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The Aus­trali­an Jewish community farewelled Israeli Ambas­sad­or Mark Sofer and his wife Sara in an online ceremony last night. The heads of the Zionist Fed­er­a­tion of Australia, the Australia/Israel and Jewish Affairs Council, the Executive Council of Aus­trali­an Jewry each spoke from the heart, telling a group of over 200 invited guests of Mr Sofer’s accom­plish­ments, skills and approach.

In his speech, ZFA President Jeremy Leibler said, “The large turnout of friends and sup­port­ers gathered here this evening is testament to the profound impact Mark and Sara have had on the entire community. Mark, though not spe­cific­ally noted in your impress­ive biography, perhaps one of your greatest attrib­utes is that you’re a true mensch… Over the past, very chal­len­ging six months, as the entire world has been impacted in such a dev­ast­at­ing way by the coronavir­us pandemic, your exper­i­ence of managing cata­stroph­ic events in India and Nepal, gave you the focus and resi­li­ence to roll up your sleeves and do what was needed.”

AIJAC National Chair­per­son Mark Leibler AC noted, “there’s more than one way a diplomat can go about rep­res­ent­ing the interests of the gov­ern­ment they serve. They can parrot the official line or they can convey it more subtly, more intel­li­gently, with nuance that takes account of the situation and the per­son­al­it­ies on the ground. Mark is true master of this art.”

In her comments, ECAJ President Jillian Segal AO said,  “You’ve been a champion for Israel, a supporter to the local community, a diplomat with dis­cre­tion, rep­res­ent­ing your country with dis­tinc­tion, and a booster of the link between Australia and Israel… You’ve brought great energy and intellect to your role, and you’ve been indefatig­able in your efforts to create relations with Australia’s political, business, media and community leaders.”

Jillian Segal, on behalf of the 3 organ­isa­tions, announced the estab­lish­ment of, and presented Mark and Sara Sofer with,  the Mark and Sara Sofer Fel­low­ship, where an Aus­trali­an student will receive $10,000 to assist in tuition, accom­mod­a­tion and travel costs for tertiary studies in Israel, spe­cific­ally in the area of cyber security or inter­na­tion­al relations – fields in which the Ambas­sad­or has taken active interest and ini­ti­at­ive

In his reply, Mr Sofer said how humbled he was by the honour. “Of all the gifts I’ve received, I think this is the most beautiful”, he said. He also stressed the unique­ness of the Aus­trali­an Jewish community.

All speakers expressed regret that they were unable to farewell Mr and Mrs Sofer in person.  As noted by the ECAJ’s co-CEO Peter Wertheim, who emceed the event, the Melbourne and Sydney Jewish com­munit­ies tra­di­tion­ally host separate farewell recep­tions for departing Israeli ambas­sad­ors, and even though we could not do so by our physical presence, at least on this occasion we could all pay tribute to the Ambas­sad­or together. As all expressed, next year in Jerusalem!

Contact
Peter Wertheim AM | Co-CEO
ph: 02 8353 8505 | m: 0408 160 904 | fax 02 9361 588
e: [email protected]| www.ecaj.org.au