![JCCV Logo new](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/7/71/JCCV_Logo_new.jpg)
The Jewish Community Council of Victoria Inc (JCCV) is the main representative body for
Victorian Jewry
Jews ( he, יְהוּדִים, , ) or Jewish people are an ethnoreligious group and nation originating from the Israelites Israelite origins and kingdom: "The first act in the long drama of Jewish history is the age of the Israelites""The ...
, representing 52 Jewish community organisations and over 60,000 Victorian Jews. The JCCV's mission is to represent the Victorian Jewish community, the largest Jewish community in
Australia
Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a Sovereign state, sovereign country comprising the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous List of islands of Australia, sma ...
, and deal with matters that affect its status, welfare and interests. The JCCV was established in 1938 as the Victorian Jewish Advisory Board. It has been known as the Jewish Community Council of Victoria since 1989 and became an incorporated entity in 2000.
The Australian Context
Jewish people have lived in Australia from the beginning of European settlement but the Jewish population only grew significantly after
World War II
World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...
, largely due to migration from Europe. The 2006 Australian Census put the Jewish population of
Melbourne
Melbourne ( ; Boonwurrung/Woiwurrung: ''Narrm'' or ''Naarm'') is the capital and most populous city of the Australian state of Victoria, and the second-most populous city in both Australia and Oceania. Its name generally refers to a met ...
(
Victoria's capital) at 40,547, with a national Jewish population of 88,834. It is estimated, however, that there may well be under-counting of up to 30% for a range of reasons. One reputable analysis of the Census figures estimates that 60,080 Jews live in Victoria, constituting 1.2% of the total Victorian population. Other estimates, based on the numbers of the various Jewish funeral houses, put the number possibly as high as 100,000 during the early 2000s.
This community has a high concentration around the
Melbourne
Melbourne ( ; Boonwurrung/Woiwurrung: ''Narrm'' or ''Naarm'') is the capital and most populous city of the Australian state of Victoria, and the second-most populous city in both Australia and Oceania. Its name generally refers to a met ...
suburbs of
Caulfield,
St Kilda East
St Kilda East is a suburb in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia, 6 km south-east of Melbourne's Central Business District, located within the Cities of Glen Eira and Port Phillip local government areas. St Kilda East recorded a population of 1 ...
, and
Elsternwick
Elsternwick is an inner suburb in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia, 9 km south-east of Melbourne's Central Business District, located within the City of Glen Eira local government area. Elsternwick recorded a population of 10,887 at the 2021 ...
, and there are a large number of communal organisations situated in these suburbs, including schools, synagogues and cultural centres. There are also significant pockets of Jews in other areas of Melbourne including
Malvern
Malvern or Malverne may refer to:
Places Australia
* Malvern, South Australia, a suburb of Adelaide
* Malvern, Victoria, a suburb of Melbourne
* City of Malvern, a former local government area near Melbourne
* Electoral district of Malvern, an e ...
,
Hawthorn East
Hawthorn East is a suburb of Melbourne, Victoria, Australia, east of the Melbourne central business district, located within the City of Boroondara local government area. Hawthorn East recorded a population of 14,834 at the 2021 census.
The s ...
,
Bentleigh,
Brunswick, and
Doncaster
Doncaster (, ) is a city in South Yorkshire, England. Named after the River Don, it is the administrative centre of the larger City of Doncaster. It is the second largest settlement in South Yorkshire after Sheffield. Doncaster is situated in ...
, although these locations do not have the same communal structure and are arguably not served as well by communal organisations..
![Australian Jews by SA1](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/0/0d/Australian_Jews_by_SA1.jpg)
The Victorian Jewish community comprises a range of sub-groups including strong Progressive,
Yiddishist, Modern Orthodox, secular, Conservative, and ultra-Orthodox communities. It is a commonly held belief that most of the community can be described as strongly Zionist.
Victoria's Jewish population has continued to grow due to immigration from the
former Soviet Union
The post-Soviet states, also known as the former Soviet Union (FSU), the former Soviet Republics and in Russia as the near abroad (russian: links=no, ближнее зарубежье, blizhneye zarubezhye), are the 15 sovereign states that wer ...
,
South Africa
South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the southernmost country in Africa. It is bounded to the south by of coastline that stretch along the South Atlantic and Indian Oceans; to the north by the neighbouring countri ...
,
Israel
Israel (; he, יִשְׂרָאֵל, ; ar, إِسْرَائِيل, ), officially the State of Israel ( he, מְדִינַת יִשְׂרָאֵל, label=none, translit=Medīnat Yīsrāʾēl; ), is a country in Western Asia. It is situated ...
and
New Zealand
New Zealand ( mi, Aotearoa ) is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and over 700 smaller islands. It is the sixth-largest island count ...
.
History
The Jewish Community Council of Victoria was established 10 October 1989. It was the successor of a series of communal peak bodies that claimed to be the official voice of Victorian Jewry. The previous versions were the Melbourne Jewish Advisory Board (est. 1921), the Victorian Jewish Advisory Board (est. 1938) and the Victorian Jewish Board of Deputies (est. 1948).
There was a desire for a unified representative voice for the community since the 1880s, but it was a visit from Chief Rabbi Hertz in 1921 that was the trigger for the formation of the organization, where he convinced a number of prominent Melbourne Jews of its need. The membership of the resulting Melbourne Jewish Advisory Board (MJAB), was drawn from the three major synagogue congregations.
In 1936, the secular Judean League, the Yiddishist Kadimah and the Victorian Zionist Organisation pushed MJAB to form a new constitution which would allow input from the non-Orthodox communities. The MJAB renamed itself the Victorian Jewish Advisory Board (VJAB).
During World War II the representational base of the VJAB was further expanded to include 18 constituents by 1947. At a meeting on May 7, 1948, delegates to the VJAB agreed formally to rename and reconstitute themselves as the Victorian Jewish Board of Deputies (VJBD).
In 1988 delegates approved a name change and the VJBD became the Jewish Community Council of Victoria on 10 October 1989. The new name was promoted as having greater meaning for a cosmopolitan Jewry entering the 1990s. The JCCV became an incorporated entity in 2000.
The new organization continued to grow, and today the JCCV has over 50 affiliates.
Affiliation
The JCCV's affiliation is drawn from various organisations that constitute the Victorian Jewish community. Their affiliates represent a range of religious, political, cultural, welfare, educational and social associations. Affiliates are able to share views through the JCCV's Plenum, which meets seven times per calendar year.
Affiliates as of December 2017
* Access Inc
*
ARK Centre
Ark Centre is a Modern Orthodox Judaism, modern Orthodox synagogue and Community Centre located in the Melbourne suburb of Hawthorn East, Victoria, Hawthorn East. It was founded by a number of people who were previously members of Kew Hebrew Cong ...
*
Australasian Union of Jewish Students (Victoria)
*
Australian Jewish Democratic Society Inc
* Australian Jewish Historical Society of Victoria Inc
* Australian Jewish Psychologists Inc
* Australian Society of Polish Jews & Their Descendants
* Ballarat Hebrew Congregation
*
Bialik College
Bialik College is an independent comprehensive co-educational early learning, primary and secondary Jewish day school, located in the Melbourne suburb of Hawthorn East, Victoria, Australia. Established in 1942 in Carlton North, Victoria, ...
* Blake St Hebrew Congregation
*
B'nai B'rith Victoria Inc
* Brighton Hebrew Congregation
* Caulfield Hebrew Congregation Inc
* Council of Orthodox Synagogues of Victoria Ltd
*
East Melbourne Hebrew Congregation
*
Elwood Talmud Torah Congregation
* Emmy Monash Aged Care Inc
* Forum of Russian Speaking Jewry
* J-Air
* Jewish Care (Vic) Inc
* Jewish Cultural Centre and National Library (Kadimah)
* Jewish Holocaust Museum & Research Centre
* Jewish Labor Bund Inc
*
Jewish Museum of Australia
The Jewish Museum of Australia, not to be confused with the Sydney Jewish Museum, aims to "explore and share the Jewish experience in Australia". It is located in St Kilda, a suburb of Melbourne.
History
The Jewish Museum of Australia was estab ...
* Kehilat Nitzan Conservative (Masorti) Community Inc
* Kew Hebrew Congregation Inc
*
King David School (The)
* Keshet Australia
* Kosher Meals on Wheels Association of Victoria Inc
*
Leibler-Yavneh College
* Maccabi Victoria
*
Magen David Adom Victoria Inc
*
March of the Living Australia
*
Melbourne Hebrew Congregation Inc
* Mizrachi Organisation
*
Mount Scopus Memorial College
, motto_translation =
, location = 245 Burwood Highway, Burwood, Melbourne, Victoria
, country = Australia
, coordinates =
, pushpin_map = Australia Melbourne
, pushpin_i ...
* National Council of Jewish Women of Australia (Vic)
* North Eastern Jewish War Memorial Centre Inc (Yeshurun Synagogue)
* Oz Shalom TV Inc
* Progressive Judaism Victoria
* Shalom Association Inc
*
Sholem Aleichem College
* South Caulfield Hebrew Congregation
* Stand Up
* St Kilda Hebrew Congregation
* Theodor Herzl Social Club Inc
* United Jewish Education Board Inc
* Victorian Association of Jewish Ex & Servicemen & Women Australia Inc
* Wings of Care (Kanfei Chessed) Inc
* Zionism Victoria
*
Zionist Youth Council
Activities
Advocacy
The JCCV devotes much of its resources to advocating for the Jewish community with government and the media. The JCCV regularly provides submissions to government on a wide range of issues on behalf of Victorian Jewry. In the past these have included reforms into the Sentencing Act, Racial Vilification legislation, Child Protection and Equal Opportunity legislation.
The JCCV also coordinates with local governments where there is a significant Jewish population. One such issue is setting traffic lights in the
city of Glen Eira
The City of Glen Eira is a local government area in Victoria, Australia. It is located in the south-eastern suburbs of Melbourne. It has an area of and has an estimated population of 153,858 (51.6% female and 48.4% male). It was formed in 1994 ...
to automatic during
Shabbat
Shabbat (, , or ; he, שַׁבָּת, Šabbāṯ, , ) or the Sabbath (), also called Shabbos (, ) by Ashkenazim, is Judaism's day of rest on the seventh day of the week—i.e., Saturday. On this day, religious Jews remember the biblical storie ...
.
They are involved in interfaith and multicultural activities and dialogue. This includes establishing bilateral ties and hosting functions with other faiths and communities, and by participating in various multicultural and multifaith organisations, both government and non-government organisations.
The JCCV has engaged in overt advocacy of Israeli policies in partnership with Zionism Victoria. This is despite having affiliates such as the Australian Jewish Democratic Society who are not supportive of Israel's policies.
The JCCV has, however, come in for considerable criticism for a number of public relations failures. Arguably the greatest of these was the JCCV's inability to accommodate the community's LGBTQI community until 2015, although they did apologise for the exclusion in 2019.
The JCCV has also been heavily criticised for its failure to tackle key communal issues, such as drug and alcohol abuse, the rise of the far right, soaring costs of Jewish living, and the
refusal to engage in meaningful public advocacy to extradite accused paedophile, former
ddasPrincipal, Malka Leifer.
Public ceremonies and events
The JCCV also organises a number of communal events, and is the host of a communal event for
Yom HaShoah
Yom HaZikaron laShoah ve-laG'vurah ( he, יום הזיכרון לשואה ולגבורה, , lit=Holocaust and Heroism Remembrance Day), known colloquially in Israel and abroad as Yom HaShoah (יום השואה) and in English as Holocaust Reme ...
and
Yom HaAtzma'ut
Independence Day ( he, יום העצמאות ''Yom Ha'atzmaut'', lit. "Day of Independence") is the national day of Israel, commemorating the Israeli Declaration of Independence in 1948. The day is marked by official and unofficial ceremonies ...
, the later being co-hosted with Zionism Victoria.
Some events in the past have caused problems for them. The JCCV did significantly strain their relations with the
Islamic Council of Victoria (ICV) due to its invitation of anti-Islam academic
Daniel Pipes
Daniel Pipes (born September 9, 1949) is an American historian, writer, and commentator. He is the president of the Middle East Forum, and publisher of its ''Middle East Quarterly'' journal. His writing focuses on American foreign policy and the ...
to address the community. Pipes is noted by the
Southern Poverty Law Center
The Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC) is an American 501(c)(3) nonprofit legal advocacy organization specializing in civil rights and public interest litigation. Based in Montgomery, Alabama, it is known for its legal cases against white su ...
as an "anti-Muslim extremist" and his presence caused the ICV to cancel their official partnership in the annual Jewish Muslim Comedy Debate, and they temporarily broke off all contact with the JCCV.
General activities
The JCCV have other functions within the community such as:
* Social justice and community welfare projects such as the Youth Alcohol Project, Child Protection Working Group, Pastoral Care Project and the GLBTI (Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual, Transgender, Intersex) Reference Group
* Various guest speakers and forums on a range of topics
*Acting as an umbrella organisation to pool resources and lessen the duplication of activities
*Acting as a central node for promotion of communal events and news
*Liaising with police on incidents of
anti-Semitism
Antisemitism (also spelled anti-semitism or anti-Semitism) is hostility to, prejudice towards, or discrimination against Jews. A person who holds such positions is called an antisemite. Antisemitism is considered to be a form of racism.
Antis ...
and other forms of racism, and assisting with community security, and emergency crisis management
See also
*
Jewish Community Council Jewish Community Councils (JCCs) are a form of local Jewish organization with the purpose of safeguarding Jewish rights, and assisting local residents. Jewish Community Councils were mostly formed in the 1940s.
Activities
Jewish organizations are l ...
*
History of the Jews in Australia
The history of Jews in Australia traces the history of Australian Jews from the British settlement of Australia commencing in 1788. Though Europeans had visited Australia before 1788, there is no evidence of any Jewish sailors among the crew. T ...
References
External links
Jewish Community Council of VictoriaExecutive Council of Australian JewryJewish Victoria
{{Authority control
Jewish organisations based in Australia
Jews and Judaism in Victoria (Australia)
Organisations based in Victoria (Australia)
Organizations established in 1938