Our Beats, Our Songs, Our Story: An Evening of Jewish Pride
On a day when Macklemore once again became part of the public conversation, my thoughts turned to the difference between slogans and substance — and between performances that divide and music that brings people together.
The controversy surrounding Macklemore and his outspoken pro-Palestinian and often antisemitic activism is also a reminder of how easily complex history can be reduced to slogans, particularly in the entertainment industry. Too often, celebrities embrace the cause or catchphrase of the moment without engaging seriously with the history behind it.
It is one of the reasons my upcoming podcast series, Israel, Our Story, feels so important.
The series will seek to take viewers beyond the slogans and into the history, facts and lived story of the Jewish people and the Land of Israel. I will be joined by local and international guests — familiar names, all specialists in the subjects we will discuss — to provide the history and context so often missing from today’s conversation.
Macklemore might learn quite a lot.
But while that debate was unfolding elsewhere, something very different was happening in Melbourne.
At Caulfield Shule in Melbourne, the Season of Song 2026 proudly presented the Chayalim Band & Singers — from Israel with love.
And what an evening it was.
Forget the slogan-fest. This was two hours of Jewish pride, love, music and joy filling the synagogue.
The attendance of Ambassador of Israel to Australia, Dr Hillel Newman was warmly appreciated by the community, as were his encouraging words at the commencement of the Jewish New Year. At a time when many in our community have felt the weight of events both in Israel and closer to home, his presence and message added particular meaning to an already special evening.
The songs, melodies and beats were dear to so many of us. The words touched our hearts. The music connected generations, memories and identities. There was something powerful about hearing those familiar sounds filling the shule and watching a community come together not in anger, but in celebration.
For two hours, the outside noise seemed to disappear.
In its place were voices singing together, smiles, emotion and an unmistakable sense of belonging.
It was medicine for the soul.
And perhaps there is something in that for the rest of the world to consider.
While so many seem to obsess over a country barely a third the size of Tasmania or the size of New Jersey, the world’s only Jewish state, perhaps they could learn something from the people they spend so much time talking about: the strength that comes from community, the power of identity and the determination to keep living, charity, creating and celebrating despite everything history has thrown at us.
At a time when Jewish communities around the world have experienced so many accusations, demonstrations, slogans and attempts by others to change our story to suit their narratives, there was something particularly meaningful about simply coming together and celebrating who we are.
Be strong and of good courage.
History has seen regimes that sought to erase Jews from the map disappear. They did not succeed. Those who seek to do so will not succeed either.
The Jewish answer has always been to continue.
We will continue to innovate.
We will continue to invent.
We will continue to sing.
We will continue to love.
And we will continue to be proud.
These were our beats. Our songs. Our memories.
And, above all, our story.
