Shabbat Miketz / Chanukkah: Light, Covenant, and the Courage to Remain Human

On this day, Jews gathered on Bondi Beach in Sydney for a public Chanukkah celebration—families, songs, candles, the ordinary joy of being visibly Jewish in the open air. Instead, the gathering was shattered by a targeted antisemitic terror attack. Reports describe multiple gunmen, many injured, and at least fifteen killed, with acts of courage in the chaos that likely saved lives. Victims include Rabbi Eli Schanger (who was born in London), Matilda, a ten year old girl, a Holocaust survivor from Ukraine, and an Israeli human rights activist.

For those of us reading from far away, the miles are real—but Jewish solidarity goes deeper than geography. Our solidarity becomes a deeply painful reality: כָּל יִשְׂרָאֵל עֲרֵבִים זֶה בָּזֶה (kol Yisrael arevim zeh bazeh), “all Israel are bound up with one another” in responsibility and in grief.

Chanukkah is often told as a simple story of light defeating darkness. But Jewish memory won’t let us sentimentalise. The candle does not abolish the night; it refuses to let night have the last word. We add light gradually over the eight days: one flame, then another—not because darkness is absent, but because hope is learned in increments.

This coming week’s Torah portion, Miketz (Genesis 41), opens with Pharaoh’s nightmares—visions of famine, scarcity and fear. Joseph’s gift is not only interpretation, but the move from dread to discernment, from paralysis to preparation. In the wake of Bondi, we should not rush past mourning. But Jewish faith also insists that grief must become a strengthening: protecting life (pikuach nefesh), tending the wounded, guarding communal spaces wisely, and making room again for public joy.

On Shabbat this Chanukkah we hear Zechariah’s menorah vision: “Not by might, nor by power, but by My Spirit” (Zech. 4:6). The purposes of the Almighty cannot be achieved by hatred mirrored back, nor by fear enthroned over our imagination. The Spirit’s way is not weakness; it is the courage to remain human when humanity is being assaulted.

For those of us who confess Yeshua while remaining bound to Israel’s covenantal life, this day tests our discipleship and our solidarity with our people. Antisemitic violence is not only an attack on individuals; it is an assault on Israel’s calling and election —on a people called to live before the Almighty and before the nations as “a light to the nations” (Or La-Goyim /אוֹר לַגּוֹיִים ). The public menorah—on a beach in Sydney or in a window in London—becomes a quiet testimony: we exist, we bless, we endure. And for the Church, there can be no “neutrality” here: if the nations are grafted into Israel’s nourishing root (Romans 11), then Jewish pain cannot be treated as an optional footnote.

So today we name evil plainly—antisemitic terror is not “tension” or “spillover.” And we practise disciplined compassion: mourning must not become permission to dehumanise. We check in on Jewish neighbours and friends; we support the grieving and the traumatised; we strengthen security without surrendering our concern for justice, peace and resolution of conflict. And we light the menorah to shed light in the midst of darkness, reminding us of Yeshua, the light that shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it (John 1:5)

BMJA Statement – here

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Prayer

English

Master of the universe, comfort the mourners, heal the wounded, and hold the traumatised close. Strengthen Jewish communities in Sydney, across Australia, and everywhere Jews gather in public to bless Your Name. Give wisdom to those who protect, courage to those who feel afraid, and compassion that does not harden into hatred. Teach us to live kol Yisrael arevim zeh bazeh—faithful in responsibility, steadfast in hope, and brave enough to remain human. In the name of Yeshua the Messiah, Prince of Peace. Amen.

Hebrew

רִבּוֹנוֹ שֶׁל עוֹלָם, נַחֵם אֶת הָאֲבֵלִים, רְפָא אֶת הַפְּצוּעִים, וְחַזֵּק אֶת הַטְּרוּמָתִים. חַזֵּק אֶת קְהִלּוֹת יִשְׂרָאֵל בְּסִידְנֵי, בְּכָל אֹסְטְרַלְיָה, וּבְכָל מָקוֹם שֶׁיְּהוּדִים מִתְקַהֲלִים בְּרַבִּים לְבָרֵךְ אֶת שִׁמְךָ. תֵּן חָכְמָה לְשׁוֹמְרֵי הַצִּבּוּר, אֹמֶץ לַחֲשֵׁשִׁים, וְרַחֲמִים שֶׁאֵינָם נֶהְפָּכִים לְשִׂנְאָה. לַמְּדֵנוּ לִחְיוֹת כָּל יִשְׂרָאֵל עֲרֵבִים זֶה בָּזֶה—בֶּאֱמוּנָה, בְּתִקְוָה, וּבְגְבוּרָה לְהִשָּׁאֵר בְּנֵי אָדָם. בְּשֵׁם יֵשׁוּעַ הַמָּשִׁיחַ, שַׂר הַשָּׁלוֹם. אָמֵן.

Transliteration

Ribono shel olam, nachem et ha-avelim, refa et hap’tzu’im, ve-chazek et ha-terumatim. Chazek et kehilot Yisra’el be-Sidnei, bechol Ost’ralyah, uvechol makom she-Yehudim mitkahalim be-rabim levarech et shimcha. Ten chochmah le-shomrei ha-tzibbur, ometz la-choshe shim, ve-rachamim she-einam neh’pachim le-sin’ah. Lamedenu lichyot kol Yisra’el arevim zeh bazeh—be’emunah, be-tikvah, uve-gevurah le-hisha’er b’nei adam. Be-shem Yeshua haMashiach, Sar haShalom. Amen.