Rabbi Ulman urges more Jewish pride
'If they targeted us because we are Jews, then the answer was not less Judaism. The answer is more. More light, more mitzvahs, more presence, more pride'
Chabad of Bondi spiritual leader Rabbi Yehoram Ulman has urged Jews not to retreat in the face of hostility, telling an international conference in Jerusalem that the response to hatred must be more Jewish life, pride and visibility.
Speaking at the International Conference on Combating Antisemitism on Tuesday, Rabbi Ulman, whose son-in-law Rabbi Eli Schlanger was killed in the Bondi Beach massacre, described the community’s deliberate decision to respond with strength rather than fear.
“In the hours after the attack, Sydney was wrapped in shock and grief, and within that fog, a question surfaced, and it’s the same question that has followed the Jewish people for thousands of years. What now?,” Ulman said.
“The instinct when hunted is to hide, lower your profile, blend in, be less visible. Well-meaning voices told us be careful, don’t provoke. Stay quiet for a while. But we made a conscious decision. For every Jewish life taken, we would add Jewish life.
“If they targeted us because we are Jews, then the answer was not less Judaism. The answer is more. More light, more mitzvahs, more presence, more pride. And that decision changed everything.”
Ulman called for stronger moral education, including a daily moment of silence in schools to encourage reflection and responsibility, a longtime Chabad priority.
“Antisemitism is not a theory. It is not a policy debate. It is not a headline,” he said. “It is an empty seat at a Shabbat table.
“The legacy of those we have lost must be strength, not fear,” he added, urging nations to raise children “with accountability to something higher than themselves”.
Former Australian prime minister Scott Morrison, who spoke after Ulman, focused on the impact of rising antisemitism in Australia, describing fear and trauma within the Jewish community and warning that democratic societies must confront uncomfortable truths to preserve pluralism.
Referring to the December terror attack at Bondi Beach, Morrison argued that failures of leadership and education, along with a lack of moral clarity, have allowed extremism to fester in Australia.
“Antisemitism flourishes when responsibility is replaced by grievance,” Morrison said. “Societies depend on individual moral agency, and when failure is moralised as systemic injustice, liberal norms collapse.”
The conference, held at Jerusalem’s International Convention Centre, was opened by Israeli President Isaac Herzog, who is due in Australia next month.
Herzog warned that antisemitism remains a potent and deadly force 81 years after six million Jews were killed in the Holocaust.
“The Holocaust was the single greatest catastrophe in the history of humanity and in the history of our people,” Herzog said. “The same ancient poison — hatred of Jews — has always carried the same name: antisemitism. Let us call it what it is.”
Diaspora Affairs Minister Amichai Chikli said the conference sought to “banish political correctness, call the child [antisemitism] by its true name, and mobilise all forces in the ideological and physical struggle against the heirs of the modern Nazis”.
“This is not just the struggle of the Jewish people. This is the struggle of the free world against the imperialism and tyranny of radical Islam,” Chikli said.
The conference included appearances by Jewish Federations of North America president and CEO Eric Fingerhut and other mainstream voices, alongside conservative influencers and foreign politicians.
Last year’s conference sparked controversy for including far-right politicians, leading several high-profile Jewish leaders to back out. This year, Chikli worked closely with Diaspora community leaders to avoid a repeat of the controversy.
Zev Stub contributed to this report.
WITH TIMES OF ISRAEL