To download this statement by ECAJ President, Jillian Segal AO in PDF format, click here.

Like all Aus­trali­ans, Jewish Aus­trali­ans are utterly dev­ast­ated by the destruc­tion caused by these bushfires which are of an unpre­ced­en­ted scale and severity. The loss of life, property and wildlife, the dis­place­ment of thousands of people, the long-term eco­lo­gic­al and health impacts from loss of habitat and dangerous air quality, the peril to and loss of life of our heroic volunteer fire-fighters and emergency services, is a national tragedy that we must all confront. We are grateful for all that the fire fighters and emergency services men and women have done and we now need to assist in the rebuild­ing of dev­ast­ated com­munit­ies.

Our community has responded in a number of ways: business and community leaders have already raised millions of dollars to help those who have suffered the most; communal organ­isa­tions have organised major appeals and syn­agogues have conducted prayer services to offer comfort and strength to those affected.

The ECAJ has been inundated with enquires from members of our community wanting to help as well as from Jewish com­munit­ies around the world. We urge every member of our community to help in any way that they can but most organ­isa­tions on the ground are asking for funds.

The NSW Jewish Board of Deputies together with Stand Up has already raised $590,000 which will be disbursed shortly through Emergency Services and Vinnies. Given the increased and ongoing severity of the fires, the Board of Deputies will shortly be estab­lish­ing a new campaign with Stand Up for further donations for dispersal to those affected in NSW. (Please make contact through Stand Up 03 – 95002206 or [email protected]). The campaign can be found here: https://www.standup.org.au/donation-secure/ and https://www.givenow.com.au/standup-bushfire-appeal.

In Victoria an organ­ising group led by David Smorgon, Ruth Alter, Ian Davis and Fiona Geminder are coordin­at­ing a community fun­drais­ing campaign to assist fellow Vic­tori­ans impacted by the fires. Funds raised will be con­sol­id­ated with the assist­ance of the JCCV. Please contact the JCCV. An online campaign planned with Peretz Shapiro of Charidy will also be launched so that all members of the Victorian Jewish community can par­ti­cip­ate.

As reported pre­vi­ously, sig­ni­fic­ant funds have already been donated in Victoria by community leaders.

Donors wishing to donate for bushfire relief in WA, ACT, QLD, TAS and SA may also be in touch with Stand Up who will be coordin­at­ing donations from the Jewish community in these States in addition to NSW, as well as inter­na­tion­al donors. They will work with emergency relief agencies on the ground who will dis­trib­ute funds in each State.

We urge all members of the Jewish community who are able to give, to do so gen­er­ously. This is the time to all work together for the benefit of the Aus­trali­an community and the ECAJ is pleased that there has already been such a generous response.

Contact
Alex Ryvchin | Co-CEO
ph: 02 8353 8505 | m: 0478 297 245
e: [email protected] | www.ecaj.org.au