Join us for a conversation with Rabbi Ralph Genende on Antisemitism in Australia and Working to Counter It: The challenges of Jewish identity today

Rabbi Ralph Genende is a well-known Modern Orthodox Rabbi with a passion for social justice and creating bridges between different cultures and faiths. For him the purpose of religion is to create a better society for all people and to engage with the critical issues facing Australian society. The role of the Rabbi is, in his words, to challenge the comfortable and comfort the challenged.

Rabbi Genende is the Interfaith and Community Officer of AIJAC (Australian Israel Jewish Affairs Council) and on its editorial board. He was Senior Rabbi to Jewish Care, Victoria, Melbourne’s largest Jewish organisation, and is now its Consultant. Ralph is Principal Rabbi to the Australian Defence Force, Member of the Religious Advisory Council to the Minister of Defence (RACS), and board member of and member of the Premier’s Multi Faith Advisory Group. He has served as President of the Jewish Christian Muslim Association (JCMA), was a long-time executive member of the Rabbinical Association of Victoria, and was formerly a member of Swinburne University’s Research Ethics Committee. He is a member of the Department of Health Ethics Committee and of Glen Eira City Council’s Reconciliation Action Plan for recognition and integration of our First Peoples.

In 2018, Rabbi Genende was awarded an OAM for his services to multi-faith relations, and to the Jewish community of Victoria. He is a trained counsellor with a Masters degree from Auckland University.

In August 2022, Rabbi Genende published his debut book, Living in an Upside-Down World , an anthology gathered over 20 years of writing that examines the many crises and challenges of the 21st century – from polarisation to asylum seekers, loneliness to climate change.