JANUARY 30 • 2020 | 17

Jews in the D

continued on page 18

CPA Levi Serebryanski 
settled in Oak Park 18 years 
ago and is treasurer at Bais 
Chabad of North Oak Park. 
He has been following the 
news avidly and checking 
in frequently with his 
mother and siblings, who 
still live in his hometown of 
Melbourne. 
A few weeks ago, 
Serebryanski’
s nephew 
attended the local Jewish 
overnight summer camp 
that takes place in a small 
town halfway between 
Sydney and Melbourne. 
The fires were getting 
uncomfortably close and 
the camp was evacuated as 
a precaution. 
“They were afraid they’
d 
be cut off by the fire. My 
nephew said they could 
see thick, heavy smoke just 
over the mountains on the 
bus home,” Serebryanski 
said. “All the perishable 
camp food was donated to 
the locals who lost their 
homes and the campers had 
a day camp in Melbourne 
instead.”
Serebryanski is friends 
with David Gutnick, 

the Jewish chaplain of 
the Australian Reserves, 
who has been offering 
support and comfort to the 
“firies” (what Australians 
call firefighters) around 
the country. He said 
the Melbourne Jewish 
community managed to 
raise more than $6 million 
for the rescue effort. 
Though everyone seems 
to be rallying together to 
help — a contingent of 100 
firefighters from the U.S. 
also joined the fight — the 
devastation is enormous. 
“It makes me so sad 
that thousands of years of 
Australia’
s unique culture 
and the unique animals 
that aren’
t found anywhere 
else on the planet, the 
Aboriginal art, history, 
human treasures, so much 
has been burned. It’
s going 
to cause a tremendous 
impact on the country 
and on the entire world,” 
Serebryanski said.

EMOTIONAL ATTACHMENT
Another Australian expat 
is a Southfield resident of 
three years who only wanted 

It makes me so sad that 
thousands of years of
Australia’s unique culture 
and the unique animals that 
aren’t found anywhere else on 
the planet, the Aboriginal art, 
history, human treasures,
so much has been burned.

— LEVI SEREBRYANSKI

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