I write to you today in what is uncharted territory for Zionism Victoria, our wider Jewish community and indeed our whole community.The COVID-19 (Coronavirus) situation has forced many of our communal organisations to revisit their plans for the months ahead. Zionism Victoria has determined that all major events currently scheduled will be postponed indefinitely.

Our Yom Ha’Zikaron commemoration at Robert Blackwood Hall and our Yom Ha’Atzmaut Festival at Luna Park will be reconfigured into “virtual events”.The health and safety of our board, our staff, our members and all those in our community that would have attended these events must come first. This has always been our number one priority.This situation will make 2020 a year of extreme challenges, some that we have never faced before.

It will be a test that will make us stronger and our community more united. While we may not be able to come together in person to mark these important dates in the Israeli calendar, we are working on ways to enable our community to still mark these occasions.

A shorter version of our Yom Ha’Zikaron commemoration service will still go ahead and will be distributed online. For Yom Ha’Atzmaut, we hope to be able to celebrate the day with you all and bring you some of the amazing entertainment we would have heard and seen at our festival.We will be working to continue communicating with all those in our community on an ongoing basis during this time. I firmly believe that the Zionism Victoria family will stick together through this.

Whilst we may be physically separate, we can continue to remain close and keep Israel close as well so that Zionism Victoria will be in the strongest position possible when our community can once again come together to celebrate and connect with Israel.Even with our events postponed, I applaud the hard work that has and continues to be put in by all of the staff and volunteers at Zionism Victoria.

This situation has presented a challenge for we as an organisation to establish new and dynamic ways with which our community can connect with the state of Israel, ways with which we can continue fulfilling our mission. I have no doubt that all those involved will meet this task head on.

Thank you to all those who support this organisation. We will continue to update you regularly as further information comes to hand.