Rabbinical Council of Victoria

25 Tammuz 5771
27 July 2011

RCV Launches Multifaith Guidelines in Meeting with Premier Ted Baillieu

Members of the Rabbinical Council of Victoria (RCV) were hosted yesterday by the Premier of Victoria, The Hon. Ted Baillieu, at the RCV’s annual meeting with the Victorian Premier. During the meeting the rabbis engaged the Premier in relaxed and frank discussion on a variety of issues and also officially launched the RCV’s long-awaited multifaith guidelines.

The meeting, which took place in the office of the Premier at Treasury Place, also provided the RCV with an opportunity to personally thank the Premier for his support of the RCV and the Jewish community at large and to congratulate him on his efforts to promote a multicultural Victorian society based on understanding and tolerance.

Referring to successive governments’ support of the RCV, RCV President Rabbi Yaakov Glasman expressed appreciation on behalf of the RCV and enumerated the projects which were implemented with the assistance of government grants. Rabbi Glasman said that “over the past year the RCV has made great strides in providing professional training to both rabbis and rebbetzins in the areas of mediation, counselling and pastoral care, as well as on how to appropriately respond to reports of domestic violence and child abuse. Moreover, looking to the future, the RCV plans in the coming months to launch projects to raise awareness of the issues of poverty and mental health in the Jewish community, in a bid to destigmatise such matters”, he said.

The highlight of the meeting was the formal presentation to the Premier of the first publicly available copy of the RCV’s ‘Guidelines for Engagement with Other Faith Communities’, which are the product of over one year’s research and constitute the first and only halachically compliant official multifaith policy anywhere in Australia. The Premier briefly reviewed the document and commended the RCV for having the foresight and courage to put into writing an official public policy regarding engagement with other faith communities.

Following the meeting, the Premier graciously provided the rabbis with a personal tour of the Premier’s department, including the Cabinet room, the area reserved for meetings with foreign leaders and dignitaries and his private office. The Premier congratulated the RCV for its work in providing professional spiritual and pastoral support to the Jewish community and invited the RCV to meet with him on a more regular basis to discuss matters of relevance to the Jewish community.