Miriam Frank (Left) and Mireille Juchou

The rich and complex relationship between mother and daughter, and emigration as a result of war, are themes shared by these two writers.  In her critically acclaimed novel, Burning In, Mireille Juchau follows the life of Martine Hartmann, who moves from Sydney to New York to pursue her career as a photographer, leaving behind her mother Lotte, a holocaust survivor.  Nine years later, when her daughter goes missing, Martine begins to understand Lotte’s anxieties.

Mirriam Frank, author of the compelling autobiography, My Innocent Absence – Tales from a Nomadic Life,  was five when she and her mother Kate fled occupied France for Mexico in 1941.  Seven years later, the pair moved to New Zealand, where Miriam graduated in medicine.  She obtained her Fellowship in Anaesthesia in the United Kingdom and was appointed senior lecturer at the Royal London Hospital.

Mireille Juchau teaches at the University of Technology in Sydney, and her short fiction, plays, Art reviews and essays have been published internationally. Burning In was shortlisted for the 2008 Prime Minister’s award in Australia, the Commonwealth Writers’ prize and the Age Book of the Year Award.

Miriam Frank was born in Spain and spent a childhood in France, Mexico and New Zealand. She is also translated literary works by Latin American and Spanish authors, and written literary articles.

Chair: Ruth Todd is presenter for Women on Air at Plains FM and a program director for The Press Christchurch Writers’ Festival.

Title: Let my people know!

Subtitle:  How modern Israelis misunderstand the bible and don’t know it; towards a revolution in the teaching of the Old Testament.

Some time ago, we had a conversation with a Rabbi who said that teaching the bible involves telling the Agaddah.  Unfortunately in modern Israeli, agaddah means fairy tale.  And so the Torah as a document is diminished in its standing as authentic history.  This encounter with our learned Rabbi was the inspiration for the topic of this presentation.

We have pleasure in welcoming distinguished professor of linguistics Ghilad Zuckermann to speak on how modern Israeli has affected Torah Study.

ABOUT THE SPEAKER:

Professor Zuckermann holds a D. Phil from Oxford University, a Ph. D from Cambridge University, and MA from Tel Aviv University.  He is currently Chair of Linguistics and Endangered Languages at the School of Humanities, The University of Adelaide.

Room 315, A1, Faculty of Arts, University of Auckland Campus:

This groundbreaking lecture will analyse the ethical, aesthetic and utilitarian benefits of language revival, and propose the establishment of Revival Linguistics, a new discipline studying systematically the universal constraints and local peculiarities apparent in linguistic and cultural revitalizations across various sociological backgrounds. With coca-colonization and homogenization there will be more and more groups added to the forlorn club of the lost-heritage peoples. Language reclamation will become increasingly relevant as people seek to recover their cultural autonomy, empower their spiritual and intellectual sovereignty, and improve their wellbeing. There is an urgent need to offer perspicacious comparative insights relevant to language reclamation.

ABOUT THE SPEAKER

Ghil’ad Zuckermann is Professor of Linguistics of Endangered Languages and Australian Research Council (ARC) Discovery Fellow at the University of Adelaide, Australia. He is an expert of revival linguistics, language contact and lexicology. He is also the ‘Project 211’ Visiting Professor at the Shanghai International Studies University and serves as Editorial Board member of Journal of Language Contact (JLC), and occasional consultant for the Oxford English Dictionary (OED).

Ghilad has addressed NZ Friends of Israel before, speaking about the differences between Modern Hebrew and Biblical Hebrew.  We can vouch that he is an interesting and engaging speaker.

In 2000-2004 he was Gulbenkian Research Fellow at Churchill College, Cambridge, and was affiliated with the Department of Linguistics, Faculty of Modern and Medieval Studies, University of Cambridge.

After studying at the United World College (UWC) of the Adriatic (Collegio del Mondo Unito dell’Adriatico; Duino, Trieste) (1987-1989) and performing several years of military service (1989-1993), he was selected for the Adi Lautman Interdisciplinary Programme for Outstanding Students of Tel Aviv University, where he studied philosophy, psychology, classics, literature, law and mathematics, and specialized in linguistics, receiving his M.A. (97%, summa cum laude) from the Department of Linguistics in 1997. As Scatcherd European Scholar of the University of Oxford and Denise Skinner Graduate Scholar of St Hugh’s College, Oxford, he gained his D.Phil., entitled ‘Camouflaged Borrowing: “Folk-Etymological Nativization” in the Service of Puristic Language Engineering’, in 2000.

He has published in English, Israeli (‘Ivrit’), Italian, Yiddish, Spanish, German, Russian and Chinese. His controversial bestseller book Israelit Safa Yafa (Israeli, a Beautiful Language: Hebrew as Myth) (ISBN: 978-965-13-1963-1) was published in 2008 by Am Oved (Tel Aviv), and his book Language Contact and Lexical Enrichment in Israeli Hebrew (ISBN: 1-4039-1723-X) came out with Palgrave Macmillan in 2003. He is currently preparing five further volumes: (1) Language Revival and Multiple Causation (Oxford University Press), (2) You Already Know Hebrew/English! (An innovative tool for foreign language learning/teaching), (3) Afro-Asiatic Languages and Cultures (Brill), (4) Language, Religion and Identity, and (5) Jewish Language Contact.

Prof. Zuckermann has taught various undergraduate and graduate courses in four continents, e.g. at the University of Cambridge (Faculty of Oriental Studies, now known as Faculty of Asian and Middle Eastern Studies), National University of Singapore, University of Miami, University of Haifa, Ben-Gurion University of the Negev, Pavol Jozef Šafárik University (Košice, Slovakia), The University of Queensland (Associate Professor 2006-2010), and Shanghai International Studies University.

He has been research fellow at the Rockefeller Foundation’s Study and Conference Center (Villa Serbelloni, Bellagio, Italy), Research Centre for Linguistic Typology (RCLT) (Institute for Advanced Study, La Trobe University), Harry Ransom Humanities Research Center (University of Texas at Austin) and Kokuritu Kokugo Kenkyuuzyo (National Language Research Institute, Tokyo). He has held a range of fellowships and scholarships, including a Project 211 Fellowship (China), British Academy Research Grant, Memorial Foundation of Jewish Culture Postdoctoral Fellowship, Harold Hyam Wingate Scholarship, British Chevening Scholarship and Deutscher Akademischer Austauschdienst (DAAD) Scholarship.

On 11-13 September 2009, he organized the first Australian Workshop on Afro-Asiatic Linguistics (AWAAL), a most successful international conference held at the Brisbane Writers Festival (State Library of Queensland), as well as at The University of Queensland.

Prof. Zuckermann has been consultant to Oxford University Press (OUP), Oxford English Dictionary (OED), Sue and Leonard Miller Center for Contemporary Judaic Studies (University of Miami), and Leyvik House, The Israeli Center for Yiddish Culture, Tel Aviv. He is Editorial Board Member of Journal of Language Contact, Jewish Contemporary Review, Mizrekh: Jewish Studies in the Far East, The Open Applied Linguistics Journal; Scientific Committee Member of Societas Linguistica Europaea (SLE); Academic Committee Member of the Institute for the Study of Global Antisemitism and Policy (ISGAP), Yale, New Haven; and Thought Leader of Creativity Australia, Melbourne.

He has been referee for Yale University Press (YUP), Cambridge University Press (CUP), Languages in Contrast, Australian Journal of Linguistics, Balshanut Ivrit (Hebrew Linguistics), Journal of Modern Jewish Studies, International Journal of Lexicography, CamLing (Conference in Language Research, University of Cambridge), and Academic Research Fund, National Institute of Education (NIE), Singapore. In 2008 he was President of the Jury of the BIFF Interfaith Award for Promoting Humanitarian Values, Brisbane International Film Festival (BIFF).

He has delivered hundreds of keynote speeches, other conference papers and invited public lectures, e.g. in Adelaide, Ann Arbor (Michigan), Armidale (New South Wales), Atlanta (Georgia), Auckland (NZ), Austin (Texas), Bangkok, Beer Sheva, Beijing (Peking University), Bellagio, Bergamo, Berkeley (California), Bloomington (Indiana), Boston (Massachusetts), Boulder (Colorado), Brisbane, Bristol, Cambridge, Christchurch (NZ), Duino (Trieste, Italy), Dunedin (NZ), Gainesville (Florida), Haifa, Hamilton (NZ), Hong Kong (Hong Kong University), Honolulu, Istanbul, Jerusalem, Jinan (Shandong University, China), Kfar Saba, Košice (Slovakia), London, Los Angeles, Madrid, Melbourne, Miami (Florida), Moscow, Munich, Nanjing (China), New Brunswick (New Jersey), New York City, Orlando (Florida), Oxford, Poznan (Poland), Princeton (New Jersey), Rishon LeZion, Roehampton (UK), San Diego (California), Santiago de Cuba, Shanghai, Shenzhen (China), Singapore, Stanford (California), Sydney, Tampa (Florida), Tel Aviv, Tempe (Arizona), Tianjin (Nankai University, China), Tiv’on, Toowoomba (Queensland), Trieste, Tucson (Arizona), Tokyo, Vilnius and Wellington (NZ).

Prof. Zuckermann is a member of the Philological Society, Linguistic Society of America (LSA), Centre for Research on Language Change (CRLC), Antipodean East European Study Group, European Association for Lexicography (EURALEX), Association for Jewish Studies (AJS), European Association for Jewish Studies (EAJS), Israeli Association for the Study of Language and Society (IALS), Australasian Association for Lexicography (AUSTRALEX), Association Internationale de Linguistique Appliquee (AILA), National Association of Professors of Hebrew (NAPH), Australian Linguistic Society (ALS), Australian Association of Jewish Studies (AAJS), Society for Pidgin and Creole Linguistics (SPCL), Singapore Association for Applied Linguistics (SAAL), Cambridge Institute of Language Research (CILR).

Professor Zuckermann has been an invited speaker on various TV programmes in Israel (e.g. Channel 1, Channel 2, Channel 10, Channel 23, YES, YES DOCO), different radio programmes in Australia (e.g. four ABC Lingua Franca programmes, an ABC Encounter programme with David Rutledge, an ABC Big Ideas panel broadcast on 15 April 2010 at 6pm, various SBS interviews in Israeli, Yiddish, Italian and English, 6PR Perth, 3ZZZ Melbourne), Israel (e.g. Galey Tzahal, Reshet Bet, Kol Israel), New Zealand, South Africa and Germany, and has featured in dozens of newspaper articles in the United Kingdom (e.g. Reuters), USA (e.g. The Forward), Canada (e.g. Globe and Mail), Israel (e.g. Haaretz, Maariv, Yediot Aharonot, Jerusalem Post, English Haaretz, Ynet, NRG, Time Out, Makor Rishon, Erev Erev, HaIr), the Netherlands (e.g. Trouw), Spain (e.g. Terra), Sweden (e.g. Språktidningen), New Zealand (e.g. New Zealand Jewish Chronicle), Germany (Jüdische Zeitung), and Australia (e.g. The Australian, Courier Mail, Australian Jewish News, Rhapsody, E-ton, Galus Australis).

In 1993-6 Professor Zuckermann taught preparatory courses for various psychometric examinations (e.g. GMAT) at Kidum Institute, Tel Aviv, and co-authored four books in this field. Other interests include opera (in particular Puccini, Verdi, Donizetti and Mozart), film, photography, constrained literature, poetry, paleo-anthropology and human migration, cultural immersion through travel, and world politics.

For those who are interested in Christianity amongst us:

Sheldon and June Volk are giving a presentation on Tuesday night 7pm at the Full Gospel Businessmen’s monthly meeting in the Hornby Working Men’s Club.

They are Jewish Christians from America who travel and speak on the relationship of Israel and the church.

The meeting will be held this Tuesday evening, 7.30pm, 21st August, Hornby Working Men’s Club, 17 Carmen Rd, Hornby, Christchurch.

This groundbreaking lecture will analyse the ethical, aesthetic and utilitarian benefits of language revival, and propose the establishment of Revival Linguistics, a new discipline studying systematically the universal constraints and local peculiarities apparent in linguistic and cultural revitalizations across various sociological backgrounds. With coca-colonization and homogenization there will be more and more groups added to the forlorn club of the lost-heritage peoples. Language reclamation will become increasingly relevant as people seek to recover their cultural autonomy, empower their spiritual and intellectual sovereignty, and improve their wellbeing. There is an urgent need to offer perspicacious comparative insights relevant to language reclamation.

ABOUT THE SPEAKER

Ghil’ad Zuckermann is Professor of Linguistics of Endangered Languages and Australian Research Council (ARC) Discovery Fellow at the University of Adelaide, Australia. He is an expert of revival linguistics, language contact and lexicology. He is also the ‘Project 211’ Visiting Professor at the Shanghai International Studies University and serves as Editorial Board member of Journal of Language Contact (JLC), and occasional consultant for the Oxford English Dictionary (OED).

Ghilad has addressed NZ Friends of Israel before, speaking about the differences between Modern Hebrew and Biblical Hebrew.  We can vouch that he is an interesting and engaging speaker.

In 2000-2004 he was Gulbenkian Research Fellow at Churchill College, Cambridge, and was affiliated with the Department of Linguistics, Faculty of Modern and Medieval Studies, University of Cambridge.

After studying at the United World College (UWC) of the Adriatic (Collegio del Mondo Unito dell’Adriatico; Duino, Trieste) (1987-1989) and performing several years of military service (1989-1993), he was selected for the Adi Lautman Interdisciplinary Programme for Outstanding Students of Tel Aviv University, where he studied philosophy, psychology, classics, literature, law and mathematics, and specialized in linguistics, receiving his M.A. (97%, summa cum laude) from the Department of Linguistics in 1997. As Scatcherd European Scholar of the University of Oxford and Denise Skinner Graduate Scholar of St Hugh’s College, Oxford, he gained his D.Phil., entitled ‘Camouflaged Borrowing: “Folk-Etymological Nativization” in the Service of Puristic Language Engineering’, in 2000.

He has published in English, Israeli (‘Ivrit’), Italian, Yiddish, Spanish, German, Russian and Chinese. His controversial bestseller book Israelit Safa Yafa (Israeli, a Beautiful Language: Hebrew as Myth) (ISBN: 978-965-13-1963-1) was published in 2008 by Am Oved (Tel Aviv), and his book Language Contact and Lexical Enrichment in Israeli Hebrew (ISBN: 1-4039-1723-X) came out with Palgrave Macmillan in 2003. He is currently preparing five further volumes: (1) Language Revival and Multiple Causation (Oxford University Press), (2) You Already Know Hebrew/English! (An innovative tool for foreign language learning/teaching), (3) Afro-Asiatic Languages and Cultures (Brill), (4) Language, Religion and Identity, and (5) Jewish Language Contact.

Prof. Zuckermann has taught various undergraduate and graduate courses in four continents, e.g. at the University of Cambridge (Faculty of Oriental Studies, now known as Faculty of Asian and Middle Eastern Studies), National University of Singapore, University of Miami, University of Haifa, Ben-Gurion University of the Negev, Pavol Jozef Šafárik University (Košice, Slovakia), The University of Queensland (Associate Professor 2006-2010), and Shanghai International Studies University.

He has been research fellow at the Rockefeller Foundation’s Study and Conference Center (Villa Serbelloni, Bellagio, Italy), Research Centre for Linguistic Typology (RCLT) (Institute for Advanced Study, La Trobe University), Harry Ransom Humanities Research Center (University of Texas at Austin) and Kokuritu Kokugo Kenkyuuzyo (National Language Research Institute, Tokyo). He has held a range of fellowships and scholarships, including a Project 211 Fellowship (China), British Academy Research Grant, Memorial Foundation of Jewish Culture Postdoctoral Fellowship, Harold Hyam Wingate Scholarship, British Chevening Scholarship and Deutscher Akademischer Austauschdienst (DAAD) Scholarship.

On 11-13 September 2009, he organized the first Australian Workshop on Afro-Asiatic Linguistics (AWAAL), a most successful international conference held at the Brisbane Writers Festival (State Library of Queensland), as well as at The University of Queensland.

Prof. Zuckermann has been consultant to Oxford University Press (OUP), Oxford English Dictionary (OED), Sue and Leonard Miller Center for Contemporary Judaic Studies (University of Miami), and Leyvik House, The Israeli Center for Yiddish Culture, Tel Aviv. He is Editorial Board Member of Journal of Language Contact, Jewish Contemporary Review, Mizrekh: Jewish Studies in the Far East, The Open Applied Linguistics Journal; Scientific Committee Member of Societas Linguistica Europaea (SLE); Academic Committee Member of the Institute for the Study of Global Antisemitism and Policy (ISGAP), Yale, New Haven; and Thought Leader of Creativity Australia, Melbourne.

He has been referee for Yale University Press (YUP), Cambridge University Press (CUP), Languages in Contrast, Australian Journal of Linguistics, Balshanut Ivrit (Hebrew Linguistics), Journal of Modern Jewish Studies, International Journal of Lexicography, CamLing (Conference in Language Research, University of Cambridge), and Academic Research Fund, National Institute of Education (NIE), Singapore. In 2008 he was President of the Jury of the BIFF Interfaith Award for Promoting Humanitarian Values, Brisbane International Film Festival (BIFF).

He has delivered hundreds of keynote speeches, other conference papers and invited public lectures, e.g. in Adelaide, Ann Arbor (Michigan), Armidale (New South Wales), Atlanta (Georgia), Auckland (NZ), Austin (Texas), Bangkok, Beer Sheva, Beijing (Peking University), Bellagio, Bergamo, Berkeley (California), Bloomington (Indiana), Boston (Massachusetts), Boulder (Colorado), Brisbane, Bristol, Cambridge, Christchurch (NZ), Duino (Trieste, Italy), Dunedin (NZ), Gainesville (Florida), Haifa, Hamilton (NZ), Hong Kong (Hong Kong University), Honolulu, Istanbul, Jerusalem, Jinan (Shandong University, China), Kfar Saba, Košice (Slovakia), London, Los Angeles, Madrid, Melbourne, Miami (Florida), Moscow, Munich, Nanjing (China), New Brunswick (New Jersey), New York City, Orlando (Florida), Oxford, Poznan (Poland), Princeton (New Jersey), Rishon LeZion, Roehampton (UK), San Diego (California), Santiago de Cuba, Shanghai, Shenzhen (China), Singapore, Stanford (California), Sydney, Tampa (Florida), Tel Aviv, Tempe (Arizona), Tianjin (Nankai University, China), Tiv’on, Toowoomba (Queensland), Trieste, Tucson (Arizona), Tokyo, Vilnius and Wellington (NZ).

Prof. Zuckermann is a member of the Philological Society, Linguistic Society of America (LSA), Centre for Research on Language Change (CRLC), Antipodean East European Study Group, European Association for Lexicography (EURALEX), Association for Jewish Studies (AJS), European Association for Jewish Studies (EAJS), Israeli Association for the Study of Language and Society (IALS), Australasian Association for Lexicography (AUSTRALEX), Association Internationale de Linguistique Appliquee (AILA), National Association of Professors of Hebrew (NAPH), Australian Linguistic Society (ALS), Australian Association of Jewish Studies (AAJS), Society for Pidgin and Creole Linguistics (SPCL), Singapore Association for Applied Linguistics (SAAL), Cambridge Institute of Language Research (CILR).

Professor Zuckermann has been an invited speaker on various TV programmes in Israel (e.g. Channel 1, Channel 2, Channel 10, Channel 23, YES, YES DOCO), different radio programmes in Australia (e.g. four ABC Lingua Franca programmes, an ABC Encounter programme with David Rutledge, an ABC Big Ideas panel broadcast on 15 April 2010 at 6pm, various SBS interviews in Israeli, Yiddish, Italian and English, 6PR Perth, 3ZZZ Melbourne), Israel (e.g. Galey Tzahal, Reshet Bet, Kol Israel), New Zealand, South Africa and Germany, and has featured in dozens of newspaper articles in the United Kingdom (e.g. Reuters), USA (e.g. The Forward), Canada (e.g. Globe and Mail), Israel (e.g. Haaretz, Maariv, Yediot Aharonot, Jerusalem Post, English Haaretz, Ynet, NRG, Time Out, Makor Rishon, Erev Erev, HaIr), the Netherlands (e.g. Trouw), Spain (e.g. Terra), Sweden (e.g. Språktidningen), New Zealand (e.g. New Zealand Jewish Chronicle), Germany (Jüdische Zeitung), and Australia (e.g. The Australian, Courier Mail, Australian Jewish News, Rhapsody, E-ton, Galus Australis).

In 1993-6 Professor Zuckermann taught preparatory courses for various psychometric examinations (e.g. GMAT) at Kidum Institute, Tel Aviv, and co-authored four books in this field. Other interests include opera (in particular Puccini, Verdi, Donizetti and Mozart), film, photography, constrained literature, poetry, paleo-anthropology and human migration, cultural immersion through travel, and world politics.

The International Film Festival is showing an interesting Israeli movie: The Law in these Parts.

Putting the law itself on trial, this incisive documentary interrogates the framing and persistence of the military legal system that rules Palestinians living under occupation while Israeli citizens in the same territory live under civilian law. The Israeli Defense Force has applied military law in the West Bank and Gaza Strip for 45 years, as if the process had been legitimised by the passage of time. Filmmaker Ra’anan Alexandrowicz has persuaded the architects of the system – military judges and attorneys, including a former president of the Israeli Supreme Court – to submit, with varying degrees of sang froid, to interviews in which they are asked to consider the intent of the laws they crafted. He questions their relationship to justice, the rule of law and the problematic notion of a Jewish and Democratic State in which not everyone is Jewish.

Showings

Te Papa (Cable St, Level 2, top of stairs, sharp right) 31/7/2012, 3;45pm and 8:30pm

Film Archive (cnr Taranaki & Ghuznee Sts)  7/8/2012, 8:15pm

26/7/2012 8:30pm

The International Film Festival is showing an interesting Israeli movie: The Law in these Parts.

Putting the law itself on trial, this incisive documentary interrogates the framing and persistence of the military legal system that rules Palestinians living under occupation while Israeli citizens in the same territory live under civilian law. The Israeli Defense Force has applied military law in the West Bank and Gaza Strip for 45 years, as if the process had been legitimised by the passage of time. Filmmaker Ra’anan Alexandrowicz has persuaded the architects of the system – military judges and attorneys, including a former president of the Israeli Supreme Court – to submit, with varying degrees of sang froid, to interviews in which they are asked to consider the intent of the laws they crafted. He questions their relationship to justice, the rule of law and the problematic notion of a Jewish and Democratic State in which not everyone is Jewish.

Showings (all at Rialto Newmarket)

25/7/2012 3:30pm

26/7/2012 8:30pm

Zionism 101:

An Afternoon with Osnat Dvorkin

of the New Zealand Zionist Federation

Sunday 29 July 2012

Hamilton, 2.00pm

Zion  Zionist  Zionism

These terms are regularly heard in association with Israel and the Middle East conflict.

Often, especially in the mainstream media, these terms have negative connotations.

Christian ministers like Stephen Sizer and Christian aid agencies like Tear Fund and World Vision have recently promoted a negative representation of Zionism and “Christian Zionism” in the New Zealand Christian community.

So what is Zionism?

What is its history and what is its future?

Are all Jews Zionists and is a Christian Zionist an oxymoron?

Osnat Dvorkin of the New Zealand Zionist Federation is coming to Hamilton to speak about Zionism to those who are interested in understanding what Zionism is – not what its detractors say it is. Osnat is the Zionist Federation Shlicha (Emissary/educator) from Israel. An opportunity for questions and discussion will follow Osnat’s presentation.

You are warmly invited to attend this meeting to gain a better understanding of Zionism, an idea that plays a pivotal role in the history – and future – of the Middle East.

Afternoon tea will be provided at the end of the meeting.

RSVP by Wednesday 25 July if you will be attending.

The venue will be my home.

Kirsty Walker Swears

Phone: 848 1878  Mobile: 027 548 1878  Email: k.walker@ihug.co.nz

Time and again, Israel is criticized for allowing settlements on what is considered by many to be Palestinian land.  Following an International Court of Justice ruling, many consider these settlements to be also illegal.

We often hear the criticism of settlements but rarely do we hear the other side of the debate. Here is an opportunity to hear it.

ABOUT THE SPEAKER

Onat Dvorkin is the Community Shilcha (Representatative) for the Zionist Federation of New Zealand.

The mission of the Zionist Federation of New Zealand is “to facilitate the growth of Zionist activity through extensive Hasbarah, access to educational programs in New Zealand and Israel, and non-negotiable solidarity with Israel.” The Federation intends to provide exceptional programs and activities that will form the cornerstones of a more involved, more informed and more committed group of future leaders of the New Zealand Jewish community.

The Zionist Federation’s current priorities are to promote youth leadership and continuity, Israel programs and activities, and information/Hasbarah for the community. In order to ensure continuity of the objectives of all Zionist organizations within New Zealand, the Zionist Federation and all existing Zionist Societies now operate as one. The new Zionist Federation has a nation-wide reach. It operates with a single national president (currently based in Auckland), with subcommittees in Auckland and Wellington, each headed by a Vice-President. Auckland Federation committee members each hold portfolios matched with a counterpart in Wellington, with the view to having a high level of communication and cooperation between the two centres.

What is Zionism?
Zionism is the Jewish national movement of rebirth and renewal in the land of Israel – the historical birthplace of the Jewish people. The yearning to return to Zion, the biblical term for both the Land ofIsrael and Jerusalem, has been the cornerstone of Jewish religious life since the Jewish exile from the land two thousand years ago, and is embedded in Jewish prayer, ritual, literature and culture.

Modern Zionism emerged in the late 19th century in response to the violent persecution of Jews in Eastern Europe, anti-Semitism in Western Europe. Modern Zionism fused the ancient Jewish biblical and historical ties to the ancestral homeland with the modern concept of nationalism into a vision of establishing a modern Jewish state in the land of Israel.

The “father” of modern Zionism, Austrian journalist Theodor Herzl, consolidated various strands of Zionist thought into an organized political movement, advocating for international recognition of a “Jewish state” and encouraging Jewish immigration to build the land.

Today, decades after the actual founding of a Jewish state, Zionism continues to be the guiding nationalist movement of the majority of Jews around the world who believe in, support and identify with the State of Israel. Zionism, the national aspiration of the Jewish people to a homeland, is to the Jewish people what the liberation movements of Africa and Asia have been to their peoples.

History has demonstrated the need to ensure Jewish security through such a homeland. The re-establishment of Jewish independence in Israel, after centuries of struggle to overcome foreign conquest and exile, is a vindication of the fundamental concepts of the equality of nations and of self-determination. To question the Jewish people´s right to national existence and freedom is not only to deny to the Jewish people the right accorded to every other people on this globe, but it is also to deny the central precepts of the United Nations.