Mrs Malvina Malinek
MINA FINK MBE 1913-1990
NCJW VIC. PESIDENT 1957-1960
NATIONAL PRESIDENT 1967-1973 - FIRST VICTORIAN, THIRD NATIONAL
INTERNATIONAL CJW VICE-PRESIDENT 1975-8 1
One cannot speak about Mimi Fink's contribution to our organization without explaining what and whom the National Council of Jewish Women of Australia represents.
Mina Fink was only the third National president of NCJW.
Started in 1923 in Sydney by the legendary Dr. Fanny Reading, a practicing medical doctor as well as a former music graduate of the University of Melbourne, Council of Jewish Women became a national organization in 1929.
This was exactly the sort of person who could inspire and impress, as well as influence a woman of the calibre of Mina Fink.
Even before the advent of all the modem technologies of today, Dr. Fanny recognised that communication was of paramount importance and the Council Bulletin, in the form of a newsletter was first published in 1926. The editorial in Vol.1, No.1, September 1926 explains that the 'Council of Jewish Women was founded in order to bring Jewish women to a loftier consciousness of the meaning of public spiritedness'. In her first message, President Reading called to the Jewish women of Australia:
'with the realization of the responsibilities to Judaism and humanity that every Jewish woman and girl should feel, will come the awakening to duty and the spirit of service that should animate every Jewish heart.'
Dr. Fanny reigned over her organization as President for 30 years and as a Life President for another 20! Thus when Mina would have joined NCJW in Melbourne, she would have been naturally impressed by this dynamic woman, who mainly through her tireless efforts, ensured that the organization she founded grew, with branches not only in every State but also in every small town, whether Kalgoorlie or Ballarat, wherever a few Jews happened to live at the time. SERVICE was at the core and heart of NCJW and still is to this day: service to the community, both Jewish and general; service for our brethren in need, whether in the diaspora or in Israel; service for the benefit of women and all humankind! This was definitely the agenda close to Mina's heart throughout her communal life.
By the time Mina joined NCJW in a leadership position as State President in 1957, the National President was Vera Cohen in Sydney, but Dr. Fanny was still there as a Life President. Like Dr. Fanny, Mina's vision was not confined to us women, Jewish or otherwise - being merely the auxiliary-arm of the men's organizations in the community. Long before feminist and feminism, they were strong advocates of independent women's rights.
Over the years many people in our community would relate to me Mina's early role in the communal battles of the post-war era: about the establishment of a Jewish day school, for example, and how she and NCJW supported it, and within NCJW, the establishment of all-Jewish Senior Citizens' Clubs when some wanted 'Open' ones. She understood that the older generation, many of whom were holocaust survivors and non-English speaking, had a need for a 'heimish' Jewish atmosphere for them.
NCJW in Australia was modeled by D. Fanny on the American NCJW model, i.e. to be a National movement of Jewish women for Jewish women, an NGO (i.e. Non-Government Organization) with responsibilities and affiliations at communal, local, federal and International level - Jewish and general - all the way to the UN and its Agencies.
The ultimate aim was, and still is, to ensure the survival of Jewish identity locally, albeit not necessarily to identify only with the Orthodox stream of Judaism.
For many years, the masthead on its letterhead read: RELIGION, EDUCATION, PHILANTROPY, SOCIAL.
To these were later added: ISRAEL, COMMUNITY SERVICE, STATUS OF WOMEN.
Just before the second President, the late Vera Cohen MBE stepped down in the 1960's after twelve years in the Presidency, I remember, because it was already in my time, Vera streamlined the Council aims into a THREE-POINT Program of action:
- ISRAEL
- JEWISH CAUSES
- NON-JEWISH CAUSES IN AUSTRALIA
Our NCJW history by Marlo Newton, published in 2000, Making a Difference , lists the events and some of the quite formidable women who shaped the earlier days of our organization. They are also those with whom Mina worked at the time not only here in Melbourne, but also at the national and international level. I know that it was these women who inspired and motivated Mina to ever greater ambitious goals for NCJW - not for any personal ambitions, but merely to benefit our people in need, whether locally or overseas.
Mina Fink, unlike most other leaders, was rarely one to promote herself,just her organization and those whom she recognised as potential future leaders.
Suffice it to say that NCJW would be the vehicle which satisfied Mina Fink's intellectual and altruistic needs. At the same time, she presided over the Organization at a time when great changes were taking place in our society. If Dr. Fanny was an acknowledged visionary and a woman ahead of her time, Mina Fink was a woman ahead of her generation but definitely a leader of her time! She was able to grasp the enormous changes that were taking place for women from the 1960's onwards and the flow-on implications for the Women's Movement and NGO's.
NCJW, never saw itself as a charity organization , the term commonly used even today for voluntary organisations, because fundraising was always a means to an end, not the end in itself. It was a 'tzedaka' and a 'mitzvah' -type organisation, i.e. doing good deeds! However, money, or the lack of it, was never allowed by Mina to interfere with achieving an important goal, something that we all adopted as our motto as well.
Status of women issues became one of Mina Fink's passionate causes, alongside the international women's movements, both Jewish and general. To participate in all the important political action groups of the day, whether dealing with the Gett and the first ICJW petition to the Chief Rabbinate and helping the then Iranian Jewish women with their inheritance problems; or the preparations for the UN International Women's Year of '75, and at the same time with the preparations for the first ever Jewish interntiaonal convention in Australia; or whether assisting with her other, ongoing passion, as Nathan said: the defence of Israel and Zionism. To achieve all that she wanted to achieve, she sought out and enlisted onto her committees as many of the younger generation of 'new-age', professionally trained women that she could.
Still to this day, most who became the leaders in NCJW, like Sylvia and I, were recruited by Mina Fink in the first instance. Later, when I became President, for example, she was constantly calling me with names of those whom I should approach. One of these is Dr. Geulab Solomon, our current National President. There are others in the community who probably got their start in communal involvement through Mina's recruiting them for specific tasks. The '75 ICJW Convention for example, had a young Zelda Rosenbaum organizing an exhibition of Judaica at the Vic. Art Gallery. The NCJW delegate to the Australian International Women's Year Committee headed by Dame Ada Norris in '75 was a young mum with a basic law degree by the name of Ada Moshinsky; and when the Zionism-Racism equation first reared its ugly head in Mexico and as ICJW Vice-President she was fighting for Australia not to vote for such damning Resolutions in Copenhagen in 1980 and Nairobi in '85 - she enlisted Eve Mahlab also in our program of action, and many, many others.
Council House
Mina cherished a dream for NCJW in Melbourne to also own its own premises as Dr. Fanny had managed to provide for Sydney. There was some money put aside diligently, year by year, but then the '67 Six Day War broke out and without much hesitation, Victorian Section handed over the money to the Emergency UIA Appeal at the time.
But Mina never gave up on her dream, which we all shared. Thus when the ICJW Convention fundraising was started, she enlisted the help of Sadie Fink, her sister-in-law, and gave her committee strict instructions to ensure that there would be money left over towards such a building. Sure enough, as a result we managed to put a deposit on our first, modest building in Westbury Street, St. Kilda. The NCJW of Australia Charitable Foundation was established with Mina Fink as its Founder, one of the first such Foundations in the Jewish community at a time when the Taxation Department cut down heavily on such Tax deductible charitable funds! (Thanks to Judith Cohen, if she is present.)
In 1973, NCJW celebrated its Golden Jubilee in Sydney. It was the 17th National Conference when Mina stepped down as National President after six years, having decided that this was long enough for any Presidential term of office. The Constitution was changed accordingly and she handed over the reins of leadership to Sylvia Gelman (who by the way was a relative newcomer, but who was catapulted straight to the National Board and then to the Presidency by Mina, because of her obvious skills). But for the Jubilee Conference, she invited the then ICJW President, the late Shoshana Hareli. She particularly wanted her there because it was at the time of the oil-embargos, but before the Yom-Kipur war. Whitlam was in power and we felt that there was not much sympathy for Israel in Canberra.
Shoshana was an American living in Israel who had fantastic oratory skills. The government was represented at the dinner by Mr. Crean senior, the then Federal Treasurer who made a very lukewarm speech of greetings to the gathering of communal leaders. Suffice it to say that this infuriated our Shoshana, who made a speech, off the cuff that so impressed our Federal Treasurer that Shoshana Hareli was subsequently invited for a meeting with Mr. Whitlam in Canberra - something which Mina had previously tried very hard to organise without success.
This was Mina Fink's greatest talent, knowing which person should be when and where for the greatest benefit and impact! She worked and persevered until she got whom she wanted for each task! Of course, she had her critics too, particularly some of the other Council volunteers who were sometimes by-passed by Mina's insistence on looking to the best-qualified outsiders or new-blood to promote in the organization. But she used to tell me: 'I am not here to be popular, I am here to be respected!'
When the Soviet Jewry campaign started, first it was led by the students only who were publicly demonstrating. One day, she called together the then WIZO President, the late Martha Jacobson and other women leaders at her home. Then and there, we women formed a coalition and decided to be (and we were) the first adults to publicly support Russian Jewry by demonstrating in the City Square!
Mina participated on many committees also outside the Jewish community,such as The Lady Mayoress's Committee., the National Council of Women , the Good Neighbour Council.
Even years later, as I mentioned previously, she was always there for advice. Thus when as National President I received a plea to assist the Israeli Wheelchair Basketball team to come to Australia, as the supporters for the ILAN-Tel Aviv Centre for children born with cerebral palsy, I can tell you that I was daunted by such an enormous undertaking. But not Mina, and we were both really not what is known as 'fundraisers' in the general sense!
She just told me, 'you can't let them down'. They were the world champions then, and she just said: 'we'll form a committee and you'll see it will be OK!' We did and it was and we even sent them home with an additional $50,000!
The male communal leadership at the time, usually played "catch-up" with us. We formed women's NGO coalitions not only on the Soviet Jewry issue, but also on the UN-Zionsm-Racism one and worked for over 10 years with little communal interest. Then suddenly there was a flurry of activity to rescind the resolution at government level and all our work and Mina's efforts with all our grassroots women's NGOs was ignored!
I was the first Zionist leader, representing the women of Victoria on a visit to China, after the Cultural Revolution, in '85, as a guest of the Chinese Government, nominated by Mina. I was quickly followed by Isi Leibler and his group.
She resented that as a Federal Leader she was only an Observer at the ECAJ Conferences, but we had to wait another decade or more before I managed to gain Affiliate Status with full voting rights for us and the other Observer Organizations.
Time does not permit me to tell you all that Mina Fink did whether in or out of office at NCJW. She set modern standards and laid the foundations to ensure the continuation of our Organization which we still follow today into this 21st Century. Given that more and more women have less and less time to devote to voluntary communal activities, it is because of leaders like Dr. Fanny Reading in her time and then Mina Fink MBE in hers, that NCJW of Australia is still going from strength to strength, its recent publications bear this out.
Mina's contribution to the community through NCJW was recognised with an MBE, in 1974, after she was nominated by figures outside our community.
There are commemorative NCJW leadership programs and the Mina Fink Resource Centre at the Council House in Caulfield, which by the way is named after Sadie Fink and Annia Castan.
At the commemoration evening which NCJW organised after Mina's untimely passing in 1990, the Kadimah Hall was packed to the rafters, but unfortunately I was overseas at the time and I am very grateful tonight to have had this opportunity to add my public tribute to a lady who was truly an 'eshet hayil' and who I was proud to call my friend and my mentor.