Special concert in response to Bondi attack

A musical and spoken-word work written in response to the December 14 Bondi attack will be performed in Melbourne this month, following its premiere at this year’s Sydney Jewish Writers Festival of the Spoken Word. Hineinu: Songs for This Time, created by Sydney-based musicians Nadav Kahn and Joey DeRusha, will be staged on Wednesday, November 25 by the Lamm Jewish Library of Australia. The event is in partnership with Glen Eira City Council, the Jewish Independent and Young Adults Caulfield Shule.

The performance brings together song, prayer, chants, niggunim and spoken word in Hebrew, English and Yiddish, responding to the aftermath of the Bondi attack and the ongoing impact of October 7.

At its centre is a new body of original songs Kahn and DeRusha wrote in the weeks and months after the attack. According to the artists, the songs were written as a way of processing, questioning and expressing the experiences of the past few years. Kahn’s wife and young daughter both survived the Bondi attack.

The original material is interwoven with reworked Hebrew liturgical and Yiddish pieces, contemporary songs and wordless melodies, moving between themes of memory, grief, resilience and repair.

The Hebrew title Hineinu translates to “here we are”, which is described as a declaration of presence. The organisers said the evening will be part concert, part vigil and part prayer space, with an emphasis on listening, reflection and audience participation through shared singing.