‘Broken and gutted’: Local Jewish leaders react to shooting on Bondi Beach

Sunday night was supposed to be a night of celebration for the Jewish community, the first night of Hanukkah, but instead it was marked with sadness and pain.

For Rabbi Moshe Goldman, Director of Rohr Chabad Centre for Jewish Life in Waterloo, terroristic attacks are something Jews around the world have been dealing with for centuries.

“We’re obviously devastated. We’re obviously broken, shattered and gutted. I don’t think anybody in the Jewish community is shocked, surprised. This is what happens at the end of a long line of tolerance for an ideology and hate movement that breeds these results,” he said in an interview.

“We’ve seen it before. We’ve warned about it. We’ve talked about it until blue in the face. We’ve been accused of overreacting,” Rabbi Goldman went on to say. “Maybe this time, people will wake up a little bit more. I don’t know. I’m kind of skeptical. It’s going to take a lot more than sympathy to fix what’s wrong around the world and in Canada.”

Rabbi Raphi Steiner, Director of Chabad of Guelph, told 570 NewsRadio he has heard from community members who are considering cancelling Hanukkah gatherings and other celebrations so as not to make themselves potential targets.

He said, now is the time for the Jewish community to stand in unison.

“We can either go into hiding, hunker down and allow the wave to wash over us and maybe erode us and make us disappear in its wake. Or, we can stand shoulder to shoulder, more boldly and broadly. More confidently, prouder than we were before. So that we can repel that wave and change the tide of history forever.”

Rabbi Steiner said he recognizes how the rising instances of antisemitism have been negatively impacting the Jewish community.

“I feel sometimes I’m holding the very foundation of the Jewish community together with Scotch tape and masking tape. Whenever these types of acts happen, it shakes that very foundation. But, my message is to stand with resilience and confidence so that it’s the terrorists that retreat into the darkness, into the corners verses us.”

Both leaders say the best way for the non-Jewish community to help their Jewish neighbours is by reaching out and telling them. Supports can also attend a menorah lighting ceremony over Hanukkah.

Waterloo regional police have said there will be an added police presence at Hanukkah events going forward.

Rabbi Steiner took a moment to promote a community-building project that has taken on added importance in recent days.

The Mezuzahs for Guelph campaign aims to have a mezuzah on the door frame of every Jewish household in the Royal City and beyond.

The Mezuzah is a small scroll containing scripture from the Torah that is placed in a box and affixed to the doorpost to signify a Jewish household and to remind the occupants that God is with them.

More information can be found on the Chabad of Guelph website.