Rabbi Marcus Solomon, who earlier this month was the first Orthodox rabbi in Australia to be selected as a Supreme Court justice, was sworn in on Wednesday to the Supreme Court of Western Australia.
Rabbi Solomon, a resident of Perth, also serves as the Rav of the Dinaella shul and is active in the broader Jewish community.
“I wish to conclude with an old Jewish custom,” Rabbi Solomon said at the end of the ceremony. “At moments of importance in one’s life and the life of the community, whatever one’s belief, or indeed – non-belief, we humbly acknowledge and never take for granted life itself, the values and freedoms we enjoy, and the good fortune we share in having been sustained to come together on such an occasion.”
“And if the Chief Justice can use Hebrew [apparently referring to an earlier speech], then I am not going to be outdone. And so in the traditional Hebrew: ‘Shehechyanu V’Kiyamanu V’Higiyanu L’Zeman HaZeh.”
(YWN Israel Desk – Jerusalem)
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4 Responses
A brachah without Hashem’s name is not a brachah.
Why is he afraid of invoking the name of the Almighty?
It’s a shame, he had the opportunity and he blew it.
Sigh. You made the same mistake last time and you were corrected. Do YWN editorial staff not bother reading the comments?
Rabbi Solomon was NOT sworn in to the “Australian Supreme Court”. For one thing there is no such court. Australia’s highest court is the High Court, not the Supreme Court. And Solomon is not (yet) of sufficient stature to be appointed to that.
As the rest of the article consistently says, he is now serving on the Western Australian Supreme Court, which does exist, and on which he is well-qualified to serve. Perhaps after a decade or so of service there, if Moshiach has not yet come, he might be qualified to be appointed to the High Court of Australia.
His background in Western Australia goes back many generations. One of his ancestors was the Chief Justice of the state’s Supreme Court, and his late father-in-law was Attorney General — while strictly keeping Shabbos. He was once offered the post of state premier, but turned it down because it would pose difficulties with keeping Shabbos. May his zechus help his son-in-law.
Also it’s the Dianella Shule, not Dinaella. Dianella is the suburb where most of Perth’s Jewish community and institutions are located.
Meanwhile, there was just a coerced inoculation of the experimental covid shot for 24,000 public school children in an auditorium in Sydney. Parents were not allowed to be inside. There are videos online showing one student falling down right after the shot, and later reports that three children have fallen into a coma following this shot, and there are other injuries as well.
There is also footage of police there cuffing twelve year old children without warning, when they exited a grocery store for not wearing a mask. Some of the police in the arrest scene are shown not properly wearing a mask as well.
So, shechiyanu, but let’s get back to a real narrative in politics and law that will show pride for Om Yisrael.