PRESIDENT'S MESSAGE:  Alex Dafner

The “Kadimah” at 97: "Mir Zaynen Do" – "We Are Here!"

The “Kadimah” was founded 95 years ago on the 26^th December 1911 and was first located at 59 Bourke Street, just down from the Victorian Parliament in central Melbourne.  The founders were predominantly recently arrived immigrants, Jews from Eastern Europe and Russia, and the inaugural “Kadimah” Committee and its first 80 members led by President Yehushe Rochlin, chose to launch this secular, cultural initiative “davke” on Boxing Day.  This fact perhaps illustrates both their confidence in and deference to the “arumike svive”/“environment”.  It was after all, 60 years prior to the launch of “Multiculturalism” as national cultural policy.

The five and a half thousand or so Jews, of predominantly Anglo-Germanic background, who lived in Melbourne at the time of the founding of the “Kadimah”, were hardly welcoming of their new brethren from overseas.  After all, most of these “Folks Yidn”, folk Jews, were escaping the turmoil of the “old world” and the failed revolution of 1905.  As “latest arrivals” they threatened and embarrassed the previously settled and more established “Melburnians of Hebraic persuasion”.  Right from the start of the founding of the “Kadimah”, the disparate member factions began wrangling over languages and character of the new institution.  English and Hebrew were at first the preferred languages of the majority of members and Yiddish was still looked down upon by many.  And so, it was not surprising that the Hebraic-Yiddish name “Kadimah” (”Progress-Forward”) was chosen by the founding committee.

Just prior to WWI as the membership rose steadily, reaching more than 200 members, the “Kadimah” decided to move to larger premises.  In 1915 it was relocated at 38 Drummond Street Carlton, where the cheap rents were attracting the new migrants in greater numbers.  At the end of “the War to end all Wars” came a lull which saw “Kadima’s” activities almost cease completely.  Then in 1919 an ensuing struggle amongst the membership, essentially a battle between the leftist supporters of the 1917 Russian Revolution and Zionist supporters of the 1917 Belfour Declaration, led to the “Kadimah” being absorbed by the pro-Zionist “Hatchia” organization.

When one of the shining lights of the East European Yiddish literary renaissance, Perets Hirshbayn arrived for a series of lectures in 1921, he was welcomed like a movie star and proved to be a harbinger of a new, dynamic, Yiddish dominated era.  In 1926 the “Kadimah” broke away from ”Hatchia”, again forming an independent organisation.  By 1933, as Hitler came to power in Germany, marking the beginning of the end for European Jewry, the “Kadimah” blossomed into a fully fledged cultural centre and built a new, enlarged premises in Lygon Street Carlton.  The new building also contained a 400 seat capacity theatre hall and library.  Boldly renamed the “Jewish Cultural Centre and National Library “Kadimah”, its numerous activities included lectures, recitals, concerts, debates, plays and a youth committee was formed to coordinate special activities aimed at the growing number of younger members.

With the worsening situation in Europe and the arrival of such Jewish luminaries as the writer, poet Melekh Ravich and the pedagogue Josef Giligich, the “Kadimah” published the first ever Yiddish book in Australia.  This was “Der Oystralisher Almanach”/”The Australian Almanach” which appeared in 1937.  A year later the pioneer Yiddish writer Pinkhas Goldhar published his excellent “Dertzaylungen fun Oystralye/Stories from Australia” and a Yiddish weekly, “Di Oystralishe Yiddishe Nayes/Australian Jewish News” appeared under his editorship in 1939(?). 

As news of the looming disaster in European began to emerge, the Melbourne Jewish community rallied, beginning with a “Kadimah” initiated protest against the Nuremburg Racial Laws.  And as one tragedy followed another, the “Kadimah” continued its cultural activities interspersed with further rallies, protests and solidarity meetings.  Appeals, petitions, fund raising and attempts to speed up the immigration process, now became the prime concern of the “Kadimah” and the community as a whole.  Whilst the war in Europe raged and ravaged Jewish life there, the local ideological battles also continued.  A local spat over a 1944 “Jewish Board of Deputies” resolution, supporting the declaration of a “Jewish Commonwealth in Palestine”, nearly split the “Kadimah” asunder.  In 1945 as news of the full extent of the Jewish tragedy in Europe unfolded the “Kadimah” held the first Warsaw Ghetto Commemoration and in 1948 joyously celebrated the establishment of the Jewish State in Israel.  Following the 1948 new immigration policy, the immediate post war trickle of Jewish refugees to Australia turned into a torrent of newcomers.  Many of these new arrivals were Holocaust survivors and those returned from the Soviet Union, making Melbourne the second highest per capita home of such survivors after Israel. 

The “Kadimah” soon became the focal point of the cultural and intellectual life of the growing Jewish community, concentrated around the inner Melbourne suburbs of Carlton and Brunswick.  By 1950 the “Kadimah” had 1000 members and a paid librarian had to be engaged to cope with the growing demand for books, magazines and newspapers.  A year later yet another schism threatened the future of the institution.  The leftist youth section was at odds with the “Kadimah” committee.  Yet indicatively, both the leftist Bundist-SKIF and centrist Zionist-Habonim youth movements were allowed to use the “Kadimah” premises for their respective meetings.  The 1953 protest rallies against the Soviet Union’s persecution of Jews, the Doctors’ Plot and the Slonsky Show Trials, galvanised the community around the “Kadimah”.  The few surviving prominent actors and artists, such as Yakov Weislitz and Rokhl Holtzer, who were amongst the immigrants to find refuge in Melbourne, now built on an earlier, more amateurish local Yiddish theatre tradition.  They established a new ensemble and later renamed it the “Dovid Herman Teater by der Kadimah” after the famous director of the Vilno Troupe.  This began a rich era of theatrical productions of a high calibre.  By 1953 they were staging five separate productions a year and the “Kadimah” membership had reached 1300.

Melbourne’s reputation as an important centre of Yiddish and Jewish life soon spread around the world and so did the “Kadimah” cultural and theatrical achievements.  From  the early 1950’s till the present day a steady stream of well known performers, directors and lecturers began regular visits to these distant shores, especially once flying became a regular and affordable means of travel.  Amongst such prominent guests of the “Kadimah” were Mandl Man, Yankev Pat, Avrom Sutzkever, Shimon Dzigan, Zygmunt and Rosa Turkow, Jankev Malkin, Sidor Belarski, Ida Kaminska, Josef Shayn, Prof Eliezer Naks, Dinah Halpern, Josef Rotboym, Leah Kenig, Tzvi Shtolper, Prof Klepfish, S Berkowicz, Shmeul Rudensky, Shmuel Segal, Shmeul Atzmon, M Tambur, Melekh Frydman, Nekhama Lifshitz, Yehuda Elberg, Prof Eugene Orenstein, Prof Dov Noy, Prof Gershon Winer, Prof Moskowicz, Prof Avrom Novershtern, Michael Alpert and Adam Gruzman. 

These visiting luminaries unfailingly packed out the auditorium of the “Kadimah” and their guest presentations and performances were augmented all year round by an impressive array of local talent, lecturers, writers and poets, too many to mention here and whose honoured memory may be offended by omission.  Many of the local writers and poets published their work in the “Kadimah”’s literary journal “Di Melburne Bletter/The Melbourne Chronicle”.  The Yiddish section, has been since its inception edited by writer-broadcaster Moishe Ajzenbud and the English, by a number of writer-editors, Serge Liberman, Arnold Zable, Yvonne Fein, Zoi Juvris and currently Alex Dafner.  

In the late 1950’s and early ‘60’s, as the Jewish community became more settled and prosperous, it began to shift from Carlton to the leafier, more middle class suburbs of Melbourne.  First south to St Kilda and Elwood and then gradually south-east to Caulfield and Brighton.  The “Kadimah” was being gradually abandoned by its former migrant patrons and had to follow the trend, by moving south-east and building its present premises, the spacious Leo Fink Hall in Selwyn St., Elsternwick.  As the enlarged, post-war Jewish community matured and prospered, a new community centre, the Beth-Weitzman Centre was established on St Kilda Rd., and the “Kadimah” was invited to pool resources and join it.  This presented a new dilemma and was a much debated issue amongst the leadership and members.  In the end the “separatists” prevailed.  The choice of position was no doubt influenced by the availability at its rear, of a unique facility and investment opportunity, Melbourne’s oldest operating picture theatre, “The Classic Cinema”.  With a little renovation and building of additional changing rooms, “The Classic” doubled as a theatre for the performances of the very active “Dovid Herman Teater by der Kadimah”.  Then in 1970, with the rejuvenation of Australian theatre in general, a youth ensemble, the “Melbourne Yiddish Youth Theatre at the Kadimah” began performing translations of English plays and classics of the Yiddish theatre.  And whilst the older “Dovid Herman Theatre's” performances slowed following the passing of key veterans such as Shiah Tigel and the much loved actor and Kadimah president Yasha Sher, the younger troupe continued with their productions until the late 1990’s.

With the aging of the post-war Jewish migrant population, other initiatives became a priority.  In 1986 under the dedicated stewardship of the veteran actress Rachel Lewita the “Wednesday Club at the Kadimah” began to function as an important weekly gathering, which encompassed a program of news and current events, cultural presentations, entertainment and companionship.  It continues its weekly meetings to this day led by such dedicated, dynamic  volunteers as Cesia Goldberg and the long time dedicated “Kadimah” vice president and treasurer Yosl Winkler amongst others.  The library has continued modernising and growing under the leadership of vice president Rachel Kalman OAM and a reading circle meets weekly led by Dr Yankev Dessauer.  The occasional, popular “Concerts with Friendship” and the “In One Voice-Concert in the Park” also entertain thousands throughout the year and even though the membership has dropped to the levels of the early years, the “Kadimah” still manages to present some 50 activities per year, making it one of the most active organizations within the Jewish community. Again it would be remise not to mention the literally hundreds of dedicated “Kadimah kultur un gezlshaftlekhe tuer”/cultural and community activists, presidents, office bearers volunteers and functionaries, who gave of their talents, time and toil, for the betterment of the varied facets of the Kadimah’s organizational life and its cultural pursuits.  Those interested in these personalities are encouraged to turn to the “Kadimah Almanachs”, the AGM and committee minutes, the Presidents’ honour board and other records of the “Kadimah”. 

The 95 year history of the ‘Kadimah” reflects much of the story of 20^th century Jewish migration and settlement in Australia.  Its fortunes wax and wane with the influx and decline of immigration in general and Jewish immigration to Melbourne in particular.  Overall it is a proud history of exemplary service and self-efficiency, a pioneering example of cultural autonomy within an increasingly dependant, multi ethnic, multicultural society.  The “Kadimah” fulfilled the vital cultural, linguistic, intellectual and social needs of that nascent, dislocated Jewish migrant community.  Sometimes however, it also served as a platform for the expressions of anguish and struggle, much of it transplanted and reflecting the turbulent and tragic Jewish experience in 20^th century Europe.  The challenge for the future is to make the “Kadimah” relevant to the needs of the second and third generation, Australian born Jews, offspring of those migrants who made this country and this institution a real “home away from the home” that was so cruelly destroyed forever.  On the joyous occasion for the “Kadimah”, after a glorious 95 years, there’s much cause for celebration.  So, “lechaim”/to life, “un biz 120 un nokh vayter/may it live to 120 and then some!

Alex Dafner

President “Kadimah”

Melbourne, October, 2006