Published: 2 April 2018
Last updated: 4 March 2024
Thinking that “northside” would be anything across the Yarra, my husband and I were thrilled to find an apartment in Richmond. It was not only just a 20-minute drive from my hometown of Malvern Central, but, to my surprise, close to the first house my paternal grandparents moved into after arriving in Melbourne from a German displaced persons camp.
Family legend has it that before arriving in Melbourne, Bubba Malka was enchanted by the name of Richmond which, to her, sounded like a sophisticated European town (read “Rish-mon” in a French accent). Little did she know.
In fact, the joke was on me. The reaction of my “southside” family and friends to me moving to the other side of the Yarra has been like a death in the family, and my “northside” friends who live in North Fitzroy and Brunswick made it clear that Richmond is more like living in the leafy bourgeois suburbs of Camberwell and Kew than being a true “northsider”. I pretty much shlomezzled this up in every which direction.
But, there was one thing I was not going to get wrong. For a couple of years I had been following the activities of a strangely named club I wanted to be a part of - the Northside Jewish Film Club (NJFC). If only I could be a member of this club, I thought, I would surely be considered a true Jewish northsider and be welcomed back to my home town of Melbourne.
So late last year, my husband and I drove to North Fitzroy to check out the Club and see the film The Wanted 18 - a part re-enactment, part-animated documentary about a collection of Palestinian-owned cows that were labelled as a security threat during the First Intifada.
The location, Longplay, a bar-cum-cinema, was packed with northside Jewish and Jewish affiliated hipsters, academics and activists interested in learning more about Israel, Palestine and their Jewish identities. I met new and interesting people, saw a thought-provoking film, consumed great wine and perfect sourdough bread, and explored topics important to me as an Australian-Jewish-Israeli. I immediately felt at home.
Fascinated by my experience, I spoke with Jordy Silverstein, one of the NJFC’s founders who now co-runs the club with Rachel Liebhaber, and picked her brain about how the club came to be, who was behind it, and what it was trying to achieve.
The NJFC was established in 2012, when Avner Gvaryahu (now executive director at Israeli NGO Breaking the Silence) was in Australia to promote a new book published by the organisation. Following a talk Gvaryahu gave, a group of Melbourne-based Jews joined him for a coffee and a chat and the idea for the club was born.
It was established as a place for members of the Jewish community who had moved out to Melbourne’s not-so traditionally Jewish northern suburbs to stay connected, discuss topics that did not have a space in other Jewish forums, and to meet one another.
The idea for the club was born and established as a place for members of the Jewish community who had moved out to Melbourne’s "not-so traditionally Jewish” northern suburbs, to stay connected, discuss topics that did not have a space in other Jewish forums, and to meet one another.
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Over the years, the club has screened Israeli, Jewish-themed and Palestinian films as diverse as Bethlehem, Young Frankenstein, Encounter Point, Yentl, The Band’s Visit, Lemon Tree, the Law in These Parts and the Israeli TV series Arab Labour. At times, the small cinema out the back of Longplay has been packed to the brim and at other times, films have been screened to a tiny audience. Screenings are always followed by a discussion about the film, some drinks and nashies.
When asked to describe what life is like “in the North” for Jews, Silverstein rejects the idea that these Jews do not want to be affiliated or engaged as Jews, but rather that they do not want to be associated with the older, more established institutions of the Jewish world and Melbourne Jewish community.
For these Jews, the point is not status nor branding, but rather “doing”. The NJFC answers this demand, according to Silverstein, as it is a space that, as one attendee observed “would never be in the ‘been and seen’ in the Jewish News. It’s a space to drop in after work, even if you don’t know anyone else and you don’t have to sign up to anything to come”.
Through the films, new friendships have been formed, and the club has been a particularly good meeting point for Jewish travellers or Australian Jews who have lived away from Melbourne to reconnect with the community upon their return, like yours truly.
One noteworthy flow-on has been the establishment of a northside location for Yiddish language classes by one of the film attendees, Yiddish teacher Esther Singer.
It’s time for Caulfield Jews to renew their passports and make the journey.
Main photo: Courtesy Longplay.com.au
The Northside Jewish Film Club’s next screening is on April 23. For more details, follow the club on Facebook
