Sydney, Australia

Currently, I run the Archive of Australian Judaica at the University of Sydney, and previously organised the Library at 'Ratisbonne' in Jerusalem . I am involved in interfaith and am secretary of the Australian Council of Christians and Jews and The Australian Association of Jewish Studies. I like to write and enjoy reading, good films, music, photography, gardening, nature and the sea side.

 

 

I attended Our Lady of Sion, Box Hill, and after two years in the Public Service, entered the Novitiate at Sale. After profession I completed a Bachelor of Arts, with majors in modern history and Ancient Middle Eastern Studies. After two years of primary teach training in Sale, I asked to go to Israel to study Judaism, and it was ten years before I returned to Australia. I undertook intense studies of modern Hebrew and Jewish philosophy at the Hebrew University at Master’s level (begun but not completed) and also gained a post Graduate diploma in Librarianship at the North London Polytechnic. On my call to return to Australia in mid 1982, I found work in bibliography at the seminary in Manly, and some months later was asked by the late Professor Alan Crown , head of Semitic Studies at the University of Sydney to begin and maintain an Archive of Australian Judaica, where I continue to gather and process the records of the Australian Jewish community. At the same time, I have continued to study and gained my M.Phil with a thesis on Succoth and a Ph.D. entitled “ The Separation of Early Christianity from Judaism. ” This was published in 2010. I also completed a Bachelor of Divinity with a major in New Testament. My paid work is job is three days per week. At the same time, I am the national secretary of the Australian Council of Christians and Jews and am involved in interfaith work. I also take time to write articles and books, give occasional lectures and am a member of the Congregational Christian Jewish team.