Tali

Rebbetzin Sara Gutnick

Shulamit Nutovics

The seventh annual Eshet Chayil event, organised by the Rosh Chodesh Women’s Circle, took place on 29th September, 2025 – 7 Tishrei, 5786 at the home of Perele Goldhirsch. Women from different backgrounds gathered to hear Gili Klein and Yameena Yager share memories of their late mothers.

Before the formal meeting began, someone told me about the first time she met Tikvah Broh, Gili’s mother. She had been a newly observant teenager attending a B’nei Akiva gathering. Mrs Broh was the guest speaker, the topic being Olam Haba, translated as life after death. This lady was inspired by Mrs Broh’s talk. She increased her religious observance, and today she is the matriarch of a large Jewish family.

At the start of the event, Rebbetzin Sara Gutnick spoke about the Rosh Chodesh Women’s Circle. She introduced their new project about honouring the elders of Melbourne’s Jewish community. Sarah mentioned her late mother who had passed away on Yom Kippur, and in whose memory the annual Eishes Chayil Event was held. Prayers for Israel were led by two Beth Rivkah girls, in Hebrew and English.

Sara began her inspirational Tishrei message by discussing the significance of number seven in the Torah, especially the day of Shabbat. G-d created the Sabbath on the seventh day. G-d rested on this day, and we are commanded to rest on the Sabbath too. Sara spoke about the term “Eshet Chayil” (Woman of Valour), the Friday night hymn. “Eshet Chayil” is sung at the Shabbat table, honouring the women of the household. She mentioned that this seventh annual Eshet Chayil event was taking place in Tishrei, the seventh month of the year starting from the month of Nissan. The day of this event is on the seventh of the Ten Days of Teshuva, the period between Rosh Hashana and Yom Kippur!

The evening continued with a slideshow, as Gili Klein spoke about her Eshet Chayil mother, the late Tikvah Broh. Mrs Broh was born in 1931 in the fledgling Chabad community of Shepparton, Victoria, her maiden name being Kantor. Shortly afterwards, the Kantor family made Aliya. Mrs Broh served in the Hagana during the Israeli War of Independence in 1948. After finishing her military service, she trained as a teacher. Mrs Broh returned to Melbourne in 1954 to teach Hebrew at Mount Scopus. She married Yekutiel Broh, one of the rescued groups of German Jewish boys who came to Melbourne aboard the Dunneera ship.

Mrs Broh worked at Beth Rivkah for more than fifty years. She taught Jewish studies and wrote songs for their school productions. Besides her teaching and songwriting, Mrs Broh was a talented seamstress, even creating garments from discarded umbrellas! She continued to knit and sew during her later years, as a resident at Gary Smorgon House. After her passing in 2017, her children established the Tikvah LeKallah fund in her memory, helping newly married couples with wedding expenses and establishing a home. Mrs Broh’s name “Tikvah” means “hope”, and “Tikvah LeKallah” could be translated as” bringing hope to brides.”

Yameena Yager was the next person to share memories of her Eshet Chayil mother. Yameena’s mother was known fondly as “Rebbetzin Janet”, and she had passed away five months ago. Rebbetzin Janet and her husband, who was a Rav and Torah scholar, dedicated their lives to strengthening Yiddishkeit in the South of the United States. She was particularly passionate about teaching the laws of Mikveh and Family Purity and she would travel for several hours from Alabama to Texas to use a Mikveh. Rebbetzin Janet and her husband eventually raised money to build a Mikveh in Alabama.

Rebbetzin Janet endured much pain from rheumatoid arthritis, but this did not deter her. Guests were welcome in her home, and she was famous for her split pea soup with pieces of frankfurter sausages! Every Festival, the house was decorated with Rebbetzin Janet’s own artwork. Butterflies were featured often in these decorations. Yameena told us that at the time of her mother’s death, a white butterfly appeared outside her window.

As an older woman, Rebbetzin Janet lived a youthful life, training as a social worker, and working with the elderly. She made Aliya when she was in her eighties and had been widowed for forty-five years.

After Yameena and Gili had finished speaking, there was the singing of “Eshet Chayil” by Esti Hochhauser, Raizel Gutnick and Dina Korol in a presentation about Israeli heroines, including former hostages Liri Albag and Agam Berger. The evening was concluded with a delicious catered Shabbat-themed supper, a table set with challah, Shabbat candles and Kiddush wine. While we enjoyed the refreshments we mingled and looked at tables full of mementos from Tikvah Broh’s and Morah Janet’s lives.

Sharon Gelber, April 2024
Oh what a night!! On Tuesday, 16th April – we ran a Rosh Chodesh Women’s Circle. Thanks to everyone who helped organise such a successful evening! And thanks to everyone who came – it was so thrilling to see new faces. Thanks to the Rosh Chodesh Women’s Circle who we are in affiliation for this event in Nissan.

The evening began with a Dvar Torah presented by Rebbetzin Rivka Bondar, highlighting the precious gift that we have been given. We are the ‘keepers’ of the Rosh Chodesh energy, the glue that holds the structure of our lives in time and space, pinpointing the new month’s energies and possibilities of healing and growth. Since the time of Miriam, we as women have always held the power to break through limitations and expectations, whether they are self- or society-imposed. We have faith that we can individually and as a collective be liberated and thrive.

It is in our very DNA. It was our sisters who refused to adhere to the destruction of our newborn boys in Egypt and unequivocally believed in our redemption from slavery! Let us bang our tambourines to awaken ourselves to our own and Am Yisroel’s freedoms this Pesach season and beyond.

Merav shared her truly inspirational personal story as she brought us along on her journey through lands, cultures, joy, loss, being found, being held and opening our hearts and vulnerability to the possibilities of love and belonging. We all resonated with every step of her journey and are so grateful that we are now sharing it with her, through our community, sisterhood and friendship.

Our journey continued through a delicious spread of yummy delights as we shmoozed with our dear sisters, connected with some long-lost friends and got to know new community members. What a delight!

The ending of our evening continued to feed our souls with creativity, colour and inspiration. We made tambourines burst with life, energy, hopes and dreams for our speedy liberation. Am Yisroel Chai!

The blessings of these Rosh Chodesh evenings are that our hearts are open to dive deeply into connection with each other, within the golden wings of the Shchinah (feminine energy of the Divine) and fly with that energy…back to our homes, our ‘bayit’ , our families and our communities.

By Joanne Levy, April 2024
What an incredible evening we had for our first Rosh Chodesh Women’s Circle event, where we honoured the Egyptian heritage of our community, in the lead up to Pesach.

We welcomed Marcelle Levi, as our guest speaker. Not only is she a valued and much-loved member of our Synagogue but she recently celebrated her 100th birthday.

Sassoon Yehuda Sephardi Synagogue President, Joanne Levy, welcomed all and gave a short Dvar Torah (thanks to Rebbetzin Sara) about the upcoming festival of Pesach. This resonated with all, especially as many, including Joanne’s family, were refugees from Egypt.

We then enjoyed a sit-down dinner with schnitzel, honey/soy chicken, Sephardi rice, Moroccan vegetables, mushroom rice, and an array of salads.

After dinner, Marcelle spoke and shared insights about her life in Egypt and then her marriage and living in Australia. We learned about the pain of separation from her family at a time when her husband was cruel to her. We were inspired how she was able to leave him at a time when this went against social norms, and live her life with her sons in happiness, separated from her husband.

We then surprised Marcelle with cake and sang happy birthday, filling the hall with song, and love for this matriarch…adored by so many. And then we enjoyed a dessert buffet of cake and fruit.

In lieu of a gift, we presented Marcelle with a certificate of thanks from RCWC, who generously donated tubs of soups to our affiliated charity, FOSY, to those in need, in honour of Marcelle’s birthday.

The attendees loved the event, and also the beautiful gift of printed serviettes, provided to all on the occasion of our first RCWC event. We were expecting 20 to our event, and had over 40 women in attendance. It was a very special evening.

We are looking forward to our next event in Elul, as we honour the Moroccan women of our community, and their cultural heritage.

Remarks from our guests:
“My mother and I have left the event feeling deeply uplifted and ennobled. Uplifted by and grateful for the community, Chesed and example that you create; and so moved by Marcelle’s speaking to us from her heart and telling us what she truly went through. She has given my mother and I all the more hope that life can not only get better after decades of cruelty, but that it can be defined by happiness.
Baruch HaShem…you are doing an amazing job. It takes 4-5 people in other Synagogues to organise what you organised today. And what you did was way more warm, happy and exciting.”

“It was very successful and everyone enjoyed it sooo much.”

“Thank you for the lovely evening. What a turnout! Really enjoyed it. Put me on your list for further RCWC meetings.”