Page 43 - October 7 - Teresa Pirola

Historically, the Jewish people have defied the odds. Powerful ancient empires have come and gone, yet this numerically tiny people has survived and thrived over millennia—and this despite the repeated and most determined attempts to destroy them.
Sitting here amidst Sydney’s Jewish community, it is abundantly obvious why they don’t take to the streets with hate slogans to define themselves. Their resilience is manifest in the dignity of their united stance that positively affirms their identity, their relationships, their faith. They have their love for each other and their ever-practical willingness to ‘pitch in’ to assist in a crisis. ‘I don’t need to tell you how to help us’, says one relative to the gathering, ‘because the Jewish community already knows how, and does it’.
During this hour of storytelling, I notice that, despite the grief, this courageous little delegation of Israeli Jews imparts no words of hatred. They could, with complete justification, brand their enemies with the hate labels of genocide, rape, torture, mutilation and kidnapping. But they don’t. Incredibly, their words are focused on gratitude: gratitude for those who have come to hear them and for their worldwide Jewish family supporting them.
I am aware, too, that each speaker asks for prayers. ‘We need to show the world who we are in our prayer and in our belief that they are coming back. We believe in our country, in our love and unity as a Jewish family. This is our strength.’
‘Love has no geography’, says another.
‘Am Yisrael chai’, rings out through the room, ‘the people of Israel live’.
Postscript: By September 2024, as this book was being
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