Go Woke...Go Rogue
From Mizrachi to Chabad - the ongoing infiltration and subversion of local religious institutions in Melbourne.
There seems to be an ongoing competition here in Melbourne spanning the last decade between leading religious institutions over which institution is the most aligned to the “woke” agenda. These “competing” institutions include Chabad (best “represented” by “Rabbis” Moshe Kahn, Yakov Glasman and Daniel Rabin ), Caulfield Hebrew Congregation (formerly led by Ralph Genende and now led by Rabin) and “modern-orthodox” school Mount Scopus Memorial College under the leadership of “Orthodox Rabbi” James Kennard (see screenshot below).
This peculiar trend of religious institutions rushing to go “woke,” isn’t just confined to Melbourne or Australia alone but appears to be a worldwide phenomenon.
In Australia, another institution that entered the fray in their mad rush to go “woke,” is the religious Zionist movement of Mizrachi Melbourne and their school Leibler Yavneh College (a large co-ed Modern Orthodox school that caters to both elementary and high school students).
One sign that perhaps indicates that all is not well with the Mizrachi community, is related to an incident involving Jeremy Leibler (a scion of the prominent Leibler family). Leibler serves as the current President of the Zionist Federation of Australia and in November 2022 he harshly criticised the democratically elected Israeli government. Liebler’s criticism against the Israeli government was subsequently picked up and quoted by both the Hamas affiliated Quds News Network and notorious anti-Semite Bob Carr (who both used Leibler’s comments to advance their agenda in their propaganda war against Israel).
Leibler is also a former Deputy Chairman of Leibler Yavneh College. The Leibler family is the most powerful and influential family in the Mizrachi community and the School is named after them.
Mizrachi’s rush to go “woke” is largely spearheaded by their Senior “Rabbi,” Danny Mirvis. Mirvis is the son of the Chief “Rabbi” of the UK, Ephraim Mirvis. Mirvis Senior recently published a guide titled The-Wellbeing-of-LGBT-Pupils-A-Guide-for-Orthodox-Jewish-Schools.pdf (chiefrabbi.org) and in 2020 his son eagerly adopted and enshrined this guide into Yavneh’s official school policy.
In 2021, a discussion was publicised on Youtube between Mirvis and an openly gay Yavneh Alumnus by the name of Eitan Meyerowitz (the latter is currently employed as a “Jewish life educator” at the school).
Both Mirvis and Meyerowitz discussed the need to implement policies that create a “safe and nurturing environment” for the LBGTQI+ by stamping out bullying and the use of homophobic slurs in the class room. I am all for stamping out bullying. Where we differ is how to go about it. Mirvis appears to want to do this while normalising a behaviour that is a clear issur deoraysa (violation of the Torah) in an Orthodox/Torah education setting.
Interestingly, Meyerowitz admitted that he had never heard a homophobic slur being uttered during his time as a student at Yavneh. This is hardly surprising and a testament to how a true Torah education can raise upright and refined children. Both our Sages and Halacha (Jewish law) place a lot of emphasis on the importance of using clean and refined language and there are severe prohibitions in Halacha against defaming and embarrassing others in public (Halacha likens this to murder) and bullying and making fun of people.
While Meyerowitz never heard a homophobic slur being uttered in a place where they had real Torah learning, I grew up hearing plenty of homophobic slurs being uttered while attending a Reform “Jewish” school called King David (a school linked to the supposedly “progressive” Temple Beth Israel). This was a place that was full of “woke values” but was devoid of any real Torah learning and a place where offensive slurs such as “fag” and “poofter” were commonly thrown around by students.
If children are given a true Torah education where they are taught to fear G-d from an early age and are not exposed to the garbage of mainstream popular culture (where they learn slurs such as “poofter” and “fag”), then there is absolutely no need for there to be an “LBGTQI+ wellbeing guide”- a booklet that appears to normalise a behaviour that is a clear issur deoraysa under the guise of “inclusion.” When we rely on the wisdom of our Torah and our Sages, then it makes the existence of such a “guide” superfluous at best and dangerous at worst.
This guide is dangerous because not only does it seek to normalise a clear issur deoraysa (Torah violation), it also encourages both students and teachers alike to “police” each other’s language and “dob” in their friends and colleagues if they perceive them to use the “wrong” language, however “minor” and “isolated” it may seem ( the terms “minor” and “isolated” are subjective).
This “guide” spells out a recipe for a toxic culture -one that is synonymous with an Orwellian Stasi police state where people are encouraged to “snitch” on their friends, family and neighbours - rather than one which fosters a caring and nurturing environment that is based on real Torah values.
I imagine that the Mincha service on Yom Kippur might be an incredibly awkward time for both the Mizrachi community and Lieber Yavneh college - where the Baal Koreh (the one who reads from the Torah scroll during prayer services) has to read the following verses out loud for the entire community to hear -
Not only are the above verses “homophobic,” but they also appear to incite violence. What are members of the community and school required to do in this instance? It seems that Mirvis’ LBGTQI+ guide will obligate them to report the Baal Koreh to the school authorities for being in clear violation of appendix 6 of the guide? Is there also a requirement to report the “Author” of this Holy and ancient scroll? Perhaps the school could either edit out, delete or skip the verse? Or better still, why not just do away with the entire Torah (that should solve the problem)? Well, going by an article that was authored by Meyerowitz and published in the latest Yavneh school newsletter (published in March 2023), it appears that Yavneh may have ditched Torah and Halacha altogether -
Notice how Yavneh prides itself on teaching its student to embrace “individualism” and “globalism” while any reference to Hashem, His Torah and Halacha are clearly omitted from the article. We live in an era where leading globalist organisations such as the World Economic forum, openly embrace a far-left neo-marxist agenda and Leibler Yavneh college appears to be proud of the fact that its students embrace “globalism” while omitting any mention of Torah and Halacha. The term “Olam Chesed Yibeneh” also sounds very similar to another popular phrase (i.e. one that is popular with far-left reform Jews) - “Tikkun Olam.”
We live in an era where merely defining what a woman is…is considered controversial and offensive by the establishment and ruling elites. Will Mirvis’s LBGTQI+ booklet also eventually redefine what a woman is? What provisions will Yavneh college have in place, if one day a biological male decides that they wanted to “transition” and subsequently use the female toilets, change rooms and showers? What provision will they have in place if one of their female students decides to “transition” to be a male and daven on the men’s side of the mehitza while donning tallis and teffilin?
I have a question for “rabbis” like Mirvis, Kahn, Glasman, Rabin et-al (who believe that we need to create greater tolerance, inclusion and acceptance in our community) - why stop with the LBGTQI+? What about people involved in other Torah prohibitions - e.g. those who are intermarried, violate shabbos, don’t keep Kosher or are involved in consensual incestuous relationships (the list is endless)? Why don’t these “rabbis” also accommodate for their needs and facilitate, host and moderate speaking engagements for them, where they can come out and speak about their respective “lifestyles?”
Interestingly, many of the same “rabbis” who preach about “inclusivity” ad nauseum were often the same “rabbis” who zealously enforced jab mandates in their synagogues and study halls and did so without batting an eyelid. It seems that the jab mandates were the litmus test where many of these woke “rabbis” showed their true colours.