Talk:History of the Jews in Australia

Wiki Education Foundation-supported course assignment
This article was the subject of a Wiki Education Foundation-supported course assignment, between 27 August 2019 and 5 December 2019. Further details are available on the course page. Student editor(s): Heather2468357.

Above undated message substituted from Template:Dashboard.wikiedu.org assignment by PrimeBOT (talk) 23:40, 16 January 2022 (UTC)

Pure propaganda
Many jews just say they're atheists or they've converted to Christianity. I would say 80% of Australia is Jewish. The surnames of jewish origin is the real evidence. Ofcourse Jews don't want this to be known.--2605:6000:3D10:8400:211A:8044:929B:34D1 (talk) 20:50, 20 December 2017 (UTC)

General Sir John Monash
What is an article about the history of jews in Australia without a mention of General Sir John Monash? Xtra 14:53, 19 May 2006 (UTC)

error in the captions to the pictures
There is an error in the captions to the pictures. East Melbourne is the Melbourne City Shul, not St Kilda Shul. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 203.129.138.249 (talk) 22:35, 3 May 2008 (UTC)

cleanup tag
I have added a cleanup tag to this page; the article is extremely problematic. It is written unprofessionally, is hazy on details, is far from comprehensive (less hit than miss, I'd say), and primarily centres around Melbourne. Sydney's similarly-sized community is regarded as something of an afterthought.

My guess is that it requires a thorough re-write by someone who is prepared to put some time into it. Betacrucis (talk) 04:37, 30 January 2009 (UTC)

Citation needed on claim
"Recent growth in publicly voiced anti-Semitic articles mainly presented in the guise of 'anti-Israel' activity and extraordinary bias in media reportage on this issue"

I believe that this requires a citation and/or clarification.
 * What is "recent"?
 * "Publicly voiced" how, and by whom?
 * One reason that a citation is needed here is that it alleges anti-Semitism "in the guise of 'anti-Israel' activity." The accusation of anti-Semitism has been used in the past to smear (non-anti-Semitic) criticism of the Israeli state, so a source is needed to demonstrate that this is not what is being done here.
 * "Extraordinary bias" is an extraordinary and perhaps subjective claim. It needs revision and/or verifiable, factual support. Joel7687 (talk) 09:07, 28 March 2010 (UTC)

Removed assertion that all media critical of Israel is anti-Semitic.Furrybarry (talk) 06:44, 29 July 2010 (UTC)

Clean up and expansion of Commerce section
Edited Commerce section: I've added Joe Gutnick back in. His companies include Great Central Mining, which control some of the largest mines in the country, and was also the source of his punishment by the ACCC. I've added a couple of others to the list as well and trimmed some of the fluffier description.Furrybarry (talk) 06:31, 29 July 2010 (UTC)

New External Link added
I moderate the Culture Victoria website and have added an external link to our story and images relating to Jewish Australian families.Eleworth (talk) 04:02, 11 August 2010 (UTC)

Number of Jews in Australia
When estimating the number of Jews in Australia the most reliable figures are the latest census figures and not figures from a private website. Wikipedia articles on Muslims, Hindus and Christians use the latest census figures; this article should use the same source as its primary source. Michael Glass (talk) 13:01, 17 October 2010 (UTC)

The census asks a religious question, not a self-identification question. Many secular Australian Jews put "no religion" on their census forms. Also, some older Jews are reluctant to identify themselves as such on a government form, for obvious reasons. So the census is a significant undercounting of Australian Jews. Intelligent Mr Toad (talk) 06:25, 5 November 2010 (UTC)

Antisemitism
It doesnt matter if the incident (graffiti) took place in a public toilet or on the wall of a synagouge. the motive is the same. A reference was added according to the comment.

AntiSemitism vs. AntiJudaism/AntiJewish
Why can't we use the term AntiJudaism instead of AntiSemitism as AntiSemitism also comprises AntiMuslim, AntiArab and AntiMaltese sentiment.

Michael Demiurgos (talk) 02:40, 26 August 2015 (UTC)


 * As I've tried to explain to Michael Demiurgos, anti-Semitism and anti-Judaism each have specific meanings. Historically, the former applies to Jews only and does not apply to Mulims, even though they are both classified by some as Semitic. The term is not racial in that sense. Hence it is stupid to say that a Muslim cannot be anti-semitic because he/she is a semite. Anti-Judaism is a term that basically applies to a Christian who disagrees with the beliefs and teachings of Judaism, though not necessarily having anything against individual Jews or Jews in general. I have also tried to explain to Michael Demiurgos that if he/she thinks that the definition of the term is wrong then the appropriate place to discuss that definition is on the talk page of the relevant article. I need some help to either explain to the user what the appropriate procedure is, or block him from edit warring. Enthusiast (talk) 05:52, 26 August 2015 (UTC)

"Historically, the former applies to Jews only and does not apply to Mulims, even though they are both classified by some as Semitic.": The are both semitic on the grounds that a semitic language is tied to their culture i.e. Hebrew and Arabic. "Hence it is stupid to say that a Muslim cannot be anti-semitic because he/she is a semite.": It is stupid to say the opposite of such. "Anti-Judaism is a term that basically applies to a Christian who disagrees with the beliefs and teachings of Judaism, though not necessarily having anything against individual Jews or Jews in general.": So by that idea, you can be anti-Christian or anti-Islam by not agreeing with the beliefs and teachings of their religions. "individual Jews or Jews in general", what do you mean by that? What appropriate procedure have I not yet followed that I should have in relation to this matter?

Michael Demiurgos (talk) 07:44, 26 August 2015 (UTC)


 * I would love (not really) to have this never ending and repetitious discussion with you, but as I said before it should take place in the anti-Semitism article, not here. Enthusiast (talk) 08:45, 26 August 2015 (UTC)

This is not meant to be an argument about the definition of AntiSemitism, it is about AntiJudaism/AntiJewish being a better word of choice in this article.

Michael Demiurgos (talk) 09:14, 26 August 2015 (UTC)

External links modified
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External links modified
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 * Added archive https://web.archive.org/web/20090913040704/http://www.melbournesynagogue.org.au/Templates/History_Beginnings.html to http://www.melbournesynagogue.org.au/Templates/History_Beginnings.html

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External links modified
Hello fellow Wikipedians,

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 * Added archive https://web.archive.org/web/20130409235452/http://judaica.library.usyd.edu.au/histories/History.html to http://judaica.library.usyd.edu.au/histories/History.html
 * Added archive https://web.archive.org/web/20091008062347/http://www.jewishcare.com.au/MintDigital.NET/JewishCare.aspx?xmlNode=1 to http://www.jewishcare.com.au/MintDigital.NET/JewishCare.aspx?xmlNode=1

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Sexual abuse of children by rabbis - irrelevant, nitpicking and trivial?
Someone (not me) added information relating to the sexual abuse of children by rabbis (with citation) to this article. Now there have been two attempts to remove it. The edit summary for the first removal was "deleted irrelevant and/or nit-picking information" and the edit summary for the second removal said "trivia, doesn't indicate a trend, see WP:Wikipedia is not a newspaper". The citation is to the Australian Jewish News. If more citations are needed, then there were a number of submissions to the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse and some of these have been highlighted by the commission: I propose that the material be re-instated in the article with additional citations as required. What do others think? Kerry (talk) 15:42, 7 November 2018 (UTC)
 * Yuri's story
 * Yeshiva/h Survivors's story
 * The response of Yeshiva Bondi and Yeshivah Melbourne to allegations of child sexual abuse made against people associated with those institutions (a 116 page report citing over 700 exhibits, transcriptions etc)

Add additional information on Jews directly after WWII
Hi community I was reading through the page and would like to add a section on a significant aspect of Jewish immigration after WWII which is the orphaned children who came to Australia directly after the war. The reference I am using is a book called The Young Victims of the Nazi Regime published by Bloomsbury Academic. My plan is to add about 100 words under the section 20th century. If anyone wants to comment on these changes, please let me know on this Talk Page or on my Talk Page. Thank you!Heather2468357 (talk) 06:10, 18 November 2019 (UTC)

Move discussion in progress
There is a move discussion in progress on Talk:History of the Jews in Abkhazia which affects this page. Please participate on that page and not in this talk page section. Thank you. —RMCD bot 05:03, 5 June 2020 (UTC)

Bendigo Lazarus?
The "Commerce" section has this sentence: "M. V. Lazarus of Bendigo, known as Bendigo Lazarus, also did much to open up new parts in the back country of Victoria." However, apart from this ref which briefly mentions a "Moses Lazarus" who had a clothing store in Pert Phillip, the only reference I can find in a google search to "Mr. M.V. Lazarus" is this one. in the Jewish Year Book of 1908, which appears to be the source of the Wikipedia article. The name may be incorrect; it 's possible that the person referred to is Daniel Barnet Lazarus (or his father) - although the article is a stub, see the ADB ref. Bahudhara (talk) 10:10, 9 August 2020 (UTC)