About Us

Our Mission

At Jewish House, we are committed to creating a future where every person can navigate life's challenges with strength, support, and a renewed sense of hope.

Our mission is to empower individuals facing diverse challenges in their lives, foster resilience and provide unwavering support to navigate the complexities of employment, relationships, legal matters, mental health difficulties and housing. Through comprehensive programs and hands-on guidance, we strive to assist people in finding effective solutions, enabling them to embrace life with enhanced confidence and reduced stress.

We are dedicated to preventing and overcoming personal crisis events, working collaboratively with individuals, their caregivers, and other service providers. We deliver immediate care to swiftly restore stability, followed by skill-building initiatives aimed at rebuilding secure lives and minimising the likelihood of future crises. By collaborating with governments and partners, we seek to understand and address the root causes of personal crises, actively contributing to the cultivation of resilience in individuals and communities.

Our ultimate goal is to diminish the number and severity of crisis events, alleviating the impact on individuals and families.

Our History

In 1983, Roger and Anthony Clifford, with generous support from their parents, set out on a mission to give hope to those in crisis. Their humble beginnings were fuelled by a simple yet powerful idea - that in the face of domestic violence, family struggles, substance abuse, and other challenges, there should always be a place to turn to.

Initially a centre for counselling, Jewish House has grown into a crisis centre to support people with various struggles including employment, relationships, housing, mental health and other difficulties.

Our Board

Meet the dedicated individuals driving Jewish House's mission forward—our esteemed board members, each bringing unique expertise and unwavering commitment to Jewish House.

Roger Clifford OAM

President

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Roger, together with his brother Anthony, founded Jewish House in 1983. He is a prominent businessman and owns the Arc Fashion group. His business acumen and compassionate regard for his fellow humans has always been an invaluable guide for Jewish House and its staff. He and his brother Anthony were recently awarded an OAM in recognition of service to the Jewish community of Sydney.

Rabbi Mendel Kastel OAM

CEO

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Rabbi joined Jewish House as CEO at the beginning of 2008. He has been providing rabbinic expertise to the Sydney community for almost 30 years, is a rabbinic fellow of the Great Synagogue, Board member of NCOSS and Ending Street Homelessness, the Jewish Chaplain of the NSW Police Force, and is a commissioner on the National Mental Health Commission.

Robert Clifford

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Robbie was appointed to the Board of the Jewish House in 2019 after two years of contribution as a Board Observer. Robbie is a Master of Law, is an active member of the Jewish community, and is passionate about social welfare. Former Managing Director of Pipeline Marketing, Robbie's commercial experience in organisational development has extended to the not-for-profit sphere where he is COO at the Australian Jewish Fertility Network.

Cerina Weisz

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Cerina Filipczyk (nee Weisz) has a Bachelor of Social Work and a Master of Social Work in Couple and Family. Cerina has worked in the field of child protection and trauma for the past 25 years as a caseworker, counsellor, manager, and supervisor. She is an educator in social work both at the undergraduate and postgraduate level as well as training and supervising child protection staff. Cerina has been part of advisory committees relating to sexual assault and women’s housing programs. Cerina has previously worked with the staff of Jewish House as part of her role at the University of New South Wales in Field Education.

Ron Hirsch

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Ron's experience in the corporate world extends over 25 years and includes investment banking in mergers and acquisition and CEO positions in Australian publicly listed ASX companies. Ron is Chairman of The Fresh Venture Group, an award-winning corporate services company with multiple fresh produce brands that service both B2B and B2C markets nationally. He is a director of several private companies and was the CEO of The Executive Connection, the world's leading international mentoring organisation for chief executives and business owners. Ron is also a past director of Redkite and The Australasian Football Institute. He is passionate about making a difference in people's lives.

Sharonne Phillips

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Sharonne is a consultant Certified Professional Ergonomist with over 25 years of experience working to improve safety, efficiency, and productivity within the mining, manufacturing, entertainment, media, health, hospitality, aged care, aviation, and administration sectors. She has a clinical background as a physiotherapist and has a keen interest in OH&S, compliance and risk management, mediation, and the impact of emerging technologies on our ageing population and on people living with disabilities. She holds a Bachelor of Science (UNSW), a Graduate Diploma in Physiotherapy, and a Master's in Occupational Health and Safety (USYD). Sharon joined the board in 2011 and uses her deep understanding of the aged, health, and social services sector to bring this perspective to the board of Jewish House.

Jonathan Tolub

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Jonathan is a Director at InvestSense, portfolio construction and consulting company he co-founded in 2014. Jonathan has over 20 years of experience in financial services in New York, London, and Sydney. Prior to co-founding InvestSense, Jonathan was a senior asset consultant with van Eyk Research, providing dealer groups and financial planners with asset allocation and manager selection advice. Jonathan was previously a vice president with Lyxor, a specialist asset management group in New York, following many years of trading experiences in London and New York with investment banks such as Societe Generale and Dresdner Bank. Jonathan holds a Bachelor of Science degree (majoring in Finance) from Yeshiva University in New York.

Avi Sharabi

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Avi is a partner at KPMG leading the Data Financial Services Team with over 25 years experience of delivering large-scale business/technology transformation programs in Australia, the USA, and Europe. His current interest is in start-ups focusing on integration advanced analytics and machine learning. Previously Avi was the leading partner for Deloitte Sydney Data/Analytics practice. Avi holds a Bachelor's degree in Computer Science (Highest Honours, Phi Beta Kappa) from the University of California Santa Cruz where he was a Regent Scholar (1995), and a Master's degree in Legal Studies from UNSW (2003).

Robyn Solomon

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Robyn is a program manager at Westpac and has led multiple projects across many business units and marketing and digital disciplines. She has also lectured in Economics at Curtin and other universities. She mentors social enterprises and is currently consulting in micro-business creation and marketing. Robyn holds a Bachelor of Commerce degree from the University of Witwatersrand (Johannesburg) and a Master's Degree in Economics from the University of Western Australia (Perth).

Our Impact Reports

2021 Impact Report

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2022 Impact Report

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2018 Annual Report

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2019 Annual Report

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2020 Impact Report

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2023 Impact Report

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Other Publications

Jewish House Project Plan

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2017 Ending Homelessness Report

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Demographic and Clinical Profile of Homeless

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Our Partners

We are proud to partner with some of Australia's most well-known corporates and organisations. Their partnerships help us fund and promote our work, helping provide support to thousands of people in need.

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