B'nai B'rith Australia & New Zealand Triennial Convention

We look forward to welcoming you to the forthcoming Triennial B’nai B’rith Convention which will be held in Melbourne on 11- 12 September.

B’nai B’rith in our region is facing new challenges. How do we best respond to changing community needs and get more people involved in our activities? Discussion with our guest speakers and workshops on both days of the conference will enable all participants to have input into our future direction.

We are excited to have the international President of B’nai B’rith Seth Riklin join us and participate in the Convention. He has recently had meetings with Arab leaders in the UAE as part of a B’nai B’rith delegation and has also had an audience with the Pope in Rome. He will update us on the work of B’nai B’rith internationally.

We will also hear from Rabbi Alon Meltzer from Sydney’s Shalom College and from Tony Benbow OAM (head of the Lions Foundation) on how their organisations are trying to adapt to change in their communities and among their membership and what we can learn from their research and experience. We will also Zoom in with B’nai B’rith leaders from the UK and Israel. Their ideas will then be discussed at interactive workshops in the afternoon.

The social program has not been neglected. A jazzy cocktail party on Saturday and a sumptuous Gala Dinner on Sunday. Some formality will be restored the next day with the AGM and discussion on reports from projects and the election of office bearers.

Please accept our warm invitation to be part of this important triennial B’nai B’rith Convention. To book your place, just click here. We have tried the cost down as far as possible. A 10% discount for early bird bookings is available until 12 August for the full convention including the gala dinner.

For interstate and overseas guests, we have included a list of nearby hotels for your convenience. Please click here to view these.
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SATURDAY 10 SEPTEMBER
7:00 PM COCKTAIL PARTY (Private home)

DAY 1 - SUNDAY 11 SEPTEMBER
9:30 AM OFFICIAL OPENING OF CONVENTION:
Acknowledgement to Country – Dr Lois Peeler
Opening BB Ritual – David Samuels
Official Welcome and Opening - Jim Magee, Mayor of Glen Eira
The Work of B’nai B’rith International – President Seth Riklin
11:30 AM  SESSION 1 - ‘The Ever-Changing Jewish Communities’
Moderator:
Prof Andrew Markus
Contributors:

• Dr Jim Salinger 
• BBYO
• Rabbi Alon Meltzer, Shalom College (Sydney)

1:45 PM SESSION 2 - Membership
Moderator:
Ellana Aarons
Presenters:
A/P Peter Schattner
Janine Zimbler
Jules Geddie
Danielle Schilling
3:30PM SESSION 3 – B’nai B’rith Internationally - What We Do
Chair:
Josh Burns MP
Presenters:
Seth Riklin
Alan Miller
Alan Schneider
7:00PM  GALA DINNER

DAY 2 - MONDAY 12 SEPTEMBER
9:30AM  BBANZ AGM
11.00AM SESSION 4 What can we learn from others?
Presenter:
Tony Benbow OAM
Chairperson, The Australian Lions Foundation
Plus workshop
1:30PM  SESSION 5 Human Rights Forum 
Chair:
Tony Weldon OAM
Presenters:
Ed St John
Jack Aghion
Ernie Friedlander
3:15PM Convention Wrap Up
Chair:
David Southwick MP