By the time the sun sets on Monday, the man sitting at this gleaming walnut dining table in St Kilda East will be the most prominent face in Australian Judaism.
Rabbi Meir Shlomo Kluwgant, 45, is running unopposed as president for the Organisation of Rabbis of Australasia – the country’s most senior rabbinical post. And the new voice of local Jewish leadership has pledged to be an open and responsive one. (He has already delivered as much in his role as president of the Rabbinical Council of Victoria.)
“Sometimes I get knocked on the head, and I get harsh emails, but it’s important to have a real-time response – that’s what this generation demands,” he said. “There’s nothing we shouldn’t be speaking about. Let’s talk about organ donation, let’s talk about child protection, let’s talk about reporting to the police, abortion, end-of-life issues.”
The goal for Rabbi Kluwgant is clarity and unity. He takes a firm but humanitarian stance on asylum seekers, believing their experience is an echo of Jews being turned away from various ports after fleeing Europe.
“I don’t know what the answers are, but a hard and fast policy of ‘You’re not welcome here, get lost, we don’t care what happens to you’ – someone needed to say something.”
Once a school captain at Yeshivah College, he addresses the child sex abuse scandals there in no uncertain terms, including the disclosure of abuse – a thorny issue in some parts of the Jewish community.
“We have to unequivocally tell people – with a united voice, without any dissent – if you are a victim of child abuse, take it to the police. If you are a perpetrator, we hope you get caught and do your time, because that is unacceptable.”
God bless you, Rabbi Kluwgant!
“Sometimes I get knocked on the head, and I get harsh emails, but it’s important to have a real-time response – that’s what this generation demands,” he said. “There’s nothing we shouldn’t be speaking about. Let’s talk about organ donation, let’s talk about child protection, let’s talk about reporting to the police, abortion, end-of-life issues.”
The goal for Rabbi Kluwgant is clarity and unity. He takes a firm but humanitarian stance on asylum seekers, believing their experience is an echo of Jews being turned away from various ports after fleeing Europe.
“I don’t know what the answers are, but a hard and fast policy of ‘You’re not welcome here, get lost, we don’t care what happens to you’ – someone needed to say something.”
Once a school captain at Yeshivah College, he addresses the child sex abuse scandals there in no uncertain terms, including the disclosure of abuse – a thorny issue in some parts of the Jewish community.
“We have to unequivocally tell people – with a united voice, without any dissent – if you are a victim of child abuse, take it to the police. If you are a perpetrator, we hope you get caught and do your time, because that is unacceptable.”
God bless you, Rabbi Kluwgant!
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