Editorial, September 3, 2010

Remembering together

ZACHOR invokes our tradition. Remember. This weekend, some 80 people will descend on the New South Wales town of Hay to mark seven decades since, by order of the British government, around 2000 Jews arrived Down Under on the transport vessel, Dunera, and entered internment camps as enemy aliens. For these Dunera Boys — German and Austrian Jews who had sought the shelter of Britain as their familiar lives crumbled — the irony of their predicament was painful. On the basis of their nationality, these Jews were classed as security risks in the war against Nazism.

But making the best of their situation in the camps at Hay, and later at Tatura, Victoria, they set up a thriving community, fostered a cultural life, and even organised higher learning in preparation for hopefully brighter years ahead. Squeezing lemonade out of life’s lemons — what could be more quintessentially Jewish?

A few years after their docking, with the end of the war and the Shoah, a multitude of Jewish arrivals set foot on what writer Serge Liberman has called Australia’s “firmer shores”.

From the vantage point of today’s prosperous and self-reliant Jewish community, we look back seven decades ago, when our people’s fate was to be dispersed yet again in our history; the doomed ones in rail transports, the fortunate ones across oceans. Across the Red Sea or the Indian Ocean, navigating our way to a better life is a heritage we commemorate. It is the essence of who we are and what we value.

As a community, we can never be comfortable while the nation’s back is turned to those who arrive in genuine peril across the water. Nor can we avert our eyes from the fate of those who have suffered terribly in this land to which they arrived, not seven decades, but some 40 millennia ago.
So it is exciting to also report this week on a project by the Embassy of Israel to finance a project to preserve the history and traditions of the Mayng Galang indigenous people in Dubbo, NSW. As Israeli Ambassador Yuval Rotem put it, this project is an investment in the belief that our children can prosper and achieve without leaving their heritage behind.

It brings to mind indigenous advocate Noel Pearson’s description this year of the Jewish community, confident and self-sustaining, as a role model for Aboriginal Australians.

Ignoring boundaries

IN January this year, Israel grabbed the world’s attention, but for once it was not the focus of criticism or condemnation. Instead, the global media heaped praise upon the Jewish State for the extent and effectiveness of its contribution to the relief effort in Haiti. Eight months on, Israeli teams are still operating on the earthquake-ravaged island, helping to rebuild shattered homes and shattered lives.

Similar levels of aid and expertise could have arrived in Pakistan in recent weeks to help the country cope with the aftermath of flooding that has left millions homeless. True, the waters may now be receding, but the threat of cholera, dysentery and malnutrition, as well as the country’s devastated infrastructure, mean the impact of the disaster will be felt for many months and years to come — already, more than one-tenth of the entire population, 17 million out of 168 million people, are said to have been affected.

And yet, instead of accepting critical aid that could save lives, the ruling regime in Pakistan chose to play politics and rebuff relief offers from Israel. That being the case, some may wonder why we ourselves should help if the Pakistani people’s own government would prefer to see its citizens suffer and die rather than accept assistance from the Jewish State.

But that is precisely the reason. Because in the face of such tragedy, wherever it occurs and whoever it affects, unlike the Pakistani regime, we as Jews do prioritise people over politics. Hence, the dedicated appeals that have been launched by Jewish relief organisations in the US and UK.

The same opportunities for community-wide campaigns may not have arisen in Australia, but nonetheless, we as individuals should not shirk from our responsibility towards fellow human beings, giving all we can to help alleviate the suffering.

It is perhaps poignant that we make this call as the community marks the 70th anniversary of the Dunera. For just as we remember how our parents and grandparents from far-away countries were given the chance to rebuild their ravaged lives here in Australia, so we today have the chance to help others in a foreign country rebuild their ravaged lives.

It is a chance we must seize, for we as a people know only too well that humanity in the face of tragedy must not be limited by politics or geography. Please give generously to aid the people of Pakistan.