Never Again
CATHEDRAL NEWSLETTER - 7 February 2024
Friends in Christ, last Monday evening, together with Bishop Michael Stead and a number of other church leaders, I attended a meeting hosted at the Great Synagogue, but convened by a group of Christians called "Never Again is Now". They are concerned about antisemitism in Australia.
Antisemitism is the expression of hostility to or prejudice against Jewish people. It's a form of racism, one that is particularly abhorrent, when we remember the impact of the Holocaust under Nazism in Germany before and during World War Two.
Here I am explaining why I will attend the Never Again rally 3-4pm on Sunday 18th February. The aim of the rally is to stand against antisemitism in Australia and to show love to the Jewish community. I also encourage you to consider whether you might be involved.
I am deeply concerned about antisemitism in Sydney (and elsewhere). For example, newspapers have reported, with video that can be double-checked, showing some preachers at Sydney mosques expressing awful sentiments, for example, one preached that “Jews were descendants of pigs and monkeys”. Another prayed to Allah to “kill them one by one” in reference to “Zionist Jews”. Although these certainly do not represent all Muslims, you can understand the sense of distress and even fear such rhetoric causes in the Jewish community in the shadow of the October 7 Hamas terrorist attack in Israel, which caused something like 1200 deaths.
The President of the Great Synagogue reported that every Saturday (their sabbath day), the Police now deploy officers to guard the front and back entrances to their Synagogue. That's in addition to their own security guards. I undersand such guards are present at most Jewish schools and synagogues across Sydney. Presently students at Jewish schools are encouraged not to wear the school uniform in public because of the abuse it can attract.
This is not how any community should be forced to live in Australia. So I want to assure Jewish neighbours that Christians love them and oppose such racism.
But I am aware there are many natural concerns connected to such a tense international situation. So I have taken careful steps before agreeing to attend the rally, This included careful discussions with the Archbishop, as well as the President of the Great Synagogue. I also asked organisers for clarity about the following matters:
The event does not promote a particular view of Middle East politics, or of the war in Gaza, or of solutions to it. For example, many people concerned about antisemitism are also concerned about the suffering afflicting so many in Gaza who are not combatants. Some may have criticisms of the current government of Israel.
The organisers are keen to promote a safe, secure, peaceful and cohesive Australia, and therefore would discourage all racist or other hateful speech, not only against Jews, but against other groups.
Speakers will be guided on what should be avoided. For example, I reminded organisers that we do not want to inflame wider disharmony, while speaking in "righteous anger".
The organisers are liaising carefully with Police, whose support and attendance is designed to assist in a safe and peacefully run event.
You can find out more information from the Never Again website and also register to receive details of the rally location.
Let me share something from Scripture that helped form my mind in light of an experience of antisemitism. At the end of November, I was distressed to see St Andrew's Cathedral as the backdrop to a very sad incident of antisemistism that made the media. As it happened, I was about to preach on the end of Mark 5 including Jesus' interaction with the synagogue ruler, so I made the following comments as an important contemporary 'side-bar' to the passage's main points, but nevertheless arising from the Scriptures...
Currently our society struggles over the conflict in Israel and Gaza. Hamas terrorism is evil. But we question whether Israeli self-defence is proportionate on residential Palestinian bystanders. And anti-semitism rises up in Australia. From Friday’s school student protest for Palestine, a Greens Senator instagrammed a photo, with our Cathedral in the backdrop. She stands smiling next to a young lady whose poster says “Keep the world clean”, with an Israeli flag going into a garbage bin. The antisemitic overtone is shameful. I am appalled at adults who encouraged school students that such casual expression of hatred for another ethnic group is acceptable.
Now some Christians have been antisemitic too. But not Jesus. He was never that way. Indeed, Jesus was Jewish, of course. Last week he helped a man in Gentile territory. Here he goes to help a Jewish official (Jairus, the synagogue ruler), even though it has been the institutional Jewish leaders who have and would continue to make life hard for him. Jesus’ compassion warns us against hatred and racism.
We too in our day need to stand against all racism - including and specifically against antisemitism.
Of course, I respect that there are many ways of doing that and it certainly does not require attendance at a rally.
Warmly in Christ
Sandy Grant
Dean of Sydney