We’re Taking Back The House? Shabbat Shalom

These are the words splashed across the front page of today’s Daily Telegraph.

Today, our nation observes a National Day of Mourning, honouring our beloved brothers and sisters so cruelly ripped from our community. It is a day for the country to pause, reflect and stand shoulder to shoulder with our devastated and traumatised community.

Flags fly at half mast, landmarks glow in solemn light, and candles flicker in the homes of ordinary Australians from coast to coast. A minute’s silence will echo across television and radio stations nationwide. Today, our nation embraces Australian Jews and acknowledges the profound weight of this tragedy.

This evening a ceremony will be held at the Opera House adn broadcast live on Sky News at 7pm tonight. (22 January)

How fitting, and how symbolic, that the chosen venue is the Sydney Opera House. The very place the world watched in horror as raw, vile Jew hatred erupted on its steps. Calls to violence, burning flags, antisemitism laid bare. The chilling images from October 9, 2023 remain seared in our collective memory. That day revealed the worst of Australia. Tonight, we pray, will reveal the best of who we are.

Tonight, we take back the house! We reclaim our most iconic landmark and declare to the world that light conquers darkness, love defeats hate and dignity rises above destruction.

The theme of the evening captures this powerfully – “Light will win, a gathering of unity and remembrance.”

All Australians are encouraged to perform a mitzvah today, with government websites offering fifteen meaningful mitzvot to choose from LINK HERE. Giving tzedokah, visiting the sick, helping the elderly, opening your home to those in need, spending quality time with family and praying for the complete recovery of the injured.

As Jews we are deeply familiar with kavod hameit – honouring deceased through action. Our response to loss is not silence, but living in a way that elevates the souls of the departed – L’ilui nishmat. Whether you put on tefillin, give tzedokah, light shabbos candles, or say an extra prayer, with each mitzvah you are bringing honour to the deceased and spreading light into the world.

On a personal level, performing mitzvot heals us, as individuals and as a community. This past month has been overwhelming, not only December 14 itself, but the shock, grief, raw emotion and public debate that followed. There is much healing to be done.

But healing does not happen in isolation. It takes a village. And we are blessed to be part of a beautiful Jewish village. Let’s lean on one another, notice who may be struggling quietly and reach out. A message, a visit, a simple check-in, can make all the difference.

When we show up for one another, we don’t merely support healing, we become part of it, strengthening our village and all of Am Yisroel.

On this National Day of Mourning may the memories of those we lost be a blessing. May the injured see a swift and complete recovery. May the grieving families, and all of our community, find peace and comfort.

הַמָּקוֹם יְנַחֵם אֶתְכֶם בְּתוֹךְ שְׁאָר אֲבֵלֵי צִיּוֹן וִירוּשָׁלָיִם
(May the Omnipresent comfort you among the mourners of Zion and Jerusalem.)

With blessings for a meaningful day and good Shabbos,
Rabbi Levi and Chanie