It still burns

I was immobilized, dazed, profoundly saddened by the massacre at Bondi Beach, a place I used to call home for many years. Since October 7, antisemitism has been allowed to fester by a lack of decisive, proactive political leadership. Social media outlets have provided an endless platform for lies about Jews, and misappropriation of terms, like describing Jews fleeing persecution and the holocaust to settle in Palestine as ‘white colonialists’, when we come in all colours, for starters, and all they were seeking was a place of refuge. Vitriolic, twisted words used against Jews is not an expression of free speech; rather they are the first stones cast that end in an atrocity like the Bondi Beach massacre.
I understand and to some extent share the anger amongst Jewish people about the government’s stalled implementation of the recommendations of the Special Envoy to Combat Antisemitism. I am also perturbed by accusations that ordinary Australians have been ‘bystanders’ to antisemitic attacks on the Jewish community, and all that the bystander concept implies. What Jew has not felt fear and impotence in the face of hatred? I reflect on the many messages of support I have received from my non-Jewish friends and understand that they too have felt helpless and powerless in the face of primal evil. And I reflect on who were the people who jumped to the aid of the Sydney Jewish community in its darkest moments. It is beyond tragic that it has taken an extreme act of violence to galvanize people into action.
I light a yahrzeit candle in front of the flickering flame of the menorah. And still it burns.