East Melbourne synagogue attack and being Jewish in Australia
Everyone who takes a tour of Jewish places in Melbourne knows the Eastern Melbourne Hebrew community. It is one of our oldest synagogues built in the 1870s. The building is with a long and glorious gilded inner and beautiful stained glass windows. He sits quietly in the city of Melbourne on a road that hosts a few leading churches.
Eastern Melbourne synagogue has been personally important for families like Mine in Australia since the 1860s. This is where my great grandfather Rachel and David Miller married almost a hundred years ago. Rachel came from Russia, seeking security. David came from England, sought a new start. Like many Jewish immigrants, they came to Australia after they escaped from the persecution and chose this distant country as a place to build a new life.
Today, while most of Melbourne’s Jewish community live in Caulfield, Elnternwick and St Killed in its suburbs, the Eastern Melbourne synagogue continues to be symbolic. Reflects our origins. One of the first things that early Jewish refugees did was to build places of worship, even in Australia, away from the rest of the world.
When I heard that someone was trying to burn the East Melbourne Hebrew community last Friday night, I was shocked in the Eating building of 20 people together and I was horrified.
It sounds like a rupture of security and security, where most of the Australian Jews are given so long.
Since October 7, 2023, Hamas started the ruthless attack that killed 1,200 people and kidnapped hundreds of people – to ride Israel’s war in Gaza and 62,000 Palestinians – Antisemitism increased globally, including in Australia.
Undancing, the experience of becoming Jewish in Australia has changed. I’m not saying this slightly. I grew up here. I went to school here. Throughout my life, I have experienced believing that this country is one of the safest places in the world to become Jewish. I believed that Jews touched the texture of Australian life.
However, my confidence has decreased in the last two years. There has been an increase in antisemitic violence, which did not feel like anything I’ve ever experienced. There were attacks against the Jews and hate graffiti. The Israeli synagogue in my house was burned and destroyed, but the alleged perpetrators after more than seven months were not arrested. Now East Melbourne is targeted. I don’t know anybody who is not afraid in our community right now.
I don’t know how to stop these attacks, but I think the government should be financed immediately for safety to all kinds of worship places to secure them. The security of Jewish institutions in Australia should never be politicized and the support of protection of synagogues should be two parties.
Ultimately, it depends on the political leadership of Australia. They should pioneer speech and shape what security looks for our communities. My community has repeatedly requested a strong leadership against anti -Semitism, but I and many people in my community have not been convinced that Prime Minister Anthony Arnavenes was properly controlled.
Like the others, I started to wonder if we believed if we believed in Aussie Jews, which was really right about Australia. Did we feel a security illusion? Or is it something that cannot be withdrawn now?
I’m watching my children to raise the fence of Jewish schools and establish Bollards. I am going to community activities that have not been replacing their place in advance. I pass the security guards through the door at my synagogue. Now, I’m accustomed to uncomfortable and narrator – but I don’t accept it. The Australians are often surprised when they hear how scared the Jewish people are currently.
I also continue to think about my great grandfather Rachel and David. About a century after getting married in the Eastern Melbourne synagogue, I wonder what to say if you claim that someone is trying to set fire. I wonder what their great grandchildren will now go to schools surrounded by armed guards.
