New Under the Sun: Jewish Australians on Religion, Politics & Culture
Michael Fagenblat, Melanie Landau & Nathan Wolski (eds), Black Inc

New Under the Sun is a series of essays written by Jewish Australians. They cover topics such as multiculturalism, interfaith dialogue, mixed marriages, refugees, museums, day schools, adult education, Zionism, Orthodoxy and Progressive Judaism and Aboriginal justice.

The essays are all well-written and interesting. My favourites included “Marrying Identities” about raising children with a non-Jewish partner; “Interfaith Dialogue and the State of Israel” about conversations between Jews, Christians and Muslims”; and the witty “Zionism and the Media: A Forum with John Safran” and “Yiddish in Oystralia”.

I did, however, feel offended by Ruth Ostrow’s “The Eclectic Spiritualist”, which is about her interest in Buddhism, when Ostrow reduced Jesus to a “bleeding martyr on a cross”.

New Under the Sun explains Australian Judaism very well, but it would have been helpful if references in Yiddish or discussions of Jewish concepts were explained. There was a glossary of terms at the back of the book, which I consulted frequently but it did not include every word I needed to make sense of an argument.

Nevertheless, this is a fascinating read.

Katy Gerner