Healing, unity and the road ahead

Our community is still coming to terms with the horrific Bondi Beach terror attack.

The road back is complex. For many of us, it will not lead to the same place we started.

Australia, too, has begun navigating its own path forward, as seen through the hearings of the Royal Commission into Antisemitism and Social Cohesion.

That process still has a long way to run. There will be many more hearings before the commission is expected to report in December. But it was heartening this week to read ECAJ co-CEO Peter Wertheim’s optimism that the process may yet make a meaningful difference. We also hope the evidence heard around security measures will help make Australia safer for everyone in the future.

But fixing the country is one thing. A Royal Commission is a structured process with objectives and outcomes.

Healing ourselves is far more complicated.

Unity and solidarity remain vital, which is why it was so important that the Australian Council of Jewish Schools brought education leaders from around the country to Sydney this week.

At the same time, each of us must also walk our own inner path.

For inspiration, we can look to one of the beloved figures we lost. As the newly recovered photo on this week’s cover shows, Rabbi Eli Schlanger lived his life doing what he loved until his very last moments. He embraced being Jewish, but more than that, he revelled in the joy of being Jewish, encouraging and inspiring others to do the same.

His recently released book with Nikki Goldstein, Conversations with My Rabbi, now allows us to continue learning from his wisdom.

We will never forget what happened or those who were taken from us. That pain will never disappear. But how we carry it forward is up to us.

Perhaps Eli can help guide that journey.

What a powerful way to honour his memory by focusing not only on how he died, but on how he lived.

At Tuesday’s book launch, Goldstein said she wished “Eli was in the room with us”. His father-in-law, Rabbi Yehoram Ulman, gently corrected her and said that he was.

And as long as we keep his light alive, and the light of all those we lost, by living with the same purpose, joy and faith they embodied, they will always remain with us.