A great pride in celebrating a learning journey, begun two years ago, was evident the mood set by the Melbourne Mini-School's Graduation Ceremony held last week at the Jewish Museum of Australia.

The 66 graduating students were the guests of honour and their reflections of joy in learning was clearly evident in all of the speeches. There was enormous kavod shown to the teachers for their knowledge, dedication, openness and trust-all hallmarks of Melton. The teachers also expressed their joy in teaching.. saying they had in effect become "co-learners". Unexpected outcomes of becoming part of a learning community and developing intense friendships were also remarked upon.

The evening was formal in its approach to the Graduation with Sandy Benjamin, President of the Jewish Museum of Australia, recalling how Melton first started in Melbourne in 1997 and what a leap of faith that was; how well her judgment has been vindicated with several hundred students now graduates. However we ended on a light note as Avi Cohen, one of our teachers, delivered a shiur we called "Kippah Kapers" where he did a "striptease" of head gear to reveal what each head covering (and there were so many!!) reveals about Jewish identity. His Car Kippah, crushed, biro marked and crumpled out of his pocket, and the La Romme embossed kippot were the big favourites judging by the laughter they elicited. The mini-lesson had many of the Melton ingredients: entertaining and engaging whilst challenging one's beliefs, and provoking much discussion.

The evening ended with a supper and a l'chaim given to one of the graduating couples who chose to celebrate their 30th wedding anniversary with us and their class. That kind of sums up how meaningful the program is and how much it goes beyond the curriculum. It has created networks that are emotional, social and communal.
How many of us could say that when we first graduated from university.
What a bonus. Learning for the love of it and loving the learning.

Leah Justin's speech
Graduate Speech

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