Rabbi Israel Porush

http://oa.anu.edu.au/obituary/porush-israel-15194

Porush, Israel (1907–1991)

by Victor Kleerekoper

from Australian Jewish News

The late Rabbi Dr Israel Porush had the love of the Jewish community at heart throughout his life, his nephew Rabbi Steven Link said last week.

Rabbi Link, of Melbourne’s Kew Synagogue, was conducting the funeral at the Melbourne Chevra Kadisha Cemtery, attended by representatives of virtually all sections of the Melbourne Jewish community and a number of community leaders from Sydney.

The doyen of the Australian rabbinate, Rabbi Porush died in Melbourne last Wednesday after a long illness. He was 83.

For more than 30 years the chief minister of Sydney’s Great Synagogue and head of the Sydney Beth Din, he was one of the founding fathers of the post-war Australian Jewish community.

Although his dominant influence was felt most notably in Sydney during the 1940s, '50s and ’60s, his writings, interfaith activities, communal representation, travels to smaller communities and involvement with the Australian rabbinate for 50 years extended his impact throughout Australia and internationally.

“He had a love for his fellow man and only saw the good in people,” Rabbi Link said. “He was recognised as the uncrowned chief rabbi of Australia.”

Rabbi Link spoke also of Rabbi Porush the family man and how important his family was to him; and he spoke of Rebbetzin Bertha Porush and the strength and courage she gave the rabbi for 57 years. “They were a team.”

A message of tribute was read from Chief Rabbi Lord Jakobovits, who said that with Rabbi Porush’s passing the world rabbinate had lost a jewel.

En route to the cemetery, the aron stopped outside the Mizrachi Synagogue where Rabbi Porush had a seat of honour from the time of his retirement to Melbourne and where he conducted a weekly Talmud shiur following the first minyan every Shabbat.

Among the Sydney people at the funeral were Rabbi Porush’s brother-in-law and sister-in-law Mr and Mrs William Link, nephew Moriah College principal Lionel Link and Adele Link, Moritz Stark and Rev Henry Amzalak, Lionel Singer and Great Synagogue president David Newman.

Great Synagogue senior minister Rabbi Raymond Apple said from Jerusalem that Rabbi Porush “was the most remarkable figure on the Australian rabbinical scene for over half-a-century”.

“As senior rabbi of the Great Synagogue, head of the Sydney Beth Din, president of the Australasian rabbinate and in so many other roles, he developed a stature that impressed all who came into contact with him. Dignity, bearing, moderation, erudition and eloquence were among his hallmarks.

“In his hands the good name of Jewry and Judaism were consistently safe. Fortunately, recent years afforded us a number of opportunities to gather the community to show the esteem in which he was held; to honour a man as a living legend is a rare privilege.

“He will be sadly missed, not least by his admiring successor in the pulpit of the mother congregation of Australian Jewry. May his memory be blessed.”

After retiring from the Great Synagogue in Sydney in 1973, Rabbi and Rebbetzin Porush, who survives him, moved to Melbourne in 1975, where he continued to participate in communal affairs.

Born in Jerusalem in 1907, Rabbi Porush attended Yeshivat Etz Chaim in Jerusalem and later the famous pre-war German Hildesheimer Rabbinical Seminary in Berlin, where he obtained his smicha. He was also awarded a PhD in mathematics from the University of Marburg in 1931.

After a rabbinical posting in Finchley Synagogue, London, from 1934-40, he accepted a call to the Great Synagogue in Sydney just as World War II began.

Always aware of the importance of a united Jewish representative body, he was one of the founding members of the NSW Jewish Board of Deputies.

He also played a pioneering role in the spread of Jewish education as honorary director of the NSW Board of Jewish Education.

For more than 20 years he was a part-time lecturer in Hebrew at Sydney University and enthusiastically supported the Australian Jewish Historical Society, serving as president from 1948-74.

A prolific writer, he contributed many, papers to its journal, wrote extensively for the Australian Jewish press and was a noted author; two of his books — Today’s Challenge to Judaism and The House of Israel — received worldwide recognition.

As a scholar with an international reputation, Rabbi Porush collaborated in the Soncino translation of the Talmud into English and was responsible for translating two of the 63 tractates — Meilah and K’ritot. He was also a major contributor to Encyclopaedia Judaica and wrote the section on Australian Jewry which appeared in the Year Book supplements.

In 1946 Rabbi Porush founded the Association of Jewish Ministers of Australia and New Zealand, serving as president until 1975. When he stepped down from that office, he was appointed life president.

In addition, to Rebbetzin Porush, Rabbi Porush is survived by his daughter Naomi Leibler, sons-in-law Bert Mond and I si Leibler and their families.

Original publication Australian Jewish News, 31 May 1991, p 8

Other Obituaries for Israel Porush Sydney Morning Herald, 23 May 1991, p 4

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Citation details Victor Kleerekoper, 'Porush, Israel (1907–1991)', Obituaries Australia, National Centre of Biography, Australian National University, http://oa.anu.edu.au/obituary/porush-israel-15194/text26970, accessed 3 February 2013.

Israel Porush, photo of painting by W. E. Pidgeon, 1961 National Archives of Australia, A1200, L40777

Life Summary

Birth 16 July 1907 Jerusalem, Israel

Death 22 May 1991 Caulfield, Melbourne, Victoria, Australia

Cause of Death cancer (bowel)

Cultural Heritage Israeli

Religious Influence Jewish

Occupation

• academic
• historian (general)
• Rabbi
• Semitic scholar
• Zionist

Awards

• Officer of the Order of the British Empire
• B'nai B'rith award
• Key Organisations
• Association of Sephardim
• Canberra Jewish Centre
• New South Wales Board of Jewish Education
• Sydney Beth Din
• New South Wales Council of Christians and Jews
• Australian Jewish Historical Society
• Association of Orthodox Rabbis of Australia and New Zealand
• Jewish War Memorial (NSW)

Political Activism Mizrachi movement

Workplaces

• University of Sydney (classical Hebrew)
• Great Synagogue (Sydney)

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http://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/jsource/judaica/ejud_0002_0016_...

PORUSH, ISRAEL (1907–1991), Australian rabbi. Porush was born in Jerusalem and, after receiving a traditional religious education in the talmud torah and yeshivah Eẓ Ḥayyim of the old yishuv, he proceeded to Berlin to study at the Hildesheimer Rabbinical Seminary, where he received his rabbinical diploma in 1932, and at the universities of Berlin and Marburg, where he received his doctorate in mathematics. On Hitler's rise to power in 1933, Porush moved to London and was appointed rabbi of the Finchley Synagogue (1934–1940). In the latter year, he was appointed to the Great Synagogue of Sydney, the mother congregation of Australian Jewry, and became Av bet din, retaining that position after his retirement at the end of 1972. Porush was regarded as the Orthodox spiritual head of Australian Jewry and rabbinic representative of the community in state and civic affairs. In 1952, he founded the Association of Jewish Ministers of Australia and New Zealand, of which he was president. He was also president of the Jewish Historical Society of Australia from 1948. He retired in 1975 when he also resigned as president of the association and was appointed honorary life president. Porush wrote Today's Challenge to Judaism (1972) and The House of Israel, A History of the Sydney Great Synagogue (1977), published on the occasion of its centenary (1878–1978). His manuscript autobiography, Memoirs of an Australian Rabbi, was published posthumously by the Australian Jewish Historical Society in 1993.

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