Saying goodbye to community luminaries – Australian Jewish News

Tributes were pouring in after the death of community icon Dr Helen Wright, 73, on Sunday and the founding director of the Jewish Museum of Australia (JMA).

He joined the recently established museum in 1977 as an administrator and served as director of the JMA from 1983 to 2010. A spokesperson for the museum said this week that she “has created a space of innovation and expression that truly illuminates the Australian Jewish experience.”

“Dr. Wright is one of the most admired figures in the community and has dedicated her time and talents not only to the Jewish Museum, but also to the Museum of Victoria, the Jewish Community Council of Victoria and the Jewish Christian Muslim Association. , the Victorian Faith Communities Council and, inter alia, the Victorian Ethnic Communities Council,” said the JMA.

She has been published in many magazines and books and has participated in intercultural and interreligious dialogue over the decades.

JMA’s current director and CEO, Jessica Blum, said: ”

Since his time at JMA, Light has been involved in numerous projects. Among these, she served as president of the Jewish Christian and Muslim Association in 2017, curated an exhibition in Kadima in 2020, and helped the Vietnamese community to establish a museum at Footscray this year. Did.

Her children Mark and Anna Wright said in a tribute:

“She applied the same values ​​of warmth, intelligence and generosity in her family, friendships, profession and communal life.”

Community colleague and friend Nina Basat reflected on Wright’s many community achievements. She said, “That was Helen Wright in public. Helen Wright in private was loving, kind, supportive, strong, loyal, and put her family first.”

Judy Fetter, CEO of Victoria’s Jewish Communities Council (JCCV), who presented Wright with the General John Monash Award in 2019, said Wright’s “tremendous contributions to the Jewish community over the decades. He led with insight and empathy.”

Zionist Victoria (ZV) President Yossi Goldfarb told a senior executives’ meeting this week, “Her legacy lives on in the form of the Jewish Museum, which is certainly considered one of Australia’s finest museums of any kind. ZV Vice President John Searle, former JCCV president, described Wright as “a rare and inspirational figure.”

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