The Kirsch family from Tucson, Arizona has discovered first-hand how the internet connects the Jewish world. 

And they have their daughter Jennifer’s Bat Mitzvah next week in Sydney to prove the connections can be real, not just virtual.

When Jennifer Kirsch is called to the Torah next Shabbat (August 18) at Temple Emanuel’s Conservative Minyan, in with Rabbi Jacqueline Ninio, she’ll complete a search for a shul that began some eight months ago.

That was when her family decided to use Jennifer’s school vacation in August to take a long-dreamed of holiday in Australia. A major drawback, however, was that the holiday’s timing coincided with Jennifer’s scheduled Bat Mitzvah.

Enter the internet. The Kirsch family’s travel agent in Tucson tracked down the directory site Jewish Australia dot com and emailed an inquiry about a Conservative synagogue in Sydney.

Jewish Australia’s publisher, Aura Levin Lipski, responded and an extensive email correspondence followed.

As it happened, Aura Lipski had come to know the Tucson Jewish community, some 20,000 strong, from a previous visit which included participation in an Israeli dancing session at the Tucson Jewish community centre.  But she had never met the Kirsch family, who have no relatives or friends in Australia.

Now the Lipski family, including daughter Avital who has been emailing Jennifer about her own Bat Mitzvah two years ago in Jerusalem, is coming from Melbourne to Sydney to share the Kirsch family simcha.

Both Karen Kirsch and Aura Lipski are delighted that the Jewish internet has brought their families together.

“The strong and very personal response I’ve had from our website readers around Australia and internationally had already convinced me of the internet’s great potential for real connectivity,” said Aura Lipski.