The knife turns again

It was in October 2024 that I wrote what I called THE KNIFE.
I had recently returned from Israel where I had spent time in the Gaza envelope bearing witness to one of the most horrendous massacres our people has endured in modern Israel. I was shattered and had no words.

On Rosh Hashana the following September I studied the story of the Akeda – the binding of Isaac as we do every year. This year the story took on a new meaning. I wondered why the angel did not stay the hands of the murderers on that dreadful day in October.

I found the words and wrote the following:

I am walking with my father Abraham
He guides the ass, his son and his assistants
He trudges slowly through the wilderness.
He goes left towards Mt Moriah
Where God has told him to go.
To the right is Beer Sheva where he wants to go.
He raises the knife against his son and is stopped by an angel
Yet the knife remains in my heart as he turns towards Beer Sheva.

I am shoved off the train at the platform in Auschwitz
Where my people have been herded like cattle
They are told to go – to the right – to the left – to life or to death
No angel comes to stay the hand of the murderers
The knife in my heart turns.

In the fields of my homeland – the safe haven of my people after these murders
The crack of bullets fills the air that moments ago was filled with music
With the happy sounds of young life
Now filled with screams
I follow them – they run to the left and to the right – towards life and towards
death
No angel appears to stay the hand of the murderers
Now I understand –
I am destined to stagger through the rest of my life
With a knife always in my heart.

14 December 2025.
I have just witnessed the most horrendous massacre of my people in Australia at iconic Bondi Beach. Once again I am without words.
But I feel the knife dig deeper into my heart and now I understand – I am destined to stagger through the rest of my life with a knife always turning deeper and deeper into my heart.