"Gather our dispersed from the far ends of the earth" we say in our prayers. It conveys a nice metaphorical image, and we know that the 2000-year Diaspora has spread our brethren far and wide. But how far do Jewish communities really go to the farthest corners of the earth? Well, board a plane with the intent to travel as far as one can, and after an 18 hour exhausting jaunt, you disembark in a beautiful vast land, nestled between the Pacific and Indian Oceans‚ so far, yet surprisingly familiar.

Neither Swahili, Indonesian nor some other exotic language greets you, but English, though the accent and terminology are charmingly different. Yes, the cars clip along maddeningly on the left (wrong!) side of the street, the water swirls counter-clockwise down the drain, and the seasons are backwards! But this ex-British colony has sounds, aromas, sights and tastes Americans can relate to. What's more, a "Shalom, Mate!" and a bowl of steaming chicken soup is easily available in this far, yet culturally near, land.

The world's sixth largest country, Australia is flat, barren and sparsely populated. The bulk of the population lives on the narrow, fertile eastern coastal plain and on the south-eastern coast.

The Jewish community down under is vibrant and thriving, adding a beautiful thread of Jewish history and life to the rich Diaspora tapestry.

The first Jews arrived in Australia on the first day of European settlement on the continent, January 26, 1788. Among the 827 convicts on the English First Fleet were a few Jewish convicts, estimated by historians at between 8 and 14, who were transported from England to Botany Bay, near Sydney, for relatively trivial crimes. The first free Jewish settler arrived in 1816. A Jewish burial society was formed in 1817 and the first Jewish religious service took place about the same time. The dawn of the 20th century found about 15,000 Jews in Australia. Most were English speaking Brits, rather than Eastern European, who experienced little or no organized anti-Semitism or persecution. Many were merchants or traders and settled in country towns. The Jewish community did establish synagogues and institutions, but there was great pressure to assimilate. Jewish life in Australia would have disappeared if not for the influx of Eastern European Holocaust refugees, Australia being one of the world's few havens for Jews at that time. The survivors revitalized the community, adding the color of Yiddish, Polish, Russian and German to the Anglo-Jewish community.

A key group of refugees were Lubavitch chassidim from Russia. They started a small yeshiva, shul and other basic institutions, and helped jumpstart the day school system. Over 75% of Melbourne's Jewish children and over 60% of Sydney's attend Jewish day schools. The latter half of the twentieth century has seen Chabad-Lubavitch's dynamic growth into a network of 38 Chabad Centers across Australia. These outreach programs help instill knowledge, character, and a sense of Jewish identity to thousands of Australia's Jewish youth.

Today, the majority of Australia's 100,000 Jews reside in Melbourne and Sydney. Western Australia is the only other state with about 8,000. Jews live mainly in the state capital cities, with only small numbers in the smaller country towns. The only exception is Queensland with its growing Jewish population in the Gold Coast resort area, and in Tasmania. Melbourne, Australia's second largest city is a place of contradictions and hidden charms. A leafy, bayside community on the 'upside-down' brown Yarra River, it is cosmopolitan yet suburban; cultivated yet football crazy, conservative yet a haven for the avant-garde. Visitors throng there for its shopping, restaurants, nightlife and sporting calendar.

Pleasant excursions from Melbourne include Phillip Island, with its extraordinary fairy penguins, the pristine Wilson's Promontory and the Great Ocean Road. Most of Melbourne's Jewish community lives south of the Yarra River in a belt running from South Yarra and Toorak to Moorabbin and Glen Iris, and centering in Caulfield and St. Kilda. Melbourne Jewry's 'main street' is Carlisle Street, East St. Kilda, while the well-known tourist district around St. Kilda's Acland Street also has a Jewish ambience. Much of the Caulfield-St. Kilda area is recognizably a 'Jewish neighborhood', with many Jewish interest shops, kosher restaurants, cafes, and butcher shops.

Melbourne is home to several magnificent synagogues, including the East Melbourne Hebrew Congregation, built in 1877, the (former) Bourke Street Synagogues, founded in 1848, and the Melbourne Hebrew Congregation, completed in 1930. This building features Corinthian pillars, copper dome, a bimah carved from Tasmanian blackwood (possibly the finest example of timber work in Australia) and stained glass windows created by the Israeli artist Rimona Kedem. Another important stop is Melbourne's Jewish Museum of Australia, where Jewish culture, history and religious practice can be explored.

Sydney, Australia's premier city, is its economic powerhouse and the country's capital in everything but name. A vital metropolis, Sydney hosted the 2000 Olympic Games, confirming the city's reputation as a civilized, fun-loving and friendly place.

Sydney, like Melbourne, is home to splendid Historic Synagogues with unique design by leading architects, including the Newton Synagogue, the Central Synagogues/ Orach Chaim, the Great Synagogues/Beth Israel, in Transition French Gothic, and the York Street Synagogue with Egyptian-style exterior. The Sydney Jewish Museum documents the Holocaust and Australian Jewish history. Other Australian cities have no distinctive Jewish areas, but Jews in Perth live in Yokine, Dianella West and Noranda which, like Sydney's North Shore and Melbourne's Doncaster, is home to South African and Zimbabwean immigrants.

This vast island-continent combines the richness of Australia's natural treasures and cultural diversity. Australia offers a wealth of travel experiences, from the vastness and drama of the outback, to the spectacle of the Great Barrier Reef and its islands, the cosmopolitanism of Sydney and some of the best beaches in the world. Visitors expecting to see an opera in Sydney one night and meet Crocodile Dundee the next will have to re-think their grasp of geography in this huge country. This sheer vastness, and the friction between the ancient land steeped in Aboriginal lore and the New World cultures heaped upon it, gives Australia much of its character.

Australia is blessed with a fascinating mix of native flora and fauna. Its distinctive plants include the ubiquitous gum tree or eucalypti, of which there are 700 species. Endemic animals include the iconic kangaroo, koala and emu, the platypus, echidna, possum, wombat and dingo. There are also interesting birds such as parrots, cockatoos and kookaburras, and countless indigenous reptile and insect species. There are over 500 national parks with rainforests, deserts, mountain ranges and coastal dunes.

Australian seasons are the antithesis of those in Europe and North America: summer starts in December, autumn in March, winter in June and spring in September. Seasonal variations in temperature are not extreme except in the deserts, where scorching daytime temperatures can approach freezing by night.

The southern states are popular during the summer months, but the best time to visit is probably the shoulder seasons of spring or autumn when the weather in the south is mild. Queensland is still warm, the humidity is not too draining in the north and there are less flies in the bush. Spring in the outback can be spectacular if rains encourage wildflowers. The rugged Kimberley at the northern end of Western Australia is one of Australia's last frontiers. It's a little-traveled and remote area of great rivers, oases and magnificent scenery. If you're looking for quintessential Australian landscapes of red earth, rock, gum trees and blue skies, this is the place. Wildlife includes freshwater crocodiles, wallaroos and the rare black-footed wallaby.

Down under exploration is downright doable for any Jewish traveler with a tad of adventure in his soul. There is plentiful certified Kosher food, hospitable Chabad emissaries, synagogues, mikvaot and amenities spread over the vast continent. The Jewish Heritage Tour focuses on Jewish interests. More information and interesting links featuring Jewish Australia can be pursued www.joyfulnoise.net/ Joyaustralia1 .html. Enjoy the friendly relaxed pace, and fascinating flora, fauna and culture, and be inspired by the Jewish tenacity and adaptability that has taken root and thrived in this remote corner of the world.

 

	Sephardic Center

 

	Chabad Synagogue Interior, Melbourne

 

	Mikvah

 

	Lubavitch Yeshiva

 

	Sephardic Center