Events List

Marilyn is married, with 2 daughters and a son, and she adores her 8 grandchildren.

Marilyn was born in Johannesburg, South Africa and lived most of her life in Durban before immigrating to Australia. She worked as a bookkeeper for many years and managed a successful real estate agency. Soon after coming to Australia, Marilyn owned a “Babies Galore” franchise for a number of years. She subsequently worked again in finance.

Now Marilyn works as an administrative assistant at the NCJW NSW office when help is required, and is a valued volunteer of the Cuddle Bundles program.

Maxine Bachmayer is President of the National Council of Jewish Women NSW. Maxine has been an Executive Board Member of NCJW NSW since August 2016, was Acting Co-President from 2017 – 2019, and President since 2021.

A long time holistic physiotherapist, a mother and an active and vibrant member of the Jewish community, Maxine was born and raised in Cape Town, South Africa, during the Apartheid era. Maxine developed a resounding passion for justice and empathy, from volunteering with HIV Aids patients in KwaZulu Natal and assisting disadvantaged children in the Cape in South Africa, to extensive volunteering at various organisations supporting orphans and children with disabilities across India, Vietnam and Nepal. Maxine has devoted her life to supporting vulnerable people as best she can. Trained and practiced in the Feldenkrais method, yoga and kinesiology, Maxine has spent her life in the pursuit of healing and community support.

Maxine’s commitment to the Jewish community has included interfaith work, volunteering for Mum for Mum, and participating in the We Are All Sydney program run by the Jewish Board of Deputies, aimed to develop leaders from diverse ethnic faiths and NGO communities.

Maxine is a community builder, always welcoming and bringing together a diversity of people into her home, into NCJW NSW, and into her heart.

“When one has known the life and work of Dr. Fanny Reading, one never again doubts the power of the individual in creating peaceful change” (Stella Cornelius AO OBE)

Fanny Rubinovich was born in 1884 in Karelizt, Russia, near Minsk, and arrived in Australia at the age of six. Her family settled initially in Ballarat and Fanny taught Hebrew to private students before entering the University of Melbourne to study music and later medicine.

Graduating as a doctor in 1922 – an almost unheard of achievement for a woman of her time – she moved to Sydney to join her brother’s medical practice. The practice was in Kings Cross, NSW. “No one wants to know that there is so much heartbreak, suffering and…degradation in the Cross. I must live and work here,” she said.

In 1923, inspired by the visit of Zionist emissary Bella Pevsner, she founded the Council of Jewish Women – a Zionist organisation which was also active on a range of women’s issues. “At our first meeting, we promulgated the aims of our organisation: service to our religion, to our people and to the country in which we live.”

In 1925 Dr Reading travelled to the United States, Europe and Palestine, and helped organise a conference for the International Council of Jewish Women. In 1929 she organised a conference in Sydney at which the National Council of Jewish Women was formed. After serving as President of the Council of Jewish Women from 1923, she then served as National President from 1929 to 1955 and Life President from 1955 until her death in 1974.

During WWI, the Rubinovich family changed their name to the more Anglicised Reading. Dr Reading lobbied at the highest government level, before, during and after that war, to open doors for Jewish refugees to enter Australia, especially refugees from Nazi Germany. She also lobbied the British Government “that the gates of Palestine be opened for unrestricted Jewish immigration as an urgent necessity for the saving of Jewish lives” (NCJW Conference Resolution, 1943).

In 1948 she (unsuccessfully) brought a libel suit against Smith’s Weekly which had alleged that Jews had raised money to buy weapons to fight the British in Palestine. She was named as a “Woman of Distinction” by Justice Herron of the NSW Supreme Court for this principled stand.

Through her life Dr Fanny was accorded multiple honours, including the George V Jubilee Medal (1935), the George VI Coronation Medal (1937) and an M.B.E. for her Welfare Services to NSW (1961). She held numerous Board positions, including Honorary Medical Officer at St. George Hospital and Rachel Forster Hospital, Life Governor of the Benevolent Society, Dalwood Children’s Hospital and Women’s Hospital Crown Street, and Trustee of Wolper Jewish Hospital. A wing of Wolper Jewish Hospital was named after her in 1966 and a lounge there later dedicated to her as well. In 2010 she was inducted into the Victorian Honour Roll of Women.

In 1962, suffering from Parkinson’s disease, she moved into Wolper, where she lived until her death in 1974.

Click here to view The Australian Women’s Register’s extensive archive of material about Dr Fanny Reading MBE. (Sarita This needs to hyperlink to an email to

https://www.womenaustralia.info/biogs/AWE1072b.htm

Nadene has been heading NCJW NSW’s Mum for Mum program since 2012, increasing the program’s reach from 14 trained volunteers when it began in 2008 to now having 200 volunteers supporting over 250 families a year. She currently oversees the program along with a professional intake team. Under Nadene’s helm the program has received multiple awards and community recognition. She sits on multiple boards including WHAM global international women’s health advocacy group, and the Jewish Suicide Prevention Network. Nadene served as a volunteer counsellor and training mentor with Lifeline for many years. She owned and ran a preschool for 25 years after immigrating to Australia, developed training courses, and ran workshops in the corporate, welfare and educational areas. She has an undergraduate in psychology, postgraduate counselling, Cert IV in Training, and is a trained yoga teacher and Circle of Security Facilitator.

For more information visit their website Mum For Mum

Janet has been a Member of NCJW NSW since 2013. She was appointed a Board member in 2014 and Chair of Israel Projects. Elected co Vice president in 2018, then on to the National Board of NCJWA as Vice President. She was also a Trustee Governor of the Jewish Communal Appeal (JCA) 2018-2020, and a public speaker at Probus, University of the Third Age, Rotary and Lions Clubs in the Sydney area. Janet is the Chair of the Australian chapter of the Kindertransport Association and an Executive Board member of its international association. She was also the Honorary Secretary of the Australian Association of Jewish Holocaust Survivors and Descendants 2012-2017. Janet is an author published by Macmillan of Australian and Cambridge University Press and the owner of Hot Rox Press, which has published novels and the biography “Sunflowers”, a family recount of the Morgenstern family, available in museums around the world. In addition Janet is a teacher of Hatha yoga. Linked In

Ella is a mother of two and has been a Board Member since 2022. She came to be involved with NCJW NSW after joining the Cuddle Bundles program when it began in 2019, helping Michele Brandenburger grow it from its infancy into the successful charity it is today. Ella is passionate about children’s welfare, social justice, sustainability and the environment. Her professional background is in property, events and marketing. Ella’s aim is to live by the Gandhi quote, “Be the change you want to see in the world.” and is proud to be involved with such a down-to-earth community organisation like NCJW NSW that gives back in a meaningful way.

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Sherel Levy is a general practitioner and nutritionist who works predominantly in medical research. She has been involved in community activities and volunteering for many years in a diverse group of organisations. She is currently the Vice President of NCJW NSW as well as an active member of the Days for Girls and Cuddle Bundles programs. Sherel is NCJW NSW’S delegate to the NSW Jewish Board of Deputies. Sherel is also involved in Friendship Circle, an organisation that assists young people with special needs, and their families.