The seven living truths
I want to talk to you about seven truths. Seven guiding principles that I have observed in my life, and particularly over the past 14 months.
In 2023, not long before October 7, I had a book published called The 7 Deadly Myths which exposes the conspiracy theories that underpin antisemitism.
This time, I want to talk to you about seven truths. Seven guiding principles that I have observed in my life, and particularly over the past 14 months.
1. Don’t be afraid.
That doesn’t mean that there is nothing to fear. The things we are facing are very real.
But fear only corrupts our response and weakens us for the fight. Those of you who are going on to university, or business or to travel or whatever you choose to do, do so without fear.
If it helps dispel the fear, remember that you are not alone in anything you do. You have a great and mighty civilisation, the Jewish civilisation, that stands behind you. And you have a community, which is really a family of families that stands beside you.
And if you need further inspiration to be strong and of good courage look to our brothers and sisters in Israel.
The absolute last thing you should fear is being challenged by words or ideas. This school, your family, your community has given you the best education and support there is, but even more than that, you are on the side of truth so just speak it.
2. Never hide your identity.
Never do that. It goes beyond pride. It is a matter of basic dignity and self-respect. Never hide who you are.
If you do, little by little you will stop recognising yourself and then all is lost.
3. Don’t turn away from your Jewishness.
It is not easy to be a Jew. It’s not always cool to be a Jew.
As I’ve said, I wouldn’t wish it on anyone, but I’d die before giving it up.
And it is easy under the strain of conformity to just set aside your Jewishness or your love of Israel with a simple shrug of the shoulders. To abandon it through apathy.
You have no right to do that.
Because what you have is not yours alone. It has been handed down to you. You hold it on trust for those to follow.
You hold it on behalf of the majority of our people and your own family who never made it.
You are their emissary and their hope. Don’t let them down. I know that might weigh heavily on you but that’s the way it is.
4. Don’t withdraw from society.
It is easy when faced with prejudice to seek the comfort of your own and to cut off non-Jewish friends, find work in Jewish law firms, Jewish businesses for fear of facing people who may not accept you. I’m seeing a lot of this in the community.
I understand it completely. It’s tempting after a period of trauma to say as the poet Agnon said after the massacre of Jews in Hebron in 1929, “my attitude is now this: I do not hate them and I do not love them; but I do not wish to see their faces.”
Don’t do that. This country is yours too. We helped build it. We helped make it what it is. This is the freest and most fortunate country on earth. Don’t let anyone make you feel like you’re an outsider or you don’t belong.
Our mission is to bring light. Our gift is our ethics. We have to show people who we are and stride confidently into every forum – politics, the arts, the professions, wherever you want to go. Go there. And go there proudly as a Jewish Australian.
5. Honour your mother and your father and your grandparents.
Listen to their stories for they explain why you are as you are.
They may be crazy, believe me I know, but in the fullness of time they turn out to be right. So collect their wisdom and carry it with you.
6. Money isn’t the most important thing.
When choosing your profession or field find your purpose and back yourself.
But if you think money doesn’t matter in life and will just fall into a lap, you’re a fool. And we’re no fools.
Finally, to achieve anything in life, especially happiness you need to:
7. Find where you belong.
Some people live their whole lives and never feel like they belong anywhere.
To find it you have to explore, you have to be prepared to say “yes” even though saying “no” is always easier, you have to be prepared to fail dismally, embarrass yourself. But none of that is of any consequence in life. And the foundation of your belonging, to which you can always return, and which you can never change is your family and your people.
Your family is the best family because it is yours. And your people are the most extraordinary people because that is exactly what they are.
So congratulations students, parents, teachers on a long, long year, may the holidays renew us, and may each of the year 12s go proudly into this world, knowing who you are, and seizing everything that you desire.
Alex Ryvchin is the co-CEO of the Executive Council of Australian Jewry.
This piece is based on a speech delivered at the Emanuel School prize giving night.
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