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December 26, 2024
Thank you Rabbi for the invitation to be here for this important event tonight.
Hanukkah is known as the festival of light for a reason.
It is an optimistic, hopeful and positive festival.
But many in the Australian Jewish community are not feeling positive or hopeful at the moment.
In fact, it’s difficult to recall any time in our history that Australian Jews have felt less optimistic about their future in our country.
Not since the first Jews arrived on the first fleet, and thousands more after the Holocaust, has there been a time of greater distress for the Jewish community in Australia.
But I know many draw strength and determination from their faith and their history.
Hanukkah commemorates the liberation of the temple of Jerusalem from the Seleucid Empire in 164 BC by the Maccabees.
And it recalls the miracle of the menorah burning for eight days even though there was only enough oil to last for one.
It is another reminder of the unbroken connection of the Jewish people to the lands of Israel and the city of Jerusalem stretching back more than two millennium, contrary to the revisionists who today seek to erase that history.
It demonstrates the ancient persecution of the Jewish people but also their resilience, defiance and survival.
This gathering here tonight is also an act of defiance.
It’s true, we don’t require the courage of the Maccabees whose faith had been outlawed and whose brothers and sisters had been massacred.
But like the Maccabees we are gathering in the aftermath of the destruction of another place of faith, the Adass Israel Synagogue.
And we are meeting after a shocking act of intimidation on the steps of Parliament House only a week ago.
It follows 14 months of protests every weekend in this city which have featured anti-Semitic chants and open praise for listed terrorist organisations.
It has left many Victorian Jews feeling unwelcome in their own city.
One of the reasons why it is important that we are here tonight in Federation Square is to say that this is a city for everyone.
The Jewish community are just as welcome here in Melbourne as anyone else.
It is also an important opportunity for non-Jews like me and many of you here tonight to show our solidarity and support for the Jewish community in trying times.
As Martin Luther King said:
“In the End, we will remember not the words of our enemies, but the silence of our friends.”
We must not be silent.
At stake is not just the safety and security of our fellow Jewish Australians but the character of our nation.
If we stand by and allow them to be ostracized and intimidated we are conceding something fundamental about who we are.
Australia is a proudly tolerant, pluralist nation which jealously guards the principles of religious freedom.
Every Australian is entitled to the basic freedom to live their own life according to their values and pass those values on to the next generation.
If Australian Jews do not feel safe to freely practice their faith then no one is.
Let’s remember the Jewish proverb that “a little light dispels a lot of darkness.”
Individual acts of courage and solidarity can restore the hope and optimism every Australian should feel about their country.
Australia is the best country in the world, but we have not been at our best over the last year.
Fixing that requires all of us to stand up and show strength and courage - whether we are political leaders or community leaders or private citizens.
It is our task to be the light, to stand with the Jewish community this Hanukkah and together dispel the darkness.
The Jewish community is strong. They are resilient. They have friends. And they are not going anywhere.
Happy Hanukkah.
ENDS
