PM joins ‘mishpocha’ for Chanukah
A staunch friend of the Jewish community and a personal friend to so many within it, Malcolm Turnbull attended his first Jewish function as Prime Minister, when he lit the chanukiah at Central Synagogue on Monday.
A staunch friend of the Jewish community and a personal friend to so many within it, Malcolm Turnbull attended his first Jewish function as Prime Minister, when he lit the chanukiah at Central Synagogue on Monday.
“It’s always good to be here with so many friends, for some of you, for most of my life,” he told the cheering crowd in the synagogue’s atrium. “I will always feel I’m in the bosom of a very warm family when I’m here at Central.”
Noting that “every menorah has a shamash”, Central Synagogue’s Rabbi Levi Wolff told the PM: “To our country, you are the shamash.
“God has given you the platform, the opportunity, and … the responsibility to kindle the single most important asset this great country has – the 24 million candles that make this nation sparkle and shine. You have the capacity to inspire this nation so that our large menorah, called Australia, will shine as a beacon of light not only to this region but to the to entire world.”
Turnbull himself spoke of the opportunities ahead for Australia, which he hopes to unlock with the government’s recently announced Innovation policy. “The boom that comes next is a path that Israel has trod before us, and Israel has given us such a great example in this regard,” he said.
He said Australia’s greatest asset is its people. “Optimism, commitment, persistence, resilience, these are the Australian qualities upon which we build our future,” he said.
“And they are the very qualities that we’ve celebrated in Chanukah, that is what Chanukah is all about – resilience, indomitability, getting up, having another go, not being downcast because the odds seem overwhelming.
“That is the message, it’s a message for the Jewish people, it’s a message for humanity. The lights of Chanukah light up not just the Jewish world, but the whole world with their example.”
Addressing the topic of national security, Turnbull said he had discussed the issue of terrorism with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu when they met in Paris last month.
He added that terrorists wish to divide us and that “we have to remain a strong, united multicultural society standing up for our values”.
Following the formal program, Turnbull spent time playing dreidel with children and posing for selfies.
He told The AJN after the event: “It was wonderful to be amongst mishpocha, I’ve always felt at home amongst the Jewish community and it was wonderful to celebrate Zos [last day of] Chanukah with friends.”
GARETH NARUNSKY
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