ON A quiet corner in one of Ballarat East’s historic buildings, John Abraham is helping to keep an ancient set of traditions alive. Abraham is president of the Ballarat Hebrew Congregation which gathers in what is thought to be the oldest synagogue still in regular use on Australia’s mainland.Ballarat’s Jewish community has dwindled in numbers since gold drew migrants from across the world to Ballarat. However, Abraham remembers his father, Elias, recounting days when the synagogue was so full it was impossible to find a seat during religious services.Next month when the congregation and guests celebrate the 150th anniversary of the synagogue’s consecration, Abraham believes it will be standing room only once again.For many years Ballarat’s Jewish community held regular services in the synagogue, which is referred to as a ‘shule’ in Yiddish.These days up to eight services each year are held in the synagogue. While much of Australia’s Jewish community arrived after the World War II, Abraham is a fourth-generation Australian.“My great-grandparents were the second or third people married in this shule,” he says.Abraham’s Jewish identity is entwined with the synagogue and his family history in Ballarat. His father was treasurer at the synagogue for more than 30 years. Abraham’s grandfather, Isaac, was a committee member of the congregation while great-grandfather, Sydney, was also a committee member and auditor.From the time his family moved to Ballarat, Abraham said Jews held prominent positions and were free to practise their religion and culture in peace.“From the start of Ballarat there’s been members of our community that have been councillors, members of parliament, mayors and (we’ve been) involved in just about every philanthropic organisation in Ballarat,” Abraham says.Although Jewish communities were brutally persecuted throughout Europe culminating in the Holocaust, University of Ballarat history lecturer Anne Beggs Sunter agrees Jews were leaders and widely accepted in Ballarat. She believes the synagogue is a reminder of Ballarat’s multicultural history.“At the Eureka Stockade there were at least 17 different nationalities represented which gives you a flavour of how multicultural society was,” she says. According to Australian Jewish Historicaly Society Victoria president Howard Freeman Jewish culture once thrived in Ballarat.“Ballarat boasted a Jewish Philanthropic Society, Hebrew day school, Hebrew Ladies Benevolent Society, Jewish Club, a Jewish Young Men’s Literary and Debating Society, and even a Hebrew Fire Brigade,” he says.Beggs Sunter said the synagogue would have been a “fine and very substantial building” in its day. It is now heritage listed. It was in this building that Abraham read from the Torah for his bar mitzvah ceremony which marked a religious transition to manhood.“(It was) pretty daunting. The shule was fairly full and I had to read my (Torah) portion in Hebrew and do the normal blessings...in front of a very large extended family. It was a big occasion,” Abraham recalls. Ballarat’s Jewish community is no longer large enough to sustain regular services at the synagogue, but Abraham hopes Jews who move into the region will rejoin the community here. Keeping it alive until that happens is important.”