Just one day after Rosh Hashanah and six days before Kol Nidre, the Fast of Gedaliah is observed. What is this day about, and what lessons do the life and death of Gedaliah have for our time?

On Wednesday, 16 September at 8:00pm, join Kehilat Nitzan and the Zionist Council of Victoria to find out and to explore the connections between the stories of Gedaliah and Yitzhak Rabin. The talk by Rabbi Ehud Bandel will take place in the Lamm Jewish Library of Australia at Beth Weizmann Community Centre, 306 Hawthorn Road, Caulfield South.

The assassination of Gedaliah, the governor of Judah is recounted in Jeremiah and Kings II. Rabbi Bandel will lead a discussion of the story with an eye toward lessons relevant to current times. Rabbi Bandel is particularly interested in the dangers of religious extremism and fanaticism, forces that bore directly on the assassination of Yitzhak Rabin 20 years ago in November.

Rabbi Ehud Bandel was born and raised in Jerusalem and did his military service in the Nahal paratroopers unit of the IDF. He is a graduate of the Hebrew University in Jewish History and Jewish Philosophy and holds a Master degree in Judaic studies from The Jewish Theological Seminary in New York. Rabbi Bandel is the first native Israeli to be ordained as a Masorti Rabbi in Israel. He served as director of Noam – the Masorti Youth Movement – and as President and CEO of the Masorti Movement in Israel. For five years, Rabbi Bandel served as rabbi of Kehilat Nitzan in Melbourne. He lives with his family in Jerusalem where he is active in interfaith and human rights issues

To RSVP or for more information, please contact the Zionist Council of Victoria at zcv@zionismvictoria.org.au or 9272 5544.