On the morning of Sunday 14 December 2025 I checked my calendar and noted that the evening would mark the start of the Jewish festival of Hanukkah.
I thought of Rabbi Zalman who I had not seen or heard from for over a year. I looked forward to his blog posts discussing lessons from the Torah where I often responded with my viewpoint as a Muslim.
Apart from the occasional post reporting on activities with the Together with Humanity organisation he had gone quiet, I could only assume due to the tensions around the events in Palestine over the past two years.
While I have been blitzed by the suffering of Palestinians at the hands of Israel which I have been sharply critical of I have tried to remain aware that many Jews do not endorse Israel’s actions.
At times I have been concerned that my hatred for Israel’s crimes risked spilling over into hatred of Jews and Judaism. Remembering Zalman has kept me away from that.
It was time to reach out so I sent this message. “Happy Hanukkah. May the latkes be sweet and may the shamash light your home and show the way to a better world.”
Hanukka remembers the rededication of the Jewish temple and lighting of the menorah candles symbolises bringing light into darkness.
Traditionally the lit menorah is placed in a window or doorway where its light can spread to the outside world, symbolising the spread of God’s light to all nations.
The menorah consists of eight candles with one being lit on each of the eight days of Hanukkah. There is a ninth central candle, the shamash from which the other candles are lit.
The shamash candle was due to be lit at sunset at Bondi where Jewish families had gathered to celebrate. Sadly just seven hours after I sent my message to Zalman darkness instead of light came to Bondi.
Two terrorists far removed from God opened fire on the crowd killing at last count ten people and wounding over a dozen others.
This was an unspeakable crime driven by hate, no doubt hatred for what Israel continues to do in Palestine. That however is no excuse for murdering and maiming the innocent.
This crime has provoked the usual hatred. An Israeli, who had travelled to Australia to teach, vowing to kill them all without specifying who the “all” were.
The anti-Semitism envoy was in fine “I told you so” form demanding even more money be thrown at protecting the Jewish community and demanding even more restrictions on criticising her employer, Israel.
At the same time she condemned the Australian government for recognising Palestine and branded pro-Palestine demonstrators as terrorists.
No doubt there will also be some misguided fools who see the actions of the murderers as somehow justified.
There is a good side to this in the response of ordinary Australians. Major Christian and Muslim organisations and individual Muslims and the Australian Palestine Action Network and individual Palestinians condemned this crime and expressed rightful solidarity with the Jewish community.
More importantly ordinary Australians showed their best. Hurrying people away from the carnage to shelter and safety. Our first responders headed into danger, including two police officers who were seriously wounded.
Most notable were two heroic members of the public who confronted the gunmen, one of whom was shot and killed. The other, a middle-aged Muslim father who tackled one of the gunmen, wrestling the gun away from him and getting shot twice for his courage.
The gunmen tried to extinguish the light of Hanukkah these heroes kept the shamash candle lit. May the light of their courage dispel the dark.
I contacted Zalman to express my concern for the safety of him and his family. He replied with “God had other plans. May He show mercy”.
Next year I will return to Australia where I hope to meet up with Zalman to chat over coffee and perhaps one or two of my favourite bagels. Dialogue also dispels the dark.
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