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The following is a tribute to the Late Aaron Aaron. Some of the information was collected by Mr Nissim Judah who has done a great deal of research on Mr Aaron.
AARON AARON was a great leader, doing a great deal of work for the Jewish Community all over the world. If it were not for his determination and perseverance the Sephardi community in Sydney would not have existed as it is today.
He arrived in Sydney in 1950 and wasted no time in organising the Sephardi community because of his vast experience in community matters in Calcutta, India. He was the chief architect in the formation of the Hebrew Association and New South Wales Assoociation of Sephardim. As a bush lawyer he drafted the first Constitution of the association where it was laid down that the Association would affiliate with the New South Wales Board of Deputies, the New South Wales Zionist Organisation and the World Sephardi Federation.
With his drive and foresight he rallied men and women to the cause of building the first Sephardi Centre and Prayer Hall in Sydney, Australia. Aaron Aaron was a great communal worker because of his continued activities within the Jewish Community in Australia. He was elected the first Chairman of the association, a position he held for a number of years. In 1960 he was asked to help the association once again and was President until 1964. Aaron Aaron served as an executive member of the Zionist Organisation of Sydney. He was also Treasurer of the Federation of Orthodox Synagogue and a member of the Kashrut Commission of New South Wales and was elected Vice President in 1975.
He represented the association of the Zionist Federation of Australia for a number of years and was a delegate of the New South Wales Jewish Board of Deputies. He has been a trustee of the Sephardi Community Centre and Prayer Hall and the Sephardi War Memorial. Aaron Aaron worked towards the formation of the Sephardi Federation in Australia and was the first Chairman and also a trustee of the Sepher Torah Trust Fund. During his term of office as President, he had the foresight to purchase the property on which now stands the synagogue and the next door property on which stands the Sephardi War Memorial.
He came, he saw and he conquered. He knocked on many doors and finally the office of the late Prime Minister of Australia, the Rt Hon Harold Holt.
It can be said of him that his foresight and vision opened the way for the entry to Australia of Sephardim from all over the world. Gone but not forgotten. He was born 15 January 1914 and died 30 July 2000. His wife, who was a great help to him in his communal work, died two years ago. There were three children, a daughter who pre-deceased him and two surviving sons who live in Australia.
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