‘Australia’s heart breaks for Israel’
'These are abhorrent acts and we can only look on in horror at what is happening – and stand strong with Israel'
CORDONED off and bathed in flashing blue light, Inkerman Road outside Caulfield Shule on Monday night after the Jewish community’s United For Israel rally looked as surreal as the events of recent days have felt.
In the middle of the road, a group draped in Israeli flags broke out into Am Yisrael Chai. It felt therapeutic to sing it and to hear it on this grim night – as details of death, wounding, kidnapping and terror filled the air and pounded at benumbed brains struggling to comprehend the scale and depravity of the Hamas onslaught.
Inside, a capacity crowd struggled with emotions as Rinat Kedem Bart, a resident of Israel’s south, speaking from an overhead screen, described Saturday and Sunday as “more horrifying than the worst horror movies”.
Bart, a friend of Ofir Libstein, mayor of Sha’ar Hanegev, murdered by the Hamas terrorists, recounted celebrating Libstein’s 50th birthday only recently.
“The best leaders, the [south’s] halutzim [pioneers] are the ones we lost. Entire families have been wiped out. It feels like a Holocaust inside Israel,” she said.
In a show of communal unity not seen in decades, Temple Beth Israel (TBI) Rabbi Gary Robuck recited the Prayer for Israel from the bimah of an Orthodox shule. Caulfield Shule’s Rabbi Daniel Rabin gave a prayer for the hostages and chazan Dov Farkas chanted Kel Malei Rachamim.
Political leaders spoke empathetically. Introduced by Jewish Community Council of Victoria president Daniel Aghion, Deputy Prime Minister Richard Marles stated, “Tonight, Australia’s heart breaks for Israel. Tonight, in the face of this evil, Australia embraces Israel and all her people.”
Senator James Paterson said, “Israel has a moral obligation to defend its citizens, its way of life. The response [to Hamas] must be decisive. We will stand with you through what needs to be done.”
Emphasising “Israel’s right to defend herself”, Victorian Deputy Premier Ben Carroll said, “These attacks on Israel are abhorrent … the stories coming out are horrific.”
Victorian Liberal Leader John Pesutto exclaimed, “I want you all to know – and to take whatever comfort I can provide – to assure you that we stand united in Victoria against these acts – war crimes – committed against the people of Israel.”
Speaking to The AJN as the rally ended, Attorney-General Mark Dreyfus said, “These are abhorrent acts and we can only look on in horror at what is happening – and stand strong with Israel.”
Addressing the rally, Zionism Victoria president Yossi Goldfarb said, “Today we are all Israelis … I stand firmly but on weakened knees as I, like all in this venue, struggle to comprehend the enormity of the hatred that motivates people to take children hostage, to murder innocents.”
At a packed TBI on Sunday, Progressive Jewry gathered for a vigil organised by Progressive Judaism Victoria. Union for Progressive Judaism (UPJ) co-president Brian Samuel read a statement from the UPJ, the Australian Reform Zionist Association, Assembly of Rabbis and Cantors of Australia and the Netzer youth movement: “We stand with Israel, its citizens and the Israel Defence Forces. We pray for a swift resolution to the unprovoked aggression. Am Yisrael Chai.”
In northern Sydney on Monday night, there was barely an empty aisle, nor a dry eye, inside Kehillat Masada, as Hatikvah and Oseh Shalom were sung in unity at a communal prayer evening for Israel, attended by the area’s federal and state MPs, and local mayor.
The service – co-hosted by Kehillat Masada, Chabad North Shore, North Shore Synagogue, and Cremorne shule – was scheduled to include an address, via a live phone call cross, by NSW Jewish Board of Deputies acting CEO Michael Gencher, who is currently in Israel.
But unfortunately, during the first 15 seconds of the call, an air raid siren could be heard, and Gencher said, “I’m so sorry, but I have to rush into a shelter right now.”
Prayers and psalms for the people of Israel, the fallen, the wounded, the IDF soldiers and the hostages taken by Hamas, were recited in the moving service led by Rabbis Natti Friedman, Nochum Schapiro, Paul Lewin and Chaim Koncepolski.
In a stirring message, Rabbi Schapiro said, “We are all bleeding, we all feel such terrible hurt by what has happened, and we’re concerned because things aren’t over … but we have to know that we will be victorious [over Hamas], because Hashem is with us, and because our love is more powerful than their hate.
“We are in pain [caused] by those who fight us, but we don’t need their permission to exist.
“When our nation is threatened, the differences [between Israelis] become irrelevant, we embrace each other, and we are there for each other.”
Rabbi Friedler echoed that point, stressing the importance and relevance – especially in these troubled times – of Shema Yisrael and Am Yisrael, “because when we are one, nobody can defeat us.”
Rabbi Lewin said, “As we reflect upon this incredible sacrifice, this bloodshed, this murder of hundreds and hundreds of Jews – numbers killed that we have not seen since the Holocaust – we are left dumbstruck.
“They were slaughtered for only one reason – that they were Jewish.
“How could this happen? I don’t know the answer to this,” he said, before adding what he did know was the power of gathering “as a community, as we are doing here”, and turning to Hashem.
Federal Member for Bradfield Paul Fletcher said, “What we have seen [by Hamas] over the last couple of days is shocking and absolutely appalling – it is an attack on innocent, unarmed men, women and children, an attack on Judaism, on Israel, an attack on a close and democratic friend, and an attack against civilisation, and the values of tolerance and decency.”
Together with state MPs Matt Cross (Davidson), Alister Henskens (Wahroonga) and mayor of Ku-Ring-Gai Sam Ngai, Fletcher added, “We are here tonight because we want to express our strong support for our local Jewish communities, and for the people of Israel.”
Cross said, “We’re here to serve the community, and we stand with Israel.”
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