From despair and grief to a renewed Jewish peoplehood
How do we capture this renewed sense of Jewish peoplehood and transform it into meaningful action?
This year, the Zionist Federation of Australia (ZFA) convened for the first time in the shadow of October 7 – a date that will forever mark our collective memory.
Reflecting back to our conference in August 2022, I was then focused on the deep political divisions within the Jewish world, as Israelis protested judicial reforms. My feelings back then fluctuated between despair and hope. Today, those same words capture my emotions, albeit in an entirely different context.
October 7 evoked a vulnerability and anguish rarely experienced by Jews worldwide since the Holocaust. Instead of euphoria and pride – like those felt after the Six-Day War in 1967 – today we feel grief and vulnerability. Not a moment passes that we aren’t thinking about that day – replaying the horror and feeling the weight of every loss. There isn’t a moment we aren’t thinking of those still held captive in Gaza’s darkness or our brave soldiers risking everything for us as the war continues.
But amid this grief, there is also a profound sense of hope – hope that the hostages will return, that Israel will prevail, and hope derived from a newfound connection to one another that has awakened across the Jewish world.
We are no longer the fractured Jewish communities of last year; today, we are bound together with a fierce sense of peoplehood.
Some days, I admit, grief outweighs hope. I don’t have all the answers for how we move forward from here. What I do know is that both the State of Israel and Diaspora Jewry have been changed forever, and we all have an opportunity to shape the direction of this transformation.
Since assuming my role in 2018, my focus has been to broaden the tent – to ensure everyone has a seat at the table, from the politically left to right, religious to secular. Back then, our divisions were political, but today, we are no longer divided by left or right. Today, it’s about reaching the heart of our community – those who may have previously felt detached but now recognise the depth and importance of their connection to Israel and Jewish identity.
Our challenge as leaders is: How do we harness this moment? How do we capture this renewed sense of Jewish peoplehood and transform it into meaningful action?
Some might say – now is not the time. And indeed, Ben-Gurion’s words in 1948 feel painfully relevant: “There is now nothing more important than war needs, and nothing equal to war needs.” I believe that until Israel secures the release of every hostage, restores safety, and brings displaced communities home, we all live in today’s urgency. But as Jews and Zionists, we live with an eye toward tomorrow, and as Jewish leaders, we must plan for it.
This is why the ZFA’s recent constitutional amendments, which allow for broader representation and new voices, are more than symbolic gestures – they are our way of meeting this historic moment. Just as the events of 1967 reshaped Jewish communities across the globe, we now have a unique opportunity to build a more inclusive and representative communal structure, one that embodies our rediscovered sense of Jewish peoplehood.
When I reflect back on my visit to Israel just six weeks after October 7, beyond all the horror and tragedy, I witnessed and experienced first hand this renewed sense of connection. I recall meeting evacuees from Kibbutz Or HaNer who had been evacuated to a hotel in Jerusalem. These were salt of the earth country people. Many of their children had never seen a big city before. On paper, we had little in common, yet it was clear that we had a connection that transcended politics or geography.
It struck me then that this is precisely what the late Rabbi Lord Jonathan Sacks described after the Six-Day-War when he said, “Being Jewish is not merely a private and personal matter, but something collective and historical. It means being part of an extended family, many of whose members we may never meet, yet to whom we feel deeply connected by bonds of kinship and responsibility.”
That collective feeling is what struck me so deeply during my visit – a shared identity and responsibility that will enable us not merely to survive, but to thrive.
After all, Zionism has always been about more than survival. The chalutzim (pioneers) of the Zionist movement refused to accept mere survival; they sought to build something greater – a homeland, a future, a vision. As I look out over the community gathered at our conference, I see this as our collective challenge: ensuring that the legacy of October 7 is not one of grief or mere endurance but one of strength, unity and hope for a thriving Jewish future.
Jeremy Leibler is president of the Zionist Federation of Australia.
This piece is an edited extract of his speech at the ZFA’s biennial conference held in Melbourne on November 3.
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