Elana Benjamin

"I think the reason the Jews have survived for such a long time is principally because of the importance that has been placed on education and schools.”

I was born in Sydney, Australia in 1974.
My father arrived in Australia from Bombay, India in May 1966.

I am passionate about Jewish education

I feel really passionate about Jewish education because it’s passing on information, knowledge, customs and traditions to the next generation. Ultimately the next generation is the one that's going to be around when we're not, I think  the reason the Jews have survived for such a long time is principally because of the importance that has been placed on education and schools.

Shaping my Jewish identity

The Jewish community has shaped me enormously because I've literally grown up in the Bondi area. I went to Jewish day schools all the way through and it shaped my Jewish identity. Not just as a Sephardi Jew because that obviously comes from home. But I also have this great awareness of the traditions and the history of the Jews and the Holocaust and it’s influenced my awareness of what it is to be a minority, and how important equality and tolerance are, because so many Jews during history were denied those things . Fundamentally, everyone is equal.

Benjamin_Family_photo,_Bombay,_1947.JPG Exterior_and_Interior_of_the_Magen_David_Synagogue_built_in_1861_in_suburb_of_Byculla,_Mumbai_......jpg Guidos_Beach_House_and_Licensed_Taverna,_1980.JPG Interior_of_Magen_David_Syngagogue_in_suburb_of_Byculla,_Mumbai_taken_on_my_visit_to_India_2003.jpg My_dad,_Abe_Benjamin,_standing_outside_his_family_home_in_Brighton_Boulevard,_Bondi,_1968.jpg My_brother_Mike_and_me_1981.jpg

Key Migration Wave - Sephardic Jewry

Sephardic Jewry: non-European Jews from India, Singapore, Egypt, Iraq, and other Asian and Arabic countries, migrated to Australia after World War II. In the 1950s several thousand Sephardic Jews from the Arab world, especially Egypt, sought refuge in Australia following the Arab-Israeli conflict.

Listen to Elana's Eat, Pray, Naches stories

Full Transcript available here
Migration

Learn about the Jews of Bombay’s thriving Jewish community and what made her parents find their way to Bondi from India and living in a close knit Sephardi community.

Eat

Elana takes us through Sephardic family dishes, the foods she liked as a child and how her daughter is now learning these important family recipes from her mother.

Pray

Elana explains the differences between her husband’s Ashkenazi background and her Sephardi background. She connects with the synagogue back in Bombay where her parents lived and she talks about the how she wants to ensure her children learn the Baghdadi mode of prayer.

Naches

Elana explains her naches and how she has found naches not only through her children but also with her love of writing.