SYDNEY (JTA) — Australian Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull took his 4-year-old grandson to a community kitchen housed in the Sydney Yeshiva’s complex on Grandparents Day and helped him prepare challah.
Turnbull’s grandson Jack, rose to the occasion and went home on Friday with the fruits of his labor.
During the visit, the prime minister presented a $48,000 grant to improve security arrangements for the Harry Triguboff Centre in Flood Street which currently is under renovation. The center is home to the Sydney Yeshiva, the Yeshiva school and Our Big Kitchen, a large commercial kitchen which prepares food for needy members of the Jewish community and in which 150 people were busy preparing food on Friday to be distributed to the needy.
Joined by local state lawmaker Gabrielle Upton, Jack and his grandfather quickly learned the rudiments of challah-making from Rebbetzin Laya Slavin.
Rabbi Dovid Slavin said that the prime minister, in whose electorate The Harry Triguboff Centre is located, had been a visitor many times, but now for the first time as prime minister.
He presented Turnbull with a book on the Lubavitcher Rebbe saying: “The Rebbe is the inspiration for all we do in Our Big Kitchen and the Yeshiva.”
Turnbull said that the generosity with which Harry Triguboff has given not to just the Centre but the whole community is “extraordinary.”
He said: “This is phenomenal. This is what it is all about. When we are loving and generous, this is when we are closest to God. The love you share here is very important.”
“Our Big Kitchen is an exercise in practical love,” he also said.
Help ensure Jewish news remains accessible to all. Your donation to the Jewish Telegraphic Agency powers the trusted journalism that has connected Jewish communities worldwide for more than 100 years. With your help, JTA can continue to deliver vital news and insights. Donate today.
