Category Archives: Australia

Aussie Synagogue Hosts Gay Wedding

From JTA: A same-sex commitment ceremony was held in a synagogue in Sydney, an Australian first. Scott Whitmont, 47, and Christopher Whitmont-Stein, 38, stood under a chupah at the Emanuel Synagogue Sunday in front of about 75 guests. The pair, … Continue reading

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Alleged Sex Abuse by Principal Roils Australia

Dan Goldberg writes for the Forward: Sydney, Australia — Australia’s tight-knit ultra-Orthodox community is being roiled by allegations that the principal of a girls’ high school molested a number of her former students. Malka Leifer, headmistress of Melbourne’s Adass Israel … Continue reading

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Aussie Actor Heath Ledger Reminded Americans How To Be Strong

Brendan O’Neill writes for Jewcy: The tragic death of Heath Ledger — just determined to be an overdose — has robbed Hollywood of one of its Australian stand-ins for American machismo. Never mind the trade deficit, or even Barack Obama’s … Continue reading

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And God said: let’s have some light, mate

From the Sydney Morning Herald, July 13, 2006: THERE was this sheila who came across a snake-in-the-grass with all the cunning of a con man. The snake asked her why she didn’t just grab lunch off the tree in her … Continue reading

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The Secret Lives of Australians

From Slate.com: "They were too extravagant," a character thinks in a story in this volume, "for the web of quiet incident and subtle shifts of power that were the usual stuff of his fiction." He is Colin Lattimer, an "almost … Continue reading

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