On December 6 1938, Yorta Yorta man, William Cooper, famously led a march from his home to the German Consulate in Melbourne to deliver a protest letter about the Nazi attrocities that occurred in Germany a month earlier on Kristalnacht.  

This unprecedented and brave show of morality marks a model of mutual support that continues to inspire Australia’s multicultural communities to work together to build a more harmonious and united Australia.

At King David we work hard to involve our school community in learning and activities which enhance our students’ curiosity, respect and understanding of difference and pride in asserting a positive identity as Jews and Australians.

This Sunday evening, The King David School, in partnership with a number of other Jewish organisations, will be honouring William Cooper’s legacy and reinforcing the warm bond between our community and Australia’s First Nations people by participating in a march followed by a multicultural celebration coinciding with the anniversary of Cooper’s protest and the end of Chanukah, called the Pillars of Light Festival.

Representatives from the King David School’s Reconciliation Action Plan Committee have helped organise this event and we encourage school community members to participate.

The King David School also had a strong presence at Punt Road oval last Sunday at the Jolson-Houli Unity Cup. This is a football match played between players from the Musilim community and players from the Jewish community and is conducted in the spirit of harmony and unity between our communities. On Sunday, students from King David were among the participants in both the Junior and Senior games and the matches were conducted in a fantastic spirit of mutual respect. Representatives selected from both teams have now formed a united team which will play against a First Nations team at the MCG as a precursor to the annual ‘Dreamtime at the G’ AFL match. Speaking about this event, AFL star Bachar Houli said that it honours “two different cultures, two different ways of life, through football.” He hoped that participants “notice that there are more similarities than differences.” 

Last week our Year 6 students continued their participation in the Museums Together project by visiting the Islamic Museum. This wonderful project sees students from Jewish and Muslim schools hosting one another on tours of their community museum as a means of demystifying the religion’s unique religious and cultural practices, artefacts and beliefs. More importantly, the project provides the students with opportunities to meet and connect with students of similar ages and to recognise the common humanity that forms the basis of warm coexistence and cooperation.

Through actively seeking opportunities which inspire our students to broaden their horizons and interact meaningfully with other Australian young people of differing backgrounds, the School is able to enact our mission of contributing meaningfully to society by developing a lifelong respect for others and commitment to act to build a harmonious multicultural Australia.

Shabbat Shalom,

Marc