Dear Friends,

It is my pleasure to welcome you here this evening as we begin our deliberations for the State Zionist Council Annual assembly.

By its very nature this evening is traditionally celebratory. And more so tonight when we are acknowledging, applauding and paying tribute to an end of an era with the retirements of Rachel Caplan and Philip Chester.

Tonight however celebration is tempered by overwhelming sadness as we struggle to fully absorb the enormity of the barbarism that has been inflicted on hundreds of innocents themselves celebrating in Bali.

More will be said about the terror attack in Bali later this evening.

I simply wanted to place in context the environment which has so markedly shaped the activities of the State Zionist Council over the past 25 months and so clearly impacted on the majority of the time of Philips’ presidency.

For it is precisely inhuman acts of terrorism like these which have been routinely inflicted on our brethren in Israel and which have so occupied our hearts and minds and which have demanded a special response from the Zionist leadership everywhere.

 It has certainly been remarked in other contexts that “the times maketh the man” and I think no truer sentiment could be expressed as it defines the leadership of this wonderful team of Rachel and Philip over the past two years.

If leadership is defined as the ability to influence others both those who would consider themselves followers, and those outside that circle, then clearly Philip and Rachel have been wonderful and effective leaders of the Zionist movement.

They have taken numerous and bold initiatives and have led from the front, successfully rallying the community, both Jewish and non-Jewish in support of Israel.

And while the pressure has been acute in the most recent period it is important to stress that it has been an essential characteristic of the Victorian State Zionist Council for many years that it is, and remains, the leading organization in the local community.

This is, I believe, testament to a long tradition of appointment of outstanding individuals to the position of President (a tradition to which Philip is a worthy heir) and to the vision of our local Zionist forefathers in ensuring that the State Council was blessed with the financial resources necessary to carry out its communal mission. 

It is also testement to the outstanding work done by our professional leadership and in particular to Rachel who has been the lynchpin around which much has been built for the past 18 years.

It may been said that behind every great man is a woman but in this case it must be said that beside every one of the great presidents we have had for nearly two decades there has been Rachel.

As a movement and as a community we owe you a great debt of gratitude. You have established a benchmark which will be a standard to which all succeeding community professionals will seek to aspire. 

I would like to end my brief remarks by focusing on a campaign that was born at the initiative of our late and very much missed colleague Bill Borowski.

It was a campaign that was embraced by Philip and Rachel and through them the whole of our movement.

It was a campaign that Philip took enthusiastically to the World Zionist Movement.

It was, and is, a campaign which has at its core a simple but essential message – a message which defines to their very being who Rachel and Philip are: Ani Tzioni – I am a Zionist.

On behalf of all of us I want to wish Philip and Rachel every success in their future endevours.

I am proud to call them friends and grateful for the lessons in leadership they have shown me and the whole of the Zionist movement during their illustrious careers.

Well done.