A major mikvah milestone
CANBERRA’S first mikvah was “a perpetual milestone” according to Rabbi Yaakov Glasman, president of the Rabbinical Council of Victoria, as he led proceedings at the official opening of the Mikvah Chaya Mushka at Chabad of the ACT on Tuesday.
CANBERRA’S first mikvah was “a perpetual milestone” according to Rabbi Yaakov Glasman, president of the Rabbinical Council of Victoria, as he led proceedings at the official opening of the Mikvah Chaya Mushka at Chabad of the ACT on Tuesday.
For many years, Canberra’s Jewish community has had a mikvah on its wishlist, but funding shortfalls have made it impossible.
However, with the arrival of Chabad in the territory, donations from interstate helped construct the ritual bath.
“The women of Canberra deserve the convenience and spirituality of a mikvah,” said Melbourne-based donor Eliezer Kornhauser, paying tribute to local women Dr Anita Shroot and Shoshana Creagh for their vision in first approaching Chabad’s Rabbi Aharon Serebyranski in Melbourne about building a mikvah.
Kornhauser added he hoped the ACT Government would facilitate the acquisition of a nearby disused preschool by Chabad for an educational facility for young Jewish children.
ACT Jewish Community president Manny Waks stressed that the community had been providing services and religious, social and cultural opportunities for local Jews since its formation 60 years ago, for the last 40 years from the National Jewish Memorial Centre.
He too welcomed the inauguration of the mikvah as a great milestone for Canberra’s Jews.
Before cutting the ribbon to launch the new mikvah, US Ambassador to Australia Jeffrey Bleich spoke of the strong connection between the USA and the Jewish community throughout the world.
“We share a quest for our core values: for freedom, justice, and peace,” he said.
He also spoke of the role of the US in rescuing the Lubavitcher Rebbe Rabbi Menachem Mendel Schneerson from the Holocaust and his educational role.
In a long list of thanks to members of the rabbinate and others, Chabad of ACT’s Rabbi Dan Avital paid tribute to his wife Naomi.
Among the 60 guests were several interstate rabbis, ACT Senator Gary Humphries, senior ACT bureaucrat Martin Hehir, ACT Liberal Party president Tio Faulkner for ACT Opposition Leader Zed Seselja, Israeli consul Nevo Barchad representing
Israeli Ambassador Yuval Rotem, Turkish embassy second secretary Umut Öztürk and members of the local Jewish community. A cancelled flight prevented attendance by Sydney’s Rabbi Pinchus Feldman, who gave his blessings via a telephone hook-up.
SYLVIA DEUTSCH
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