What I have learnt about Australia in the two weeks since we got here is this: Australia, like my country of birth, America, is patriotic, but unlike America they are far more quiet about it. This is not a country of big, showy displays. As far as I can tell, they are understated, casual and thoughtful, and many of them think before they speak.
I’m not sure if I’m right about this, seeing as it has only been a couple of weeks, but it seems like the landscape brings with it an attitude. There are just 27 million people living on a land mass that is bigger than all of Europe, including Turkey, with most of those people, something like 90%, living hugging the coast. These are people who work hard, who have traditional values.
A politician yesterday actually said out loud, “when mothers drop off their children at the school gate”. Not “parents”, not “guardians”, but mothers, because though women here hold the highest offices in the land alongside men, a mother’s role is valued, as are those of the rest of the family. Once again, I trace it back to the terrain. In places, I’m guessing, this land is unforgiving. Aside from small parts of the country, the land is dry and unyielding. The seasons are upside down for the Europeans who tried to introduce European farming methods, and here in Victoria, where it is mild compared to the rest of the country, no real seasons seem to ever settle, making farming – once more, a guess – challenging.
Aside from that, or perhaps most importantly, it’s far. So very far from everything. People will jump onto a 1½ hour flight to Sydney and think of it as a local commute. A seven hour flight to Jakarta is considered not too bad, and New Zealand, a country most of us think of as being quite close to Australia, is actually two hours ahead in terms of time zones. All of this is to say that Australia offers a challenging terrain and you can’t knock on the next country over’s door to borrow a cup of sugar. Tradition is important, traditional families are important, people looking after each other isn’t just important, it’s imperative.
On Sunday the 14th of December, Daniel and I drove in the morning to Chadstone, a huge and gorgeous mall about a fifteen minute drive from the heart of the Jewish neighbourhood in Caulfield. As we were walking around, a woman stopped me and whispered, “I support you”, “I love Bibi”, “Your people are doing the right thing”, “Happy Hanukkah”. She shook my hand, and I’m guessing had I not been so surprised she would have given me a hug as well. She had spotted Daniel’s kippah, and I guess my baseball cap and long skirt singled me out a bit as well, though without Daniel at my side I don’t think she would have stopped me.
In the twelve years in London, not once were we stopped by anyone to tell us they supported us. Yes, we have had a couple, but not many, antisemitic slurs thrown at us, and my boys did, on one terrifying occasion, get chased off the city bus by a group of hooligans, but not once did someone tell us how much they liked us as Jews.
Confused, we went about our day. I didn’t realise at the time that we were standing at the precipice of a powder keg that was about to explode. I didn’t fully understand, nor do I yet understand, the full extent of what the Jewish community has faced here over the last two plus years. I didn’t know what Jewish life was like here before October 7th nor after.
In America, especially in NY with its massive Jewish community, we know of antisemitism. There are still one or two places that won’t allow a Jew, a Black person, or a dog to join, but in Groucho Marx fashion, I refuse to join any club that would have me as a member. The reason Groucho Marx could say that back in the day is because there is a confidence that comes from being a NY Jew. There are just a lot of us.
Though since October 7th, American institutions and NY ones have festered with antisemitism, be it American universities such as Hunter College, where my mother attended, or Columbia University, where my brother attended and where my best friend’s son is currently a student. In places with large Jewish populations, the cancer of antisemitism has festered. And yet, visiting NY, people are still outwardly and openly Jewish. Judaism is part of the fabric of America, whether they like it or not. Judeo-Christian values (and I stress the “Judeo-”) are the foundation of the American project. It’s one of the very bedrock values and reasons for its success up until recently.
Here in Australia, the establishment of this country was a very different proposition to America. The pilgrims who left Britain for America did so seeking religious freedom. They chose to leave and establish themselves. Australia’s beginnings are so different, and as I’m just learning the history I won’t venture too far into it. Just to say that people were initially sent here rather than choosing to come here, though they were very soon followed by free settlers. Today, one in five Australians is a descendant of the approximately 160,000 convicts who were sent here from Britain and Ireland, many punished for petty crimes.
But what I find extraordinary is that though they didn’t necessarily choose to be here, they made the most of it, battled incredible odds just to live one day to the next, and then even more extraordinarily established a vibrant world here. That spirit of extremely hard work, of roles in families in order to get things done, of families and communities working together to look after each other, I think is one of the reasons that they have succeeded, together.
But what went wrong? I didn’t think I was right wing, in fact I don’t think I have any wing at all. I have felt, though, that our liberal values, the things that make our societies so wonderful, that have afforded us education and an incredibly varied enlightenment culture, have also allowed us to import wholesale antisemitism into places in which it didn’t really exist. Can you have a liberal society which celebrates difference and multiculturalism and leave the bad elements out?
Back to Australia and back to Sydney. Sydney’s Bondi Beach is one of the “top of my list of places to visit in Australia”. In fact, it is top of my list. It is iconic and celebrated and meant to be just beautiful.
Chanukah, the celebration of light, for decades has been truly the celebration which Chabad Lubavitchers around the world have made into their own, from lighting Chanukah candles outside the Brandenburg Gates in Berlin to driving around town with chanukiyot strapped to the rooves of their cars. Chanukah is theirs. I mean it’s ours, but they really take the positive commandment of “pirsumei nisa”, publicising the miracle, to a whole new level. And you just know that if you are to attend a Chanukah celebration run by Chabad, you are in for a good time.
What is shocking? Well, it’s all shocking. Normal people don’t imagine these things. Normal people can’t create such scenarios in their minds, or can they? Has a combination of hate speech and Hollywood and video games desensitised us to such brutal assaults?
People though faced with the real life version are not coping. Yesterday a community member spoke of PTSD. People are dry-eyed, because their brains aren’t computing. And, in their hundreds, community members have packed out shuls and Chanukah celebrations. They have chosen not to hide.
And the ordinary Australians, who are in no way ordinary, have countless times in the last few days made an express point of coming over to us, shaking our hands, offering condolences and support. The once quiet majority is speaking out.
As Deborah Lipstadt has said, “Jews don’t cause antisemitism. Antisemites cause antisemitism.” And the ordinary extraordinary Australian person (I use the word person intentionally as the next discussion to be had is what constitutes a person: what separates us from animals) is recognising that.
Will it make a difference? We live in hope and we pray. May the memories of those who were tragically killed be a blessing unto us. May their families know comfort, and may the injured be healed completely and speedily.
If you would like to do something to help, my dear friend Sara was in touch. Her nephew, Leibel, is among the injured in Sunday night’s terrorist attack on Bondi Beach. Leibel was standing next to a policeman who was shot in the shoulder. Leibel said to him, “Give me your gun, I’m from Texas, I know how to shoot.” The policeman could not give his gun to Leibel. Instead, Leibel tore off his shirt and made a tourniquet for the police officer, and was subsequently shot in the abdomen and legs.
The family now needs our help to cover a myriad of costs. Here is the link to the GoFundMe page:
https://gofund.me/e62830fec
No recipes this week… Just love.