Leilui Neshamot (for the elevation of the souls) of Harav Eli Shlanger zl, Harav Yaakov Levitan zl and the other members of our extended Australian Jewish and Gentile Community murdered at the ‘Chanukah by the Sea’ event
Approximately
8,825 miles (as the crow flies) lie between Rafah and Bondi Beach.
Last week,
the IDF released footage of the ‘Beautiful Six’ Israelis; Eden, Hersh, Ori, Almog,
Alex and Carmel lighting a makeshift chanukiah inside a section of the Gaza tunnels
that they had just been moved into. Two years ago, a couple of months after they
had been forcibly taken into Gaza, they lit and sang the traditional Chanukah songs
and under duress, spoke to the camera (https://tinyurl.com/yc5enkvv).
Eight months
later, on 9th August 2024, they were brutally murdered.
Our ‘six’
courageously introduced light into a tunnel below Rafah which lies about 4 miles
off the Gaza coast.
8,825 miles
away, it is estimated that over 1000 people, both Jewish and non-Jewish, gathered
to celebrate the first night of Chanukah near a playground in Archer Park which
lies a mere 260 metres north of Bondi Beach.
Sunday night,
14th December was a week away from the summer solstice in the southern
hemisphere. At a pleasant 21° Celsius, it
was the perfect time to meet up with friends and socialise in that time-honoured
manner so well practiced in Jewish circles.
They had come to celebrate Chabad’s annual ‘Chanukah by the Sea’ event which
would culminate in lighting of the first candle on the giant chanukiah.
The Times described the scene:
An animal petting zoo for children
was filling up. Hot chips and ice cream were
on sale and preparations were underway for a light show later in the evening.
“Come celebrate the light of
Chanukkah together with your community,” the event’s light blue and yellow banners
read. “Bring your friends, bring the family. Let’s fill Bondi with joy and light!”
No-one expected
to hear gunfire, at 6.47pm local time, a little over an hour before sunset at 8.01pm,
leading to the deaths of 15 individuals (at the time of writing) including two rabbis,
an 87 year old Shoah survivor, a 10-year-old little girl whose family escaped from
Ukraine believing that they would be safer in Australia, an elderly couple who died after the husband engaged
with one of the shooters, and a retired police officer. Numerous people remain injured in hospital with
one in a critical condition.
A father and
his son brutally introduced darkness into the calm, sun-drenched environs of Archer
Park, just under 8 miles away from the house in which my maternal grandfather, Philip
Sydney Vecht (he was named after the city) was born.
Both events
taking place respectively just before and during Chanukah, our Festival of Light. One of what should have been the most joyous periods
in our calendar.
I have three
questions to pose:
1.
How could the ‘six’ even countenance celebrating Chanukah
in the hell that was Gaza?
2.
How can we countenance celebrating Chanukah in
the shadow cast by Sunday night’s massacre?
3.
Why did our family attend a local event run by Chabad
hours after the guns fell silent?
The Talmud
(Makkot 24b) famously relates the story of a trip that Rabban Gamliel, Rabbi Elazar
ben Azariah, Rabbi Yehoshua and Rabbi Akiva undertook following the destruction
of the Second Beit Hamikdash.
Upon reaching
Mount Scopus, they tore their clothes as is the tradition when seeing the sight
of the Temple’s ruins. When they reached
the Temple Mount, they saw a fox emerging from the site that had been the Kodesh
Hakodashim, the Holy of Holies. Three of
the four started weeping and were surprised to see the fourth, Rabbi Akiva laughing.
They asked
him why he was laughing and he replied in the time-honoured Jewish fashion with
another question, “Why are you weeping?”
They said to him, “This is the place concerning which it is written, ‘And
the non-priest who approaches shall die.’ (Numbers 1:51), and now foxes walk in
it; and shall we not weep?”
Rabbi Akiva
said to them, “That is why I am laughing, as it is written, when God revealed the
future to the prophet Isaiah, ‘And I will take to Me faithful witnesses to attest:
Uriah the priest, and Zechariah the son of Jeberechiah.’
Now what is
the connection between Uriah and Zechariah? Uriah was [in the time of] the First Temple, and
Zechariah was [in the time of] the Second Temple! But the Torah makes Zachariah's prophecy dependent
upon Uriah's prophecy. With Uriah, it is
written, 'Therefore, because of you, Zion shall be ploughed as a field; [Jerusalem
shall become heaps, and the Temple Mount like the high places of a forest].' With Zachariah it is written, 'Old men and women
shall yet sit in the streets of Jerusalem.'
As long as
Uriah's prophecy had not been fulfilled, I feared that Zechariah's prophecy may
not be fulfilled either. But now that Uriah's
prophecy has been fulfilled, it is certain that Zechariah's prophecy will be fulfilled."
With these
words they replied to him, "Akiva, you have consoled us! Akiva, you have consoled us!" (https://tinyurl.com/4ymhn6yu)
To this day,
we are living through the repercussions of Chorban Bayit Sheni – the destruction
of the Second Beit Hamikdash. As a result
of what happened, we were cast into an exile that has not yet terminated. Yes, we are blessed to witness the establishment
of Medinat Yisrael which we refer to as reshit tz’michat ge’ulatainu, which is roughly
translated as the ‘beginning of the flourishing of our redemption’ but can any of
us say that we feel truly safe as Jews in the world of 2025?
I don’t think
that the majority of us would react in a Rabbi Akiva like manner when visiting the
Gaza envelope (or indeed Gaza itself) or Bondi Beach post Sunday evening. What is there to laugh about? Crying, that’s easy, but laughing...not so much.
Which is why
Rabbi Akiva’s outlook and response to the foxes on the Har Habayit/Temple Mount
remains a template that we should aspire to achieve when faced with the harsh realities
that are inflicted upon us, day after day, month after month, particularly within
the last two years.
What can we
do to find that ‘inner laughter’?
Let’s start
by answering my three questions:
1.
How could the ‘six’ even countenance celebrating Chanukah
in the hell that was Gaza?
Because despite
everything that was going on, they refused to let the darkness that had enveloped
them and the captivity that they were forced to endure define them. We know that Jews had celebrated Chanukah in similar
conditions (including pre-war Nazi Germany) and Hersh even referred to the famous
1931 photograph of the chanukiah reflecting, “There’s that picture of the Chanukiah
with a [Nazi flag] above it.” Just as we
witnessed the defeat of the Nazis, so we shall prevail over those who wish to destroy
us in this generation.
Lesson
One: We will never let those who wish to silence us, define us.
2.
How can we countenance celebrating Chanukah in
the shadow cast by Sunday night’s massacre?
I watched
the news on Monday morning, and Sky reported that the crowd which showed up for
the second night at Bondi Beach was even larger than that of the previous evening. They were singing the words passed to us by Rabbi
Nachman of Bratslav – Kol Ha’olom kulo gesher tzar me’od. As translated by the Chief Rabbi who was being
interviewed in the studio – ‘all the world is a very narrow bridge, but the main
thing is not to be afraid.’
We know that
this world is a narrow bridge and that the father and son used such a bridge to
murder our brothers and sisters, but we are not frightened.
Lesson
Two: We will show our enemies and the world at large that we will never be cowed
by those who wish to harm us.
3.
Why did our family attend a local event run by Chabad
hours after the guns fell silent?
We went because
we wanted, in our own way, to do the same thing. Our Chabad Rabbi announced that following the
massacre, another 200 people had registered that morning to join the proceedings
in a local park. We gathered as individuals,
couples, young families and elderly folk to make our message clear to the world.
In the winter
darkness which was a world away from the summer sunshine of Bondi and the squalid
conditions beneath the sand of Gaza, we stood proudly alongside our fellow Jews
throughout the world.
Lesson
Three: We never let them define us.
We thanked
the brave Muslim man who risked his life to protect our people whilst gazing lovingly
at the first Chanukah lights of the festival.
2,244 miles
from Gaza.
10,563 miles
from Archer Park.
We laughed
and yes, we also shed tears, appreciating and blessing the light that penetrated
the darkness. Remembering the fallen and
injured in Archer Park and Gaza.
May those
who are injured be fully healed and may the memories of those who fell be a blessing
to Am Yisrael.
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