Melbourne 2024: Jews, wake up and smell the smoke!

רבי שמעון בן אלעזר אומר: העומד על המת בשעת יציאת נשמה — חייב לקרוע. למה זה דומה — לספר תורה שנשרף, שחייב לקרוע

(מועד קטן כה:א)

“Rabbi Shimon ben Elazar says: One who stands over the deceased at the time of the soul’s departure is obligated to rend his clothes. To what may this be likened? To a Torah scroll that is burned, for which anyone present is obligated to rend his clothes.“ (Moed Katan 25a)

We woke up this morning to news that was devastating and shocking, but unfortunately, in the current climate, not surprising.

An ultra-Orthodox shul in Melbourne, Australia, my birthplace and home of 27 years, was deliberately set on fire by two masked arsonists.

This is Melbourne, Australia, 2024.

The videos and pictures of the burnt inside of the shul are confronting. Thank G-d, no one was killed, although it seems that two person was injured.

The sifrei Torah were intact, thanks to the fireproof safe, though I wonder if they smell like smoke. If they do, I doubt the smell will ever be completely expunged from their parchment.

If none of the many, many other distressing events that occurred over the last 15 months were enough to wake you up, my dear diaspora Jews, I hope and pray that this one will.

Our enemies know the power of fire and the national memories it evokes. It’s why Hamas chose fire to burn our houses, our shuls and our bodies on October 7. The smell of burnt buildings, singed paper and charred flesh is forever etched in our collective memories and cannot help but provoke a response.

But we are no longer living in 13th-century France, 15th-century Spain, 19th-century Poland, or 20th-century Europe, when we smelled smoke, and had no choice but to lick our wounds, and move on to the next village, the next city, the next country, hoping that the next stop in our long exile will be a more welcoming place, until it isn’t anymore.

Now, my dear extended family, you have a refuge. You have a country ready and willing to welcome you with open arms and open hearts. It is not an easy place to live, but we are not easy people. We are not satisfied with “easy.” But it is a place, I promise, where there are people who will lay down their lives for you. You can know this with absolute certainty. I do, because there are thousands of fallen heroes who already form the silver platter upon which our freedom to be openly Jewish is presented to you, with their eternal love and sacrifice, and that of their families.

Can you say the same about your country of residence?

It’s true, there are more people in Australia who will give way to you when driving, but there are also many who will passively watch you being harassed, verbally abused or physically assaulted, and will not say a word in protest.

There are heads of universities and workplaces who will make eloquent speeches about not tolerating hate speech while shrugging their shoulders and quickly giving in to the useful idiots and bullies when Jews are targeted in public. The police will not protect you from those who choose to harass you — they will stand by while people protest your place of worship, and harass you for daring to counter-protest. Do you really think your leaders will protect you when the emboldened haters move from words to actions and bay for your blood?

Just smell the smoke.

And to those anti-Zionist Jews who side with our enemies, did you really think any of this uptick in violence was about Israel? If you really believed that, do you think that the targeting of a shul that served what is arguably the least Zionist Jewish institution in Melbourne has nothing to do with you? Do not kid yourselves? They will come for you next.

I am an idealist, but I am the last person to paint a rosy picture of making aliya to Israel. It is hard. It may be the hardest decision you ever make. It might take years to feel truly settled, and you may not feel truly comfortable for a long time, if ever. Even G-d acknowledged this difficulty when he asked Avraham to move ‘from his land, from his birthplace, from his father’s house’ to the essentially unknown (‘to the Land that I will show you.’). (Bereishit 12:1) Your current home is so many things to you, and the unknown is scary.

But if there’s anything Judaism teaches us, it’s that happiness isn’t the destination of life, it’s the result of a life lived with a purpose. And it is here, in Israel, that you can proudly be your true self, your Jewish self, and create a future for your children, without looking over your shoulder and wondering if the government will make a strategic decision to tolerate Jew hatred because it might win them the next election.

Yes, we do have our fair share of problems here in Israel. But they are our problems, and we are a young country, and we will solve them, have no doubt.

Choose to be a part of this solution — or others will impose their own kind of solution on you.