B’nai B’rith Victoria congratulates and applauds the 2021 Menorah Award winners:
Jack Aghion, Michael Taft, Philip Lipshut, Tova Rubinstein & Zachary Gomo

To view the recording of the 2021 B'nai B'rith Menorah Awards click HERE

The B’nai B’rith Victoria Menorah Awards were established in 1978. They are presented annually to worthy recipients who:

• have worked for the welfare of the community, and
• have not previously received a National or State Government recognition Award.

 
Eligibility:

• Menorah Awards will be presented to individuals who have performed voluntary work of benefit to the community, usually over a long period.
• Recipients will usually be members of the Jewish community. Members of other faiths, who have contributed significantly in relation to the Jewish community, may also be considered.
• Nominations must be made on the Menorah Awards nomination form (see attached), obtainable from the B’nai B’rith Victoria office.
• Nominators will be asked to suggest two referees that the Committee may consult. All nominations will be handled confidentially.
• Nominees are not to be informed that they are being considered for an Award until after the selection process is complete. Only successful nominees will be notified.

2021 Applications are closed.

Oren Smith wins B’nai B’rith Grant, October 2018
 
Oren Smith has won the 14th Annual Jenny Goldberg Community Service Grant (JGCSG) which was set up as a memory to Jenny who was passionate volunteer within the Jewish and wider communities.
Oren graduated from Melbourne University with a Bachelor of Commerce degree majoring in Accounting and Management and he has worked and volunteered in the not for profit community sector using his skills in finance, strategy and operations.
One of the main criteria for the recipient of the JGCSG is that he or she must use the Grant to improve their volunteering ​​capacity, and hence the community at large.  Oren plans to do just that.  He is intending to do a course run by the Australian Institute of Company Directors.
​From Oren’s involvement in B’nai Akiva, his Shule, and  the United Jewish Education Board,   Oren has learned that to maximise  an organisation’s effectiveness, it needs a professional who is well trained in governance and strategy.
To quote Oren:  “This course will provide me with the professional   knowledge to create the most profound impact I can.”
                                                             
P P  Frieda Shapiro
​Trustee of the JGCSG

 A HISTORIC LUSTIG SCHOLARSHIP “PRESENTATION”

For the first time in its 65 year history, the winner of this year’s Bernard Lustig Memorial Scholarship was announced at a Zoom event earlier this month.

Michaela Glass is a brilliant law student, having graduated last month from Monash with a double degree in Arts and Law, with first-class honours. Winners in the scholarship’s Travel Grant category are judged not only on their academic results, but also on their proven ability to be a student leader. Her referees, foremost amongst them the Hon. Marilyn Warren AC, former Chief Justice of the Supreme Court in Victoria, praised Michaela for her enduring efforts as a mentor to younger undergraduates.

Michaela was “present” at the Zoom meeting, but she wasn’t in Melbourne. She was in the Netherlands, on her way to Cambridge University. When the new northern university year begins, she will participate in a highly selective group of post-graduates in a course leading to the Master of Corporate Law Degree. She is interested in the issue of legal control of corporations, to ensure that proper attention is given to privacy and consumers’ rights.

The meeting was opened by BBVic President Dr Benny Monheit and hosted by Raoul Wallenberg Unit, one of the BBVic entities that are committed to major annual donations to the scholarship. Dr Paul Gardner AM, Chairman of the Scholarship’s Trustees, introduced the winner to the meeting. The Lustig family was well represented. Danny Lustig, the nephew of the late Bernard, is one of the Trustees; Eve Lustig, widow of Dr Lew Lustig, founding Patron and Trustee, Bernard’s brother, was also present. A pleasant surprise was to see another nephew, Bernard King-Smith, son of the late Ruth King-Smith, and named in memory of the uncle he had never known, logged in early in the morning from his home in the United States.​

Dr Gardner, whose friendship with the Lustig family goes back to his childhood years, told Preview, “The pandemic is an international disaster of the first magnitude, and its effects have not yet been fully felt. In the meantime, B'nai B'rith and its projects refuse to lie down and die. We do what we can to carry on. Giving up is not an option.”

Category 1 Research Grant   
Category 2 Travel Grant
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Guidelines
Online Application form
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SIXTY YEARS ON, A LIVING MEMORIAL REMAINS
​
It happened in 1955. Summer holiday period.  Hume Highway. Car, driver, two passengers.  The car swerved off the road and hit a tree.  A common event, a tragedy, more frequent then than today. Two young men died. The woman passenger survived.

The accident ended the life of Bernard Lustig, a brilliant young barrister, winner of the University of Melbourne’s Supreme Court Prize. He was the older son of Adolf and Kate Lustig, German refugees from Nazism who fled to Australia before the war. As the war ended Adolf helped found the first B'nai B'rith lodge in Melbourne. 
 
Bernard followed in his father’s footsteps as a lawyer, although Adolf’s career in Munich was cut short by the Nuremberg Race Laws.  Bernard also became interested in B'nai B'rith in 1951, becoming a founding member of B'nai B'rith Youth Melbourne and one of its earliest presidents.
 
His death generated a thought among the members of the BBY committee.  Let’s establish a scholarship in his memory.  Too ambitious, said some.  But anyone who knew the late Pauline Richter (later Pauline Glass) would testify that this was a young woman who was motivated, capable and persistent.  She won the day.
 
With financial contributions from B'nai B'rith Melbourne Lodge and its Women’s Chapter, the youth group set up a fund later that year, and awarded the first scholarships, to assist capable Year 12 students about to embark on a university course in 1956.
 
Six decades have passed, and the scholarship is now the oldest continuing B'nai B'rith project and the longest running scholarship in the Victorian Jewish community.  As with any project that survives for so long, it has had to change with the times.  The first scholarship was worth ₤50. Today, winners receive $2500. Winners are decided by a long-serving group of trustees comprising senior academics and representatives of the Lustig family.
 
The administration has changed.  BBY Melbourne no longer exists:  the scholarship is now a B'nai B'rith Victoria project.  Instead of treasurers handling a couple of cheques, the scholarship receives some of its funding from an investment fund managed by the B'nai B'rith Charitable Fund (and from numerous individual donors).  
 
Information technology has wrought changes too.  Originally, applicants sent hand-written letters in response to an AJN ad. Now there are detailed guidelines and an extensive application form, submitted by email. Nearly all communications among the trustees are handled electronically.
 
The purpose of the scholarship has also altered since its early days.  The scholarship is now offered in two categories: as a research grant to master’s and doctoral thesis candidates, and as a travel grant to outstanding student leaders at university level, to fund overseas travel to participate in leadership development programs.
 
Some recent winners have travelled to Israel to participate in short courses at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem. Another worked as a deputy speech-writer for the Israeli Mission at the United Nations in New York. A young medical practitioner was assisted to pursue post-graduate research at Harvard University. One winner was a school counsellor researching for a master’s degree in psychology. In 2019, three scholarships were awarded, to an outstanding law student, to a musician preparing a PhD, and to a philosophy graduate who went to Oxford to write a thesis on ethical issues of artificial intelligence.
 
Applications open in March each year and close at the end of April. Intending applicants can obtain the guidelines and application form from this website. Alternatively, send an email to the B'nai B'rith Victoria Office, admin@bbvic.org.au, requesting this material

Making a Difference – a Project of Lodge Melbourne Mitzvah
​Making a Difference has been in operation since 1996. Our purpose is to support financially disadvantaged Jewish students in our community, whether they attend a State school or a Jewish school. We support students going into year 11 and year 12, as it was felt that it is these two years which are critical for students to achieve success.

​Money is raised through the support of our members, their families and friends. We receive donations when a variety of events are celebrated and we are grateful for each donation. Since 1996 we have donated over $220,000 to some 280 students. We welcome donations from all.

Our banking details are:
Melbourne Mitzvah Lodge ( MAD) - BSB 013-017, Account No 9001 28923

Click and Connect (C&C) is a Melbourne-based organisation that got off the ground in 2016. Their project is already under way, helping students in four schools in various parts of Israel. 

• For more information about it, see its website, www.clickandconnect.org.au
• C&C wants to expand its activities, not only in Israel, but here in Australia, by assisting students who need help with English.
• C&C’s leadership approached B'nai B'rith seeking our support.
• At its August executive meeting, BBVic agreed to explore ways in which we could assist them in their work. BBVic President Dr Benny Monheit endorsed the project, stating that “C&C’s vision of supporting community service in Israel and locally is strongly aligned with the aims of B'nai B'rith”.

Dr Paul Gardner AM has agreed to be the initial liaison between BBVic and C&C. Here are his thoughts about how B'nai B'rith might be able to assist:

“I have met with some of their leadership on two occasions and have been impressed by their vision and their competence. For them to grow, they require more resources, especially human resources.  This is a hands-on-the-internet-direct-help project, not a fund-raising exercise.
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So, here’s how you might become involved:
​
Are you a retired teacher willing to spend an hour every fortnight on the internet with a particular child in Israel?

Or if not a teacher, would you enjoy having a conversation in English about any topics of mutual interest? (The aim is not to cover a curriculum, simply to encourage the kid to talk.)

Or, if direct conversation with kids is not your forte, would you be willing to provide volunteer assistance to C&C to help out with managing their project?

Do you know anyone in your circle of family and friends – they don’t have to be B'nai B'rith members – who might be interested in helping out in some way?

If the answer to any of these questions is YES!  -- and I would love to get some enthusiastic YES! responses – please contact me.”
​
pgardner@bigpond.net.au      9578 4724        0412 275 623

Fellowship Group Concert: provides an outing which includes afternoon tea and entertainment once a month to senior citizens who either come from independent living or aged care facilities. Our volunteers offer transport to the event, where possible.

Volunteers prepare and serve afternoon tea.  Many of the entertainers provide their services for free or a reduced rate.

Proceeds go to B’nai B’rith projects.

For more details, please contact Cera at 0412 304 894

All photos on this page, thanks to Judi Schiff Photography (click on photo to see the full picture)