A note about matters of the heart

Above all else, guard your heart, for everything you do flows from it.” Proverbs 4:23 – words rooted in the deepest layers of Jewish sacred writing, spoken by sages and cherished within families for thousands of years. It’s a teaching we share in passing with our Christian neighbours too, since their faith grows from these same ancient texts, with the Old Testament forming the foundation before those lessons thread into the New.

There’s something elemental in this – that Jews, Christians and others reach for this wisdom to shape how we live, how we endure, how we lean into goodness in a world often far from gentle.

For Jews living in Australia, this proverb calls out across generations, shining like a beacon at a time when storms gather. It’s a shield against the tide of antisemitism that’s been rising in our country with a relentless and disturbing force. Recent months have brought attacks on synagogues, ugly threats, painted slurs, and acts of violence that make ordinary life feel tense, uncertain.

We hear stories of children afraid to wear their Magen David necklaces, of elders who double-lock doors, of families who worry about walking to shule. Statistics and headlines spell out the trend – tripling incidents, fearful polling, politicians rushing for solutions – yet the ache is felt most keenly in heartbeats, in everyday acts of bravely showing up anyway.

What does it mean, then, to “guard your heart” in this climate? The Bible doesn’t offer platitudes or gentle comforts, it demands action, proactivity, a reckoning with our own moral fibres. It asks us to take stock of what we’re made of, to check our prejudices and our courage, to refuse the role of passive recipient. Jewish tradition, ever layered and relentless, insists that when hate is loud, we respond: not with silence or withdrawal, but by educating, comforting and uniting.

The responsibility is real. Tikkun olam, the repair of our world, is written into the DNA of our people.

We’re told to speak for the oppressed, stand up for justice, and build anew where there’s been harm. The stories of Joseph, of Moses, of our prophets model an ethic of proactive goodness, and transformed adversity.

And still – the proverb persists (4.23) – “Above all else, guard your heart.”

When hatred shouts through spray paint or social media, guarding your heart becomes rebellion. We resist letting cruelty shape the contours of our story.

The Bible’s furious insistence is that our dignity, our worth as children of God, survives every slur, every threat. The world’s brutality, no matter how brash or insidious, cannot reach the deepest springs of who we are. Jewish history in Australia stretches deep and wild. It’s woven from faith, laughter and stubborn hope.

Our survival is about refusing to let fear or bitterness take root in the innermost places. What dwells inside – the anxieties, yes, but also the hope and vision – flows out into how we stand in the world.

Sharing this proverb, making it breathe in public and private spaces – in writing, in conversations, at street corners tells Jewish Australians that our hearts matter, stubbornly and gloriously, that our traditions are a guide through trouble and toward courage. In this moment, the call to “guard your heart” is as fierce as ever – a gift not only for ourselves, but for anyone prepared to do the hard work of protecting what is precious and vulnerable.

Proverb 4:23: “Above all else, guard your heart, for everything you do flows from it” does more than offer comfort. It dares us to draw a line in the sand, to stake our claim on hope even as storm clouds gather.

Guarding our hearts isn’t passive protection – it’s defiance. It’s saying: you will not make us small, you will not dictate our story in this country we’ve helped build with our spirit and with our hands.

This is the heartbeat of resistance, of resilience, forged in Jewish history by generations who refused silence and chose instead to comfort, and repair.

Let the world rage and the headlines scream – our worth, our dignity as children of God, stand untouched in the deepest places.

So share the proverb. Speak it softly or shout it, inscribe it in homes and hearts. Make it an anthem: not just for surviving, but for flourishing, for making Australia a country where it is glorious, not just safe, to be Jewish. Guard your heart; let your life flow strong and true from that deepest source.

In the end, it’s not hate that wins – it’s the fierce, unyielding light we refuse to let go.

Sharon Tidhar is a Melbourne-based lawyer and writer.