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Should read:  "...but as a result of the close communities of the main centres and some regional ones, of which the former..."

New Zealand Jewish Community in 2012

New Zealand Jewish Community in 2012

Comprising Auckland, Wellington, Christchurch, Dunedin, and also

Palmerston North, Hamilton, and other regional centres of both the North & South Islands

The NZ Jewish community has been a vibrant one ever since its establishment in the mid-nineteenth century, concurrently with the early settlement by Britain. Its main centres have been, and still are, Auckland, Wellington, Christchurch, Dunedin, and to a lesser extent, Palmerston North and Hamilton. In the twentieth century, although by sheer numbers, Auckland was the largest centre of Jews in New Zealand, some may argue that Wellington and Christchurch had more vibrant, more active communities. The 1970s and especially '80s saw a mass exodus of Kiwi Jews from Auckland and Wellington, which continued into the '90s, and has levelled off since the Milennium. Some went to Israel, some to England, a good number to the USA, but the vast majority have resettled in Australia. This comprised Melbourne primarily, Sydney a close second, and other centres such as the Gold Coast, Western Australia and South Australia. It has been a major challenge for New Zealand Jewry to maintain vibrant congregations over the last thirty years because of this massive emigration, but as a result of the close communities of the main centres and some regional ones, of which the latter have also been supplemented by entries from Russia, South Africa and Europe, their communities, synogogues and temples have survived and even prospered.

NZ @ 2012 London Olympics

As at time of writing (Friday 10 August 2012), New Zealand has won a healthy ten medals, comprising:

• 3 gold
• 2 silver, and
• 5 bronze

This has put New Zealand at the top of the alternative list of "Olympic Medals per capita in population ranking". It also put New Zealand in the top 10 nations throughout most of the Games, well ahead of Australia, which has traditionally achieved more in Olympics than NZ, and was also ahead of Australia with gold medals throughout most of the XXV Olympiad.

The golds have been won by:

• Mahe Drysdale - Rowing (single scull, men)
• Eric Murray & Hamish Bond - Rowing (coxless pair, men)
• Nathan Cohen & Joseph Sullivan - Rowing (double scull, mem)

Silver medals won by:

• Peter Burling & Blair Tuke - Sailing (49er, men)
• Valerie Adams - Athletics (shot put, women)

Bronze won by:

• Simon van Velhooven - Cycling, Track (Keirin, men)
• Storm Uru & Peter Taylor - Rowing (lightweight double scull, men)
• Marc Ryan, Sam Bewley, Westley Gough, Jesse Sargent, Aaron Gate - Cycling, Track (4000m Team Pursuit, men)
• Andrew Nicholson, Mark Todd, Caroline Powell, Jonelle Richards, Jock Paget - Equestrian, Eventing (team, open)
• Juliette Haigh, Rebecca Scown - Rowing (Coxless pair, women)

New Zealand is currently 19th on the medal table, which is an immense achievement for a nation of four-and-a-half million, and is thus far one of their most successful Olympic Games ever.

For the first time, as with other Western countries such as USA, Australia and Canada, social media (networking) has played a large part in the Games, using such websites as Facebook, Twitter and YouTube. This has been a double-edged sword: it keeps the atheletes in touch with their fans and often contributes to their success on the track or in the pool, but it has also created a backlash effect where some atheletes have felt overwhelmed and have underperformed due to the added pressure. This has been the case not so much with the New Zealand team, but especially with the USA, and to a lesser extent, Australia.