The Bond of Bondi

Like everybody, I woke up today to the familiar news that never stops shocking, to the oppression in the chest and the lump in the throat.

This time, it was Sydney, a community to which I’ve been several times and with which JFN has strong ties through our sister organization, the Australian Jewish Funders.

Brains work in strange ways under stress, and mine was no exception. My first thought, curiously, went to the Norwegian city of Tromso, a small town north of the Arctic Circle. During the Holocaust, the Nazis went all the way there, literally to the end of the world, to catch the eighteen Jews that lived in the town. There could not be a safe place for Jews, not even amid Arctic snows – and now, not even in the careless sands of Bondi Beach.

I shouldn’t be surprised. After all, I come from Buenos Aires, a city that is equally remote and was the scene of two massacres of Jews. I remember my disbelief and shock, “It can’t be happening here.” And then my devastating realization, “Why not?”

The Sydney community now joins the long list of those that had considered themselves exceptional, and have discovered, traumatically, that they are under the same threats as Jews everywhere. It’s the same discovery that American Jews had made in Pittsburgh, and Argentinean Jews at AMIA.  But here’s a more important truth: If hatred reaches everywhere, so does our love, our defiance, and strength.

The Australian Jewish Community has felt the hate; now it’s up to us to make them feel the love. No, they aren’t exceptional; they are part of the Jewish people, and thus, exposed to hatred. But being a part of the Jewish People means also experiencing the love and support of the millions around the world who feel close to you and feel your pain.

The pain we feel when we hear of Jews attacked, that pain is peoplehood. And peoplehood is stronger than bullets and bombs. It has sustained us for four thousand years, and it will sustain us for thousands of years more. Australian Jews will wake up in the morning with a new song, a tune of mourning that they’ll sing with grief and heartbreak, but also with unprecedented strength and determination. And we, the Jewish People, need to be their chorus, the orchestra that makes their voices more powerful than ever.

Our brothers and sisters in Sydney will now discover what we had learned before, that the worst thing they can do is cower in fear. This is the moment for defiance and assertiveness, to demand justice and accountability from those in authority who willfully ignored the many warnings written on the wall.

Over the coming days, we will learn more about how we can support the Australian Jewish Community during its worst time. In the meantime, I invite you to discover what makes that community a hidden jewel in the Jewish world. Their world-class Jewish schools, their record-breaking level of affiliation, their unwavering Zionism, and innovative programs like Launchpad, an incubator of Jewish innovation with no parallel in the Jewish world, which our AJF partners lead. In philanthropy, Australian Jews punch very high above their weight, both in secular and Jewish giving, and one can’t walk into any Israeli institution without realizing the outsized contribution that Australians have made to the Jewish State.

None of that eases the pain or assuages the anger, but it may leverage the tragedy for more connection, more solidarity, and a deeper understanding of the richness of Jewish life around the world.

The Australian community is financially stable and independent, but a crisis of this magnitude can destabilize it too. JFN will monitor and communicate the needs of the Australian community as they emerge. We will be doing emergency briefings and updates. Reach out to us at concierge@jfunders.org if you have questions or want to stay informed.

In the meantime, those wanting to express support or inquire about needs can write to the CEO of the Jewish Communal Appeal of Sydney, Alain Hanson or to our partners at Australian Jewish Funders, CEO Tracie Olcha.

The blood on the beautiful streets of Bondi beach is an unspeakable tragedy. It will cry to us from the ground for all eternity. It will demand justice and defiance. But it also needs to forge an unbreakable bond, strengthening our ties to one another as Jews and to the Australian community. A bond of blood, hope and courage. The bond of Bondi.

May the Jews of Sydney, and all the House of Israel, know no further sorrow. May God grant strength to God’s people; May God bless God’s People with peace.