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THE unofficial head of the nation’s Jewish community, Rabbi Raymond Apple, yesterday ended 32 years presiding over the Great Synagogue in Sydney with the advice that the best public work is done privately.
Rabbi Apple was bade farewell at a gala function at the NSW Art Gallery before a host of dignitaries, including Premier Bob Carr and senior religious figures from many faiths.
“Where once I was an angry young man who was going to change the world, now I think more calmly, plan more carefully, speak more judiciously and go by the advice of a judicial friend — that the best public work is done privately,” he told The Australian.
Rabbi Apple began work at Sydney’s Great Synagogue in in the 1970s and has always been known for his modern ways, and for encouraging Jews to live at ease in the modern world.
He has been a champion of Aboriginal reconciliation and inter- faith dialogue. He is joint president of the Australian Council of Christians and Jews.
He was quick to condemn claims that the Boxing Day tsunami was a warning of God’s judgment. “Theology should be left for another time,” he declared.
Prime Minister John Howard said yesterday Rabbi Apple had made a great contribution “to the development and debate of ideas in a vibrant and healthy democracy”.
Rabbi Apple said he did not detect any increase in anti-Semitism in Australia, saying it has “always been a tolerant home for Jews and Jews have played a significant role in national development”.
He said he would like to be remembered for championing unity in a fragmented society. “I have found this need to try and create a feeling of unity between all Australians, no matter whether they were here in 1788 or whether they have arrived since,” he said.
“I don’t believe that any Australian has the right to regard any other Australian as an inferior. Amongst other things, I have advocated a position that we should rejoice in and with each other.”