Sacha Baron Cohen and Isla Fisher welcomed at Bondi’s Central Synagogue
Having been introduced to Bondi’s Central Synagogue Sacha Baron Cohen and Isla Fisher are now part of one of Sydney’s most affluent communities whose worshippers include some of Australia’s wealthiest and most famous individuals.
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The warmest of embraces has been extended to new Sydneysiders Sacha Baron Cohen and his wife Isla Fisher by Sydney’s Jewish community following the family’s relocation to the city last year.
Having quit one of LA’s more prestigious communities as the pandemic raged across the US, where even the well-heeled Erica Packer and her three children couldn’t escape the virus, the Baron Cohens and their three children have been welcomed into one of Sydney’s most affluent communities after being introduced, say sources, to Bondi’s Central Synagogue by its
vice-president, Michael Rothner.
Rothner is the chief executive of elite Sydney investment bank Ashe Morgan and a former business associate of disgraced businessman Rodney Adler and former prime minister Malcolm “Moishe” Turnbull, a practising Catholic who in 2013 said he may have Jewish
roots courtesy of his mother.
Baron Cohen, who grew up in northwest London as the son of a Jewish accountant father and a fitness class instructor mother born in Israel, has been befriended by Rabbi Levi Wolff, the youthful chief minister of the moneyed synagogue and his New York-bred wife Chanie.
New Jerseyite Wolff presides over the largest Jewish Synagogue in the Southern Hemisphere, whose modern-Orthodox congregation can check in with him via Instagram and Facebook and whose weekly Shiur’s have been known to kick-off with a whisky and wine tasting.
Before the Baron Cohens joined “Central”, the synagogue’s highest profile member was billionaire Westfield founder and soccer fanatic Frank Lowy.
Indeed some of Sydney’s richest and most prominent Jewish residents worship at “Central”.
Here are some notable members of Sydney’s Jewry’s A-list who now daven with the Baron Cohens and could, we dare say, happily bankroll any future film projects.
Sir Frank Lowy and son Steven
Slovakian-born Lowy survived a World War II childhood in a Hungarian ghetto before moving to Australia in 1952 and founding a global shopping centre company. Valued at $8.5 billion, serial rich lister Lowy, 90, now resides in Israel though retains membership at Central Synagogue where the foyer is named in his honour. His youngest son Steven is also active in the community.
Harry Triguboff
The synagogue — and nation’s — richest man is small goods deliveryman turned property developer Triguboff whose wealth has been put at $15 billion. Born in China to Russian parents, 88-year-old Triguboff took a leaf from his entrepreneurial father’s book when he followed his old man into construction with his company Meriton, which he established in the decades after his 1948 migration to Australia.
Paul and Eva Lederer
Rich lister Paul Lederer is part-owner of the A-League’s Western Sydney Wanderers. The smallgoods manufacturer made his fortune, around $800 million, with his Primo Smallgoods. He and wife Eva are described by insiders as the “king and queen” of the “Central” community. An art garden and youth campus have been named in their honour.
Betty Klimenko
Frank Lowy’s astute business partner in Westfield, John Saunders, born Jeno Schwarcz, a Hungarian migrant and Holocaust survivor who settled in Australia. Saunders has two daughters, one of whom is investor and shopping centre owner Betty Klimenko, the motorsports team owner who, in 2017, became the first Jewish person and female team owner to win the Bathurst 1000. Saunders has a function hall named in his honour at “Central”.
Camilla Freeman-Topper and Marc Freeman
The siblings behind the fashion label Camilla and Marc are rarely the most elegantly dressed at shule (that honour could go to the Rabbi’s wife Chanie). The designer duo have both married into the wealthy Jewish community. Freeman-Topper married businessman David Topper, while Marc is married to Nicole Landerer, daughter of Sydney lawyer John Landerer, another synagogue member.
Michael Rothner, Central Synagogue’s Vice-President
Co-principal of investment bank Ashe Morgan, moneybags Rothner courted controversy in 2017 after the Aston Martin-driving playboy’s marriage to wife Lisa ended and he landed in court after a builder sued the estranged coupled for $550,000 over unpaid bills.
Ashe Morgan, which in 2016 was investigated by the ATO (the bank denied anything adverse was found), acknowledged its directors made loans to the company at high interest rates. Rothner enjoys courting celebrity friends and was once photographed with Baron Cohen (picture here, in guise of The Dictator).
Danny Avidan and Charlie Brown
Ragtrader turned real estate developer Avidan and his celebrated fashion designer wife are pillars of the community.
Allen and Gary Linz
Allen and Gary are the sons of Barbecues Galore founder Sam Linz. Allen is a boutique building developer and MD of Rebel Property Group whose company oversees high end glamour projects from the Bondi Beach strip to the CBD. Brother Gary is the co-founder of the Oporto burger business.
Rodney Adler
Disgraced FAI Insurance businessman turned money lender Adler, and his long-suffering loved wife Lyndi, are long-time members.
Gavin Rubinstein
Rolls Royce, Lamborghini and Ferrari owning real estate agent Rubinstein has been dubbed the shule’s most eligible bachelor. He will soon star in a TV reality show commissioned by Amazon Prime Video which will focus on luxury property sales in Sydney’s east where 34-year-old Rubinstein runs his own business within the Ray White Group.
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Originally published as Sacha Baron Cohen and Isla Fisher welcomed at Bondi’s Central Synagogue
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