The deepest defence of Jewish life

For nearly three years, much of my time, and much of the ZFA team’s time, has been consumed by advocacy: engaging governments, confronting antisemitism and now the Royal Commission.

These are necessary fights, and we will keep fighting them. But it has always been clear to me that this is not where the Jewish future will ultimately be determined.

The important question we need to answer is: what makes Jewish life worth protecting?

Many of our Jewish schools are protected by high walls, secure gates and security guards. Those walls are not the purpose of our schools. They exist to protect what happens inside them.

While we have been forced to ensure that the physical perimeter is more secure, I believe that the intellectual life within must become more open: places where difficult questions are welcomed, where nuance is valued and young Jews develop the confidence not simply to defend their identity, but to understand it deeply.

In Sefer Shemot, the Torah gives us the mitzvah of v’higadeta l’vincha: “you shall tell your child.”

But the Mishnah in Pesachim makes clear that telling is not enough: In every generation, a person must see themselves as though they personally came out of Egypt.

So the obligation is not simply to teach the story. Our task is to help young Jews understand that they are part of the Jewish story, that it belongs to them, and that they have responsibilities to it.

Earlier this year, in the presence of President Isaac Herzog, I spoke directly to hundreds of Jewish high school students.

“Visit Israel, not as a tourist, but as an owner of our story. And let it complicate you in the best way,” I told them.

“Take Israel seriously enough to learn it properly. Not just headlines. Not just hashtags. Learn its achievements and its flaws. Learn its dilemmas.”

And I told them: “Your job is not to win every argument. Your job is to carve out your place in the story of the Jewish people.”

That challenge applies equally to those of us responsible for educating the next generation.

Are we giving young Jews enough knowledge to resist slogans? Enough confidence to live with complexity? Enough Jewish literacy that, long after they leave the classroom, they have the tools to continue discovering what their Jewish identity asks of them?

Amid the trauma of October 7 and the horror of Bondi, one thing has given me enormous optimism: the generation of young Jews who stepped forward.

Young Israelis have shouldered responsibilities none of us would have chosen for them. Diaspora Jews, including graduates of Australian Jewish schools, have made aliyah and served in the IDF. They chose responsibility and a place in the Jewish story.

That should make us all incredibly proud. They were shaped by their families, communities, youth movements and schools. Their response tells us that Jewish education in Australia has worked.

But the world for which we prepared them has changed. The question now is what Jewish education must become.

That question was at the heart of the ZFA’s recent Educators’ Conference, which brought together more than 450 Jewish educators from across Australia.

There was something profoundly encouraging in seeing so many educators come together to grapple seriously with the challenges facing Jewish education at this moment. The scale of the gathering reflected both the strength of Jewish education in Australia and the commitment of those entrusted with helping shape the next generation.

There has never been a more important time to be a Jewish educator.

Advocacy and security remain necessary. We need governments to confront antisemitism and institutions capable of keeping Jewish Australians safe. We need secure gates around our schools.

But a Jewish community cannot define its future by the forces arrayed against it.

The deepest defence of Jewish life is forming Jews who are literate, confident, curious and connected. Jews who can wrestle with complexity rather than retreat from it. Jews who can carry their identity into the world without fear or apology.

That, to me, is what v’higadeta l’vincha demands of us now. The challenge taken up by those 450 educators, and shared by all of us who care about the Jewish future, is to keep asking: what must we teach differently, what must stay the same, and what kind of Jews does this time require us to help shape?

Because ultimately, our task is not merely to teach the next generation how to defend the Jewish story; it is to ensure they know enough, care enough and feel sufficiently part of it to want to write its next chapter.

Jeremy Leibler is president of the Zionist Federation of Australia (ZFA). This article is adapted from his opening address at the ZFA Educators’ Conference, held on August 16-17.