‘True essence of being an ally’: The non-Jews choosing to work in the Jewish community

From the October 7 Hamas attacks to the horrific Bondi massacre, the past two years have created an unprecedented pressure cooker for everyone in Jewish spaces.

While the immediate focus has been – rightly – on the trauma of Jews themselves, non-Jewish professionals choosing to work in and for the Jewish community have faced their own unique challenges.

From navigating intense public discourse, to losing friends who don’t understand their commitment to the Jewish community, and confronting historical and contemporary stigmas in their circles – three workers speak to The Jewish Independent about the reality of being an ally on the inside.

I’m the son of migrants – my dad and my mum’s parents all came from Sicily in Italy. I was born in Melbourne and brought up Catholic, but I stopped being religious in high school. Today, I identify very much as being culturally Italian-Australian, my wife is Italian too and we are raising our kids to celebrate Christmas and Easter – although for us, it’s more about food and family than it is about religion. 

I started my teaching career in a Catholic primary school before I moved up through middle and then high school in the public system. I was offered the role of Head of Humanities at Bialik College out of the blue. I wasn’t sure about moving into private education, but I was sold in the first 10 minutes of meeting them. I really loved their approach to education and understanding of the importance of family.