Over the past few weeks we (the Ruach Va’ad) organised and ran an inter year soccer tournament for the Magid campus. The tournament was a major success with 16 teams competing across the boys' and girls' competition. The tournament was elimination style, meaning the winners had to go undefeated to claim the title. In the end it was team Brazil from the boys' league, and South Africa from the girls' league to take home the title. Thank you to all participants and spectators for making the event a huge success!

The Ruach Va’adat

Dear Community,

According to research referenced by the Climate Council in their Climate Anxiety Toolkit, more than three quarters of Australians are worried about climate change. In particular, a worldwide study found that more than half of young people surveyed are feeling “sad, anxious, angry, powerless, helpless, and guilty about climate change.”

Climate change is indeed scary. As the earth hurtles towards permanent average global temperature increases in excess of 1.5 degrees over pre-Industrial times, there are legitimate concerns that our environment, health, and way of life, will all be detrimentally impacted. 

There are two natural responses to fear. One is to fight for survival, another is to become paralysed by anxiety. There have been a number of studies which find a causal link between inaction on climate and individuals becoming overwhelmed with bad news and feelings of hopelessness.

This creates a genuine dilemma as we recognise that if we are not pushed into action over the next five to ten years, it is likely to dramatically exacerbate the problems. Conversely, meaningful action could moderate the negative outcomes.

The Climate Council rightly recognises that in this area, “hope is a strategy”. Embracing hope can actually spur us towards activity.

I have always found that the most meaningful antidote to anxiety around any problem is to take steps towards a solution.

Shoftim - by Feygi Phillips, Jewish Studies and Hebrew Learning Area Leader 6-12 

Candle lighting 5:38pm | Havdalah 6:36pm

“Justice, justice shall you pursue” (Deuteronomy 16:20). These timeless words, which famously hung in the office of the late Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, appear in this week’s Parashah, Parashat Shoftim. The parashah is rich with laws and commandments, reflecting the Torah’s vision of a society built on justice, moral responsibility, and ethical leadership, built on a growth mindset.

Shoftim introduces the structure for leadership among the Jewish people. These were what our Sages referred to as the “three crowns” of authority. As the Rambam later explained, each played a distinct role in guiding the community, yet all were ultimately bound by the law of the Torah.

The parashah emphasises that justice must be pursued actively and fairly. In the words of Rabbi Jonathan Sacks, “Justice must be accessible and impartial.” Even during warfare, moral restraint is expected; we are commanded not to destroy fruit-bearing trees, a law that symbolises the Torah’s deep sensitivity to life and the environment, even in times of conflict.

There is also a strong message about

Fifteen parents and grandparents enjoyed sushi and sake at our fifth Jewish education evening. Through learning sources from Sefer Yona (the Book of Jonah), and Rabbinic commentaries, participants explored the question of why Yona was so deeply aggrieved that the people of Nineveh repented. Together we mined the texts for meaning, and explored and discussed issues relating to our own lives and identities, as we reflect on our lives in the lead-up to Rosh HaShanah and Yom Kippur. 

Ilan Bloch, Director of Jewish Life and Learning

This week the Gan Gefen children arrived buzzing with excitement. We made sure we went to the toilet then put on our Bush Kinder overalls, gumboots and we were ready. For some, it was their very first time on a bus! The children did so well showing patience as they waited for the bus to arrive.

Once off the bus we found a spot and said Acknowledgement to Country, had morning tea then were eager to explore. We spoke about safety and some rules in the bush and the most important part to have fun. 

The children explored existing tepees, adding sticks to the structure. They discovered a pretend stick bonfire and searched for treasures hidden in the natural spaces left from other children. There was lots of active play too, with balancing and jumping on logs and tree trunks. 

We were lucky to come across a park ranger who showed us a Tawny Frogmouth bird hiding high in a tree. Its camouflage was so clever that many of the children struggled to spot it!

Our first bush kinder was filled with discovery, imagination, and adventure. We can’t wait for our next visit next Wednesday!

Our senior cricket team played against Huntingtower in the season final of cricket. Huntingtower were too strong and ended up defeating KDS. It has been a great season for the team winning all matches, showing some skill development in new areas and a strong sense of team spirit. Our team bowled and batted well in the finals and it was a really competitive match. Thanks to Mr Berhang for coaching the team. 

Chelsea Dabner, Sport/PE Learning Area Leader

The Parents’ Association brought together 200 parents from across the School with representation from every year level from Pre-Kindergarten to Year 12 at this year’s Trivia Night.

With the theme of “Heroes and Villains”, the dress ups were part of the fun and the committee, led by Sarah Popper, Laurelle Ritz and Kate McCleary did a fabulous job to transform the school hall into an event space for the night.

Hosted this year by KDS Music Teacher, Lachlan Mackay, with games run by Vice Principals Russell Kaplan and David Opat, the night was a fun mix of trivia and laughs for everyone. Please click here to see photos of the fun. 

Compere extraordinaire and Year 12 parent, Raoul Salter OAM encouraged everyone to bid on the Silent Auction and buy raffle tickets and also held a live auction to help raise money for the Parents’ Association. Thank you to the many prize donors who gave generous contributions for this event and to the many volunteers who stepped up to make this such a fun King David community event. Please see the attached list of our wonderful prize donors.

The month of Elul — the last Hebrew month of the year — has begun, bringing with it one of the most joyful (and noisiest!) traditions in our school calendar.

Elul is a special time of reflection and preparation for the Jewish New Year. Each day of Elul, it is customary to hear the sound of the shofar as a reminder to pause, reflect, and grow.

This year, our Year 2 students have the great honour of helping the school community fulfil this important minhag (custom). By sounding the shofar in classrooms and assemblies throughout the month of Elul, they are ensuring that everyone has the chance to hear the blasts that call us to prepare ourselves spiritually for the year ahead. Please see pictures here. 

At our Rosh Chodesh Elul Junior School Assembly, we were delighted to be joined by Marc Light, who helped us welcome in the new month and the season of reflection with inspiring words and encouragement.

We look forward to continuing this meaningful tradition together and to hearing our Year 2 students fill the school with the powerful and uplifting blasts of the shofar.

Tammy & Sophie, Jewish Life and Learning 

This week Prep had a marvellous day at the zoo! Our adventure began in the zoo’s special schools’ program area, where students became mini-explorers. Armed with magnifying glasses, they completed a scavenger hunt, searching carefully through the animals’ habitats. There was plenty of laughter at the “Guess whose Poo” station, and lots of fascination as we examined animal skulls, antlers and shells up close. Please click here to see photos from the Zoo adventure.

We wandered through the exhibitions, marvelling at the different animals we encountered. A highlight was seeing the lemurs dash away to find shelter from the rain. In the bird enclosure, we spotted a well-camouflaged cassowary and some strikingly tall black storks.

The weather was kind enough to hold off just long enough for us to meet Tambi the baby giraffe (whose name means “noodle”) and to watch the koalas enjoying their lunch.

Throughout the day, our curious students asked the zoo keepers plenty of thoughtful questions and explored with enthusiasm. It was a day full of learning, laughter and special moments to remember.

Alexa, Beck and David

As part of the Year 1’s current Jewish Studies unit, “The Beit Knesset,” they have been learning about the four important parts of a synagogue: the Bimah, the Aron Hakodesh, the Parochet, and the Ner Tamid. To deepen their learning and bring the topic to life, the Year 1 students went on an excursion earlier this week to visit and explore these four features in two different synagogues — Temple Beth Israel and Caulfield Synagogue. Please click here to see photos from the visits.

It was a wonderful opportunity for the students to see the similarities and differences between these two Batei Knesset (synagogues). It was an even more meaningful experience hearing Rabbi Rabin sound the shofar given we are in Chodesh Elul.

Rachel Ben-Atar, Jewish Studies Teacher

At this year's EISM Chess Tournament, KDS came 4th overall in the Junior and Senior divisions - our best result yet!

On the 21st Day of the Month of Emperor Augustus, the KDS Kings & Queens Chess Team competed in the Annual EISM Chess Tournament. The team achieved a 4th Place, which is an upgrade from the 5th Placing we achieved last year. This is most impressive, considering that our team of 20 students went against schools with teams of 50 or more, such as the winning school, Huntingtower. 

The rounds were tense, with our team celebrating wins each round. The Most Valuable Player was determined the highest number of points won (five out of eight duels), this was Jake Birnbaum, with Ben Balbin & Charlie Taylor coming close behind according to the points even though they won a similar number of games. Team Coaches, Joshua Daniels and Damien Green were ‘G.O.A.T.ed’ by students for inspiring pre-round speeches and snacks.    

“Playing in the EISM Chess Tournament was super fun, and achieving 4th place - the best ever result for King David - was an amazing experience!" - Jake Birnbaum - Year 8 MVP

“Being able to play against other schools was a great opportunity. Four of us got 5/7 points, we were consistent and got our best result yet!” - Charlie Taylor - Year 8 

On Saturday, Year 11 student Juliet Wajsbrem (16 years old) competed at the Australian Powerlifting League Nationals in the 16-19 year old division where she broke two Australian national records (squat and deadlift) and won a silver medal overall. 

There were 395 lifters. Juliet's results can be seen here: https://www.openpowerlifting.org/u/julietfreya.

Mazal tov Juliet!

On Wednesday, Year 11 students were privileged to hear from Jeff Schoep, once the leader of the largest American neo-Nazi organisation. He is now a global advocate for peace, transformation and human rights. 

Just like on Yom Kippur, when we read the story of Yonah (Jonah) and learn about t'shuvah from the non-Israelites of Nineveh, we began the "Sorry Season" of Elul and the Yamim Noraim (High Holidays) by learning from Schoep about his transformation and the power of change. 

Ilan Bloch, Director of Jewish Life and Learning

A selection of Senior School students attended the "How Far to Equality?" Gender and Sexuality Interschool Student Symposium at Carey Baptist Grammar School this week. The keynote speaker, Archie Beetle, presented on the importance of inclusion at school, followed by a panel on combating gender inequality and the rise of the 'manosphere'. If you are interested in the manosphere, we are running a Parent Education session on 17 September - please click here for details.

Students from schools throughout Melbourne ran workshops throughout the day, including King David Year 10 students Kiara Nathan and Ben Aghion who presented a thoughtful exploration of flags and microlabels.

On Monday, Unit 1 and 2 Religion and Society students visited the Islamic Museum of Australia.

Students learned about the beliefs of Islam, the history of Muslim community in Australia, the contribution of Islam to world civilisation, as well as about Islamic art, including participating in an Islamic art workshop.

Ilan Bloch, Director of Jewish Life and Learning

For the last time in 5785, girls, women, and friends on the Magid Campus gathered to celebrate Rosh Chodesh. This time for Elul. Emma Kogan-Lazarus in Year 11 taught the k'hilah (group) about Rabbi Regina Jonas, widely regarded at the first female rabbi, who perished in the Auschwitz concentration camp. She then taught about the custom of wick laying by women in the lead-up to the High Holy Days. This was followed by a candle-making workshop. It was wonderful to be surrounded by so many young women from Year 6 to Year 12 in building community together. It was also a wonderful opportunity to thank our departing Year 12 committee members, Ava Boulton-Webb, Kiera Edelstein, Mia Milner, Kayla Pizzo and Harriet Popper, for their dedication in helping found and run the club this year. 

Feygi Phillips, Learning Area Leader Hebrew & Jewish Studies MC

Last Tuesday, selected Year 11 students met with 12 Israeli students from the mid-Arava near the Israeli-Jordanian border. We started with a delicious pizza lunch. After this, students discussed and debated various topics related to their personal and Jewish identities and their connection to Israel. 

After this, students learned how to play footy and cricket, before enjoying lamingtons.

As a Zionist school, King David is always pleased to participate in mifgashim (encounter) exchanges with Israeli youth in order to boost our connection to the land, people and state of Israel, and to boost Jewish peoplehood. 

Ilan Bloch, Director of Jewish Life and Learning

Do you recycle? What do you do with your empty cereal boxes, egg cartoons or plastic bottles? Well, in Year 2, we reuse them to make something new!

In Year 2, our Integrated English focus, Sustainability, has explored the benefits of reducing waste, recycling materials and thinking of ways to reuse items to send less to landfill. 

After making some interesting discoveries about how we can use the Three R’s, Reduce, Reuse, Recycle, in our environment, we set about a way to demonstrate how someone’s recycling or rubbish, could be another person’s creative idea. 

In small groups we were set a challenge: design an arcade game, using only the recycling materials that were available. We had to consider what we were going to build, how we would build it and how it would work (if it did at all!) 

Our classrooms turned into a hive of activity, with all groups busy selecting their materials, thinking about how to put it together and problem-solving when things weren’t going to plan. At one point it did look like a recycling facility. 

We ended up with mini-golf, VR headsets, ball toss, bowling, soccer and even an aeroplane game. It was a very productive, fun and interactive way for the students to work collaboratively, plan and achieve an outcome. The hardest part – deciding who in the team gets to keep the project! 

Year 2 Teachers - Miranda Price and Rebecca Rudstein

Bringing Generations Together at Etz Chayim
Shana Tova from our Families to yours, warm wishes for a Healthy, Prosperous & Sweet New Year.
Join our warm & welcoming community for services this year.
For more information, call 9563 9208 or email info@etzchayim.org.au

Please join our talented student musicians as they 'battle' bands at this Jewish Interschool event on Monday 1 September, 7.30pm. This will be held at the Besen Performing Arts Centre, at Mt Scopus Memorial College. All funds raised will be donated to Magen David Adom. Please click here to book tickets.

Join us for our senior federal summer camp for Years 9-13 (2026)
January 5-12 2025
Join us for an amazing week of pure Netzer fun at our Federal Senior Summer Camp 2026
Our camp is a week-long immersive experience for chanichimot (participants) from Years 9-12.
Please sign up here: https://www.netzer.org.au/fed-2026

The Manosphere is a network of websites, blogs, and forums that often promote harmful ideas about masculinity, misogyny, and anti-feminist views.  It is a toxic and deeply harmful space that aggressively targets preadolescent and adolescent boys — and it's disturbingly easy to access, just one click away on any iPhone, iPad, or computer.  Every parent must understand this dangerous digital landscape and the very real damage it can inflict on our children.
Dr. Stephanie Wescott is a renowned expert in this growing field. She has authored many papers on the subject and researched how the Manosphere is affecting school students. We are very fortunate to have secured Dr. Wescott for this important evening. 
Wednesday 12 November, 7.30pm, Magid Campus (517 Orrong Rd, Armadale)
This is a free session but please register your attendance here for security purposes.

Please join Kedem at The King David for the High Holy Days. Services will be led by the Kedem Community and Rabbi Mickey Boyden. Please see the attached flyer for more information. Please reach out to rosi.kedem@outlook.com to register.

With the first events of the High Holy Day period less than a month away, TBI would like to welcome you and your family to celebrate this special period with us! We have a number of services and events scheduled for the whole family, and all family events are Free!
Don't miss Family Services for Rosh HaShanah (9am 23 September at KDS) and Yom Kippur (9am 2 October at TBI)
As well as Family Activities for Sukkot (4.30pm 6 October at TBI) and Simchat Torah (4.30pm 13 October at TBI)
Please click here for more information.
All other events are covered by a membership with TBI - if you are not yet a member, the partnership between TBI and KDS makes membership essentially free - enquire today (03) 9510 1488.

Our Years 6-9 musical, SpongeBob tells the story of SpongeBob and his friends in Bikini Bottom facing imminent disaster when a nearby volcano threatens to erupt and destroy their home. Ultimately, SpongeBob and his friends must come together to save their underwater community, proving that optimism and unity can overcome even the most challenging situations.
Date: Sunday 14 September (1pm matinee and 7pm evening performance) and Monday 15 September at 7pm. Venue: Rebecca Magid Centre, 520 Orrong Road.
Please click here to book!

The Spring Concert is King David's annual signature event which showcases music ensembles and choirs from the Junior School through to Year 12. 
We warmly invite you to enjoy the beauty of live music and to celebrate our outstanding student music works.
Date: Monday 8 September at 6.00pm
Venue: Rebecca Magid Centre, 520 Orrong Road, Armadale
Please click here to book.

The School is incredibly proud to be partnering with ISRAEL-is to bring our families a very unique experience. ISRAEL-is aims to tackle the challenge of improving Israel’s global image through direct connections, advocacy training, and cutting-edge technologies like VR and AI. 
On October 7th our lives changed forever. We are the first school in Melbourne to offer a Virtual Reality journey unveiling the remarkable stories of five survivors of the October 7 massacre. Experience a ground breaking Virtual Reality journey unveiling the remarkable stories of five survivors of the October 7 massacre. Witness their extraordinary resilience and unwavering courage in the face of the unimaginable.
There will be six sessions available and people (must be over 18 years) can register for any one of the 30 minute session. There is no cost.
Thursday 16 October, Magid Campus (517 Orrong Road, Armadale). Please click here to register. 

Progressive Judaism Victoria presents: A Rosh HaShanah Service for the Whole Family. Interactive, Engaging, Intergenerational, Child-friendly. Progressive Judaism at its best. This service is aimed at Primary School children. A special program for toddlers will also be offered.
Date: Tuesday 23 September, 9am-10am.
Venue: The King David School, 520 Orrong Road, Armadale
To register for security purposes, please click here.
Please see the attached flyer for more information. 

The King David School has been a valued supporter of SHIR, the Australian Jewish Music Festival, which is bringing the nation’s biggest night of Jewish music, Songs of Strength, to Melbourne on Tuesday 30 September.
In celebration of Rosh Hashanah, SHIR is offering BIG discounts to the King David School Community - use the code SPECIALOFFER or click here  to receive:
10% off 1-3 tickets
18% off 4-9 tickets
25% off 10+ tickets
VALID UNTIL SUNDAY 14 SEPTEMBER!
SHIR is more than just a concert. It will be the most neshama-filled and ruach-inducing night of the year, as 1800 members of the community come together to be uplifted and inspired by our music.
Songs of Strength is headlined by Deborah Conway AM and Willy Zygier, and supported by Brett Kaye, Ben Goldstein (finalist on The Voice Australia and X Factor Israel) and a host of outstanding Jewish artists from Sydney, Tel Aviv, New York and Berlin.
Don’t miss the Jewish cultural event of the year - bring your friends and family, and give them the gift of an unforgettable experience this Rosh Hashanah. BOOK NOW - offer ends Sun 14 Sept.

Our Israeli Madrichim invite all King David School parents, to a 'Night of Conversations, Reflections, Stories and Hope.' 
This is an opportunity for our community to gather and talk about the situation in Israel post October 7. We will share our experiences post October 7 and listen to your experiences in Australia's Jewish community. Details are below.
Each of us will be facilitating a discussion circle on a topic to do with Israel post October 7.  The topics will touch on controversies and issues that have affected our lives with a focus on hope and looking to the future.  You will have the opportunity to attend two of the sessions. 
Please RSVP here. RSVP is essential. 
10 September 2025, 6:30pm - 8:00pm, Magid Campus - MPR 
For Parents and Years 9 - 12 Students