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The Executive Council of Aus­trali­an Jewry, the peak national rep­res­ent­at­ive body of the Aus­trali­an Jewish community offi­cially launched its flagship lead­er­ship and advocacy ini­ti­at­ive in a national event with inductees into the Corps, communal leaders and members of The Giving Forum.

Forty-two out­stand­ing young pro­fes­sion­als from Jewish com­munit­ies through­out the country were welcomed into the Corps, which will identify, develop and appoint leaders and advocates into key communal roles.

Opening the event, ECAJ Co-Chief Executive Officer Alex Ryvchin observed that “Jewish history has shown us over and over again that when we have leaders with vision, who are able to represent, advocate and persuade, our com­munit­ies thrive. The absence of such leaders, we have learned, can be our demise. We can no longer leave it to chance that our leaders and advocates simply emerge.”

Noting the suc­cess­ful recruit­ment of Corps members from across the country, ECAJ President Jillian Segal AO said that “it is incred­ibly important that we develop young leaders across the smaller states.” Ms Segal concluded, “I believe that this sort of networked group will be extremely valuable to the community in its long-term viability and sus­tain­ab­il­ity and that this is likely to become a signature program for the ECAJ.”

David Gonski AC spoke of the char­ac­ter­ist­ics common to all great leaders and the import­ance of humility over hubris in lead­er­ship. “I wanted to be here to endorse this ini­ti­at­ive and to com­pli­ment all of the new Corps members who have joined up, good on you … you are taking the first step towards great lead­er­ship,” Mr Gonski concluded.

Rep­res­ent­ing the phil­an­throp­ic network, The Giving Forum, Greg Shand, who initiated many of the con­ver­sa­tions that led to the found­a­tion of the Corps explained the necessity of lead­er­ship, advocacy and suc­ces­sion planning for the future of the community.

“We ought not to be betting our com­munit­ies’ future on luck,” Mr Shand said. “We need to have an organised process and that is really what TGF wishes to support, an ini­ti­at­ive to create the next gen­er­a­tion of leaders to ensure we have a depth of talent, orderly suc­ces­sion in our rep­res­ent­a­tion and ensure we have a strong voice into the future.”

The audience also heard messages of support from members of the Corps’ sister program, the World Jewish Congress’s Jewish Dip­lo­mat­ic Corps and a special message, read out by ECAJ Deputy President Robert Goot AO SC, from WJC President Ambas­sad­or Ronald S. Lauder, who praised the Corps as “an innov­a­tion program, made possible through the gen­er­os­ity of The Giving Forum, which fills me with hope for a brighter future.” Ambas­sad­or Lauder said, “he was delighted the ECAJ has chosen to invest in its future gen­er­a­tions.”

Pro­gram­ming for Corps members con­sist­ing of workshops, skills training, con­fer­ences, knowledge-building and mentoring will commence early in the new year.

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