buy Tuna Chunks in Brine 425g 2.Smart Buy Tuna Vegetable Oil 425g 3.Smart Buy Tuna in Vegetable Oil 185g 4.Smart Buy Tuna Chunk in Brine 185g 5.Coles Tuna Sandwich Olive Oil Blend 95g 6.Coles Tuna Sandwich in Brine 95g 7.Coles Tuna Chunks in Springwater 185g 8.Coles Tuna Sandwich in Brine 185g 9.Coles Tuna Chunks in Brine 185g 10.Coles Tuna Chunks in Olive Oil Blend 95g 11.Coles Tuna Sandwich in Olive Oil 185g 12.Coles Tuna Chunks Olive Oil Blend 185g 13.Coles Tuna Chunks in Brine 95g 14.Coles Tuna Chunks in Oil 95g 15.Coles Tuna in Springwater 95g 16.Coles Tuna Chunks in Brine 425g 17.Coles Tuna Chunks in Olive Oil Blend 425g 18.Coles Tuna Chunks in Springwater 425g 19.Coles Tuna Pole & Line Chunks in Olive Oil 185g 20.Coles Tuna Pole & Line Chunk in Brine 185g 21.Coles Tuna Pole & Line in Springwater 185g
The following varieties of canned John West tuna are Kosher certified pareve when marked ‘product of Thailand’ (Kosher Australia supervision)
1.John West No Drain Tuna in Brine 130g 2.John West No Drain Tuna in Olive Oil 130g 3.John West No Drain Tuna in Springwater 130g 4.John West Tuna 185g in Olive Oil Blend (Chunk Style Tuna) 5. John West Tuna Chunks in Brine 425g 6.John West Tuna Chunks in Olive Oil 425g 7.John West Tuna Chunks in Springwater 425g 8.John West Tuna in Springwater 185g (Chunk Style Tuna) 9.John West Tuna Slices in Olive Oil 125g 10. John West Tuna Slices in Springwater 125g 11.John West Tuna Tempter Multipack Olive Oil Blend Flavour 4 x 95g 12.John West Tuna Tempter Multipack Springwater 4 x 95g 13.John West Tuna Tempter Olive Oil (Chunk Style Tuna) 95g 14.John West Tuna Tempter Springwater (Chunk Style Tuna) 95g 15.John West Tuna Tempter Springwater Light Sandwich Style (Flake Style Tuna) 95g Yankel Wajsbort General Manager, Kosher Australia Pty Ltd
AJN WATCH observes & comments on matters of interest to the Orthodox Jewish community in Australia. We particularly monitor prejudice and monopolistic abuse of influence in the pages of the Australian Jewish News - the main source of information to and about Australian Jewry. We spotlight errors, expose misrepresentations and vigorously respond to items that malign or defame our community.
We invite Guest Posts as well as topic suggestions.
While we'd like to claim that the following article in the AJN this week was inspired by our 'classic' post 2 years ago, we can't. After all, the AJN has been listing names by popularity for years. However, while we see that the craze of lumbering kids with outlandish and strange (and often embarrassing tags hasn't diminished, it was nice to see a few good old traditional Jewish names (mainly for boys, mind you) on the list.
Former Australian Prime Ministers: Bob Hawke, John Howard and Malcolm Fraser at the service for Sir Zelman Cowen. Photo: Pat Scala
Prime Minister Julia Gillard. Photo: Pat Scala
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