Day 701 - Deborah Conway & Tamar Paluch: Australia is rife with antisemitism
The Times of Israel Daily Briefing
The Times of Israel
4.5 • 1.1K Ratings
🗓️ 6 September 2025
⏱️ 37 minutes
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Summary
Welcome to What Matters Now, a weekly podcast exploring key issues currently shaping Israel and the Jewish World, with host Jessica Steinberg speaking with Australians Tamar Paluch and Deborah Conway, the editor and a contributor to "Ruptured, Jewish Women in Australia Reflect on Life Post-October 7," a book of essays.
Paluch, who edited the book with Lee Kofman, discusses how the idea came from a painful place, after the events of October 7 brought a deluge of antisemitism upon Australia's Jewish community.
She talks about putting together a book written and edited by women, as it was the silence of women's organizations regarding the sexual crimes committed by Hamas terrorists during the October 7 terrorist attack that prompted her and her co-editor to launch the project.
Conway, one of the contributors and a well-known Australian musician and performing artist, speaks about the antisemitism and hatred she experienced in the wake of October 7, as many of her appearances and performances were canceled and sometimes interrupted by virulent pro-Palestinian protestors.
Both women discuss the historical background of Australian Jewry and the sense that the dream of a Jewish paradise has ended, and how they plan on moving forward.
And so this week, we ask Tamar Paluch and Deborah Conway what matters now.
What Matters Now podcasts are available for download on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, YouTube or wherever you get your podcasts. This episode was produced by the Pod-Waves.
IMAGE: Palestinian supporters wave flags as they march to the Sydney Opera House in Sydney, Oct. 9, 2023. (AP Photo/Rick Rycroft)
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Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | Hi, welcome to the Times of Israel's What Matters Now. That's our weekly podcast delving into one |
| 0:08.1 | issue affecting Israel and the Jewish world. I'm today's host, Jessica Steinberg, and I'm here |
| 0:13.9 | today with Tamar Palouche and Deborah Conway, Australians who are going to talk about an anthology that they've both been very involved |
| 0:25.3 | with. Let me get into that. Tamar is an occupational therapist by training and an activist |
| 0:30.9 | since October 7th. She's one of the two editors of the anthology ruptured. Jewish women in Australia reflect on life post-October 7th. And she put that together. She'll tell us about that. Deborah is one of the 36 contributors and a very well-known recording, performing musician of over 40 years, the author of a memoir of her own Book of Life, which came out before |
| 0:55.1 | October 7th. And we'll talk about all of that, but for the moment, welcome to What Matters |
| 1:00.7 | Now. Welcome to both of you. Thank you for having us. Thank you, Jessica. Lovely to be here. |
| 1:06.4 | Thank you. So let's, I guess, dive into all of this. |
| 1:11.8 | Rupshared was released in August, and Tamar, as you put it to me in an email back and forth that we were having. |
| 1:19.1 | It broadly addresses, as you put it, quote, the crumbling of the Australian dream for its Jews, end quote. |
| 1:26.2 | And as I said, it's this collection of 36 essays by both |
| 1:29.6 | well-known and everyday Jewish women offering their look, your looks into Jewish life over the last |
| 1:35.6 | two years. Tamar, take us back to when you decided to put this together, the decision to put it together and the decision to do so through a female lens. |
| 1:48.3 | Sure. Well, you know, Rapture really started from the most painful place, and that was obviously the events of October 7 and the deluge of anti-Semitism that came after. |
| 2:00.1 | But really that place of the sexual crimes of October |
| 2:03.6 | 7 and the silence that followed. |
| 2:06.0 | And that was something that really activated the Jewish women of our community. |
| 2:10.3 | Actually, I know there were lots of things going on because people just had to act, |
| 2:15.0 | and that's, you know, whether they were at the warehouse where they were |
| 2:18.3 | packing goods for you know displaced Israelis and children or doing a whole range of different |
| 2:24.3 | activities but actually this is where debor and i first crossed paths there was a early vigil in |
| 2:30.6 | December the silence was so resounding of the women's organisations, and we organised a visual, |
... |
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