A circle of communal healing on stage, with a dash of humour

Over 15 months, in the aftermath of October 7, 2023, composer Anna Hirst Friedman wrote Amidah A Silent Prayer, an original song cycle of 10 short works for male voice and piano. In January 2025, she felt the work was complete when there was a temporary ceasefire. “I thought, that's it, we're done,” says Hirst Friedman. The song cycle was first performed in March 2025 at Goethe-Institut Sydney. “And then a cascade of events, including (the hostage) Shiri’s story and Bondi compelled me to write more.’’ 

Hirst Friedman sees poignant connections in the song cycle between her October 7 work and the Bondi massacre. “There is a tragic thread of continuation. I found myself opening my Bondi piece similarly with some of the words I wrote for my October 7 piece many months before.”

Though she would have preferred to end on something more uplifting, Hirst Friedman says, “we are ending on a very Jewish note of ‘tikun olam’ to create a circle of healing on the stage.’’ 

At around the same time as Amidah’s first performance, Hirst Friedman saw multi-disciplinary artist Joanna Weinberg portray some of the women from the book Chutzpah Girls - 100 Tales of Daring Jewish Women at its Australian launch with NCJWA. Hirst Friedman could see the potential for Weinberg’s participation in a more theatrical performance of Amidah and approached her to consider collaborating on a reimagined staging of the song cycle.

Weinberg watched the video footage of the original performance. The pain that runs through Amidah drew her to work with Hirst Friedman. “I have a calling to bring joy where I see pain. I instantly wanted to help and to heal. And I thought, there's so much pain in the Jewish community right now. What can I do to help? How can I make it better?”