From antisemite to ally: the power of friendship

Michael Kadoury and Kajetan (Kay) Biernacki seem unlikely mates. There’s kippah-clad Kadoury, a lawyer in his early 50s, decked out in shirt and suit. And Biernacki in athleisurewear, his 35-year-old body inked with tattoos of spiderwebs, demons and a fierce-looking bear. I’m sitting with the two men at Kadoury’s home, listening to Biernacki’s story of transformation from antisemite to Jewish ally, sparked by his friendship with Kadoury.

The pair met in 2022 at a gym in Sydney’s east. Biernacki had left Poland for Australia eight years earlier. Kadoury was getting back into exercise and looking for a training partner.

Biernacki was “the meanest, ugliest, baddest looking dude at the gym,” says Kadoury, explaining that Biernacki was then about three times bigger than he is now. (Biernacki is currently in poor health, which we’ll come to later.) Someone else might have felt intimidated by this scary-looking skinhead with neck tattoos. Not Kadoury – although it did help that the two had a friend in common. He decided he wanted to train with Biernacki.

“I do legal work and visas,” Kadoury told him, “I’ll help you with that if you ever need it, if you help me with the gym.” Biernacki agreed. They trained together almost every day for two years. And as they worked out, they started talking.

Kadoury was the first Jewish person that Biernacki, then 31, had ever met. At first, Biernacki was shocked. (My god, he is Jewish!) But similar to self-described “recovered antisemite” and activist Rawan Osman, interacting with a Jewish person in the flesh challenged Biernacki’s beliefs about Jews.