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These are extra­or­di­nary times for our com­mu­ni­ty and our nation. We are all liv­ing under the strain of upend­ed dai­ly rou­tines, con­cerns for our loved ones, and a sit­u­a­tion that is both uncer­tain and rapid­ly evolv­ing.

One of the key func­tions of the Exec­u­tive Coun­cil of Aus­tralian Jew­ry and its State and Ter­ri­to­ry roof bod­ies, and of course our CSGs, has always been to ensure that we as a com­mu­ni­ty are resilient and pre­pared in dif­fi­cult times.

Lead­er­ship groups in dif­fer­ent States are engag­ing in reg­u­lar con­sul­ta­tions with our syn­a­gogues, schools, care facil­i­ties, ser­vice providers and oth­er insti­tu­tions to assist and coor­di­nate in the adop­tion of pru­dent mea­sures to best pro­tect mem­bers of our com­mu­ni­ty and our soci­ety, and to deal with poten­tial long-term impli­ca­tions should this sit­u­a­tion con­tin­ue for an extend­ed peri­od of time. The ECAJ Exec­u­tive will short­ly be meet­ing to facil­i­tate co-oper­a­tion between these groups across Aus­tralia.

Iden­ti­fy­ing our most vul­ner­a­ble

While Jew­ish organ­i­sa­tions are well-placed to han­dle any dif­fi­cult sit­u­a­tion con­cern­ing their mem­bers, employ­ees and oth­er stake­hold­ers, we are mind­ful of those in our com­mu­ni­ty who are high­ly vul­ner­a­ble, includ­ing those who are elder­ly or infirm and live inde­pen­dent­ly, includ­ing hun­dreds in pub­lic hous­ing. As some fam­i­lies begin to avoid non-essen­tial out­ings, it is these most vul­ner­a­ble who might begin to feel­par­tic­u­lar­ly iso­lat­ed and anx­ious, and whose needs will be great­est, in terms of obtain­ing basic house­hold items and med­i­cines.

The strength of our com­mu­ni­ty comes from our sense of mutu­al respon­si­bil­i­ty to one anoth­er. We are also blessed with out­stand­ing vol­un­teers and pro­fes­sion­als in care-pro­vid­ing organ­i­sa­tions who are ready to assist any­one in need.

We urge mem­bers of our com­mu­ni­ty who are not cur­rent­ly receiv­ing assis­tance and are hav­ing dif­fi­cul­ties with shop­ping, obtain­ing med­i­cines, or are expe­ri­enc­ing emo­tion­al or psy­cho­log­i­cal dis­tress, to reach out to us, either by phone or email, so that through our state con­stituent bod­ies we may direct them to the indi­vid­ual or organ­i­sa­tion in our com­mu­ni­ty who is best placed to offer imme­di­ate assis­tance. 

Call for vol­un­teers

In antic­i­pa­tion of pos­si­ble fur­ther restric­tions on gath­er­ings and an extend­ed dis­rup­tion to dai­ly lives, we are also call­ing for mem­bers of our com­mu­ni­ty to come for­ward to vol­un­teer in the pro­vi­sion of basic assis­tance to our need­i­est, which might include deliv­er­ing gro­ceries to the elder­ly or sim­ply plac­ing reg­u­lar phone calls to those liv­ing alone.

If you are able to vol­un­teer in some capac­i­ty, we ask you to please send your details to the con­tacts list­ed below and we will work with our state rep­re­sen­ta­tive bod­ies and care-providers to match vol­un­teers to com­mu­ni­ty needs.

Con­tact
Alex Ryvchin | Co-CEO
ph: 02 8353 8505 | m: 0478 297 245
e: aryvchin@ecaj.org.au | www.ecaj.org.au

Con­tact
Peter Wertheim | Co-CEO
ph: 02 8353 8505 | m: 0408 160 904 | fax 02 9361 588
e: pwertheim@ecaj.org.au| www.ecaj.org.au