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My grandfather fled Nazi Germany after the events of Kristallnacht in 1938. Now we’ve seen this all-too-familiar antisemitic violence at Bondi Beach. But this tragic story is not one without hope.

In these difficult days, when violence and persecution have once again touched our nation, my heart is heavy. As followers of Jesus Messiah, we are called to be people of light and hope, even when our world feels dark.

I wanted to share a personal story, one that begins generations ago, yet speaks powerfully into this moment. It is a story of suffering and survival, of faith and God’s enduring love. My prayer is that it will remind us why we must stand together, pray earnestly, and hold fast to the hope we share.

My Family Background

My grandfather left Germany after the events of Kristallnacht, when his family was evicted from their home and business in Oberhausen in 1938. His family was Jewish. They were not wanted. Six of them slept for nights on end in their small car, hidden in a wood.

When his father died, my grandfather, at just eighteen years of age, went ahead of his two younger sisters to England to establish a pathway for them to be received into loving homes. Thankfully, his sisters were soon on the Kindertransport and settled in Surrey, grateful for the charity and kindness of both Jews and Christians. Tragically, his mother and younger brother were later murdered at the Sobibor extermination camp in occupied Poland.

I share his story because he never really spoke about his time in Germany or his Jewish heritage. Much of what I have learned about his family story has been pieced together over the years through personal documents and conversations with my great-aunt, who lived out her final years peacefully in a retirement home in Golders Green.

Yet one image is carved into my memory of her whilst she still lived independently: the menorah candlestick on her mantlepiece, which, on occasion, often close to Christmas when we visited, was lit. One candle, two, sometimes more.

She celebrated Chanukah. Many of my Jewish school friends celebrated Chanukah too. Chanukah is the celebration of a miracle of God in the inter-testamental period, bridging the Old and New Testaments, around 165 BC. The events are recorded in the books of the Maccabees, found among the historical apocryphal writings included in some Bibles.

I believe I am right in saying, at that time, the Greek ruler Antiochus IV Epiphanes pursued a deliberate program of Jewish cultural and religious eradication. He outlawed circumcision, Sabbath observance, and devotion to God’s Torah, God’s instruction. He sought to erase Jewish identity itself. This persecution culminated in the desecration of the altar in the Jerusalem Temple.

However, within a matter of years, God enabled this Jewish family group, the Maccabees, to overthrow Antiochus and his forces, reclaim the Temple, and rededicate it to the Lord on the 25th of Kislev.

This rededication is remembered annually. The word חנוכה (Chanukah) from  the root חנך means “dedication.” It testifies to God’s faithfulness to his chosen people, his promise never to leave or forsake them, and his covenant with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob that their descendants would endure forever (Genesis 17:7). According to later Jewish tradition recorded in the Talmud, God also provided sufficient oil for the Temple lamps to burn for eight days, which is why the menorah bears eight lights with a helper light.

The feast of Chanukah does not appear in the list of appointed feasts in the Torah (Leviticus 23 and elsewhere), yet it does appear in the New Testament, the Brit Chadashah, where it is referred to as the “Feast of Dedication” in John 10:22. There, Jesus, God’s own Jewish Messiah, is walking along the Temple colonnade with His disciples. It is at that time and in that setting, that Jesus speaks words that reveal his full identity.

The Same Antisemitic Violence at Bondi We’ve Seen Before

Chanukah is thus a precious feast for Jewish people, including Jewish followers of Jesus the Messiah. Each year, Chanukah has been publicly celebrated by Jewish people at Sydney’s iconic Bondi Beach. On Sunday night, at our church, we had been giving thanks and celebrating God’s love to us in his Son, Jesus. As soon as our service finished, we began to hear of another violent expression of hatred directed toward Jewish people, this time on Australian soil. Watch the CBN news story below about the Bondi Beach Hanukkah massacre.

As a nation, we experienced once more the chilling cadence and echo of that same discordant melody of antisemitic violence that shattered my grandfather’s world.

Like many others, I have been grievously shaken by these reports. I am heartbroken, angry, and deeply troubled. Since 7th October 2023, reinforced by the scenes outside the Sydney Opera House two days later, I have thought, spoken, and warned, from family experience, that unchecked antisemitism does not remain abstract. It grows into something dangerous and visceral. Last Sunday night, I was devastated to see those fears realised.

Responding to Bondi Beach Terror

There are days we remember as moments “when the world changed.” Indeed, in the sermon that morning, we had been reminded of the power and impact of these pivotal moments “when the world changes.” This is one of those days. The terrorist attack at Bondi Beach demands a response.

Firstly, we pray. We raise holy hands in prayer (1 Timothy 2:8). We pray to the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, and the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Messiah, for the families and friends of those murdered, for the injured, for all who are traumatised, and for those providing presence and protection. We pray for an end to violation and warfare as we look toward God’s prophetic promise that weapons will be beaten into tools that cultivate life and blessing (Isaiah 2:4), in fullness when our shared Messiah returns.

Secondly, we stand in solidarity with Jewish people, here in Australia, across the world, and in Israel. We raise our voices, our votes, and our civic influence, to ensure the protection and preservation of God’s chosen people.

Thirdly, we commit ourselves to friendship, to generosity that supports meaningful action, and to the sharing of stories. We remember that the democratic freedoms we enjoy in Australia are historically grounded in Judeo-Christian moral and cultural foundations, received by God’s grace. We close ranks and reject and resist any ideology that promotes antisemitism, indeed any form of racially motivated hatred.

Fourthly, antisemitism must be named. Antisemitism must be abhorred. Antisemitism must be confronted. Those who perpetrate antisemitic violence must be held accountable under the law. History teaches us that Kristallnacht was not an isolated incident. It was a beginning. We hope and pray that Bondi Beach is not a beginning, but a wake-up call for Australia. Jewish people should be able to live safely and without fear alongside all other peoples in our nation.

To our Jewish friends and neighbours: we love you. We value you. You are not alone.

Hope

Finally, we must affirm that God cherishes his chosen people and that all Gentiles, non-Jewish people, owe an immeasurable spiritual debt to the Jewish people, for “salvation is from the Jews” (John 4:22). God has given us his Jewish Messiah, who has come and who will return again, and who will yet redeem all Israel. Earlier in John’s Gospel, Jesus is described as the light shining in the darkness (John 1:5), and we are promised that the darkness has not overcome the light.

This tragic story is not a story without hope. The national anthem of Israel, HaTikvah, The Hope, has been sung for generations, both in aspiration and in celebration, marking the rebirth of a precious Jewish nation in the land of Israel. Many Jewish people have also chosen to make Australia their home.

So, my fellow Australians, Jew and Gentile, as those accountable to Adonai, as followers of Jesus Messiah, as citizens of this nation and of our world, by the grace of God may we play our part, individually and together, to keep our lights shining: for the glory of God and for the good of all people, at Chanukah, at Christmas, and into eternity.

Never Again is Now! Am Israel Chai! Baruch B’Shem Yeshua!

Appeal for the Bondi Terrorist Attack Victims

Celebrate Israel, in partnership with the Canberra Declaration and other supporters, have organised a relief fund appeal for the victims and families of the Sydney Bondi Beach terrorist attack.

Our giving team is called Celebrate Israel Australia on the platform and is part of a much larger appeal run on the Charidy giving website. All donations are tax-deductible and will be administrated by the Jewish United Support Fund.

The relief fund will provide direct financial support, helping families begin to rebuild their lives after this tragedy. Assistance is especially needed to cover essential commitments when the family’s primary breadwinner has been killed. Find out more about this appeal on The Daily Declaration here.

Please stand alongside the Jewish community as a visible demonstration of God’s love to them at this critical time of need. So far, far, as of writing, over $17,000 has already been donated, and we prayerfully seeking to raise $100,000.

Please share this appeal button with your church networks and friends.

Give by clicking the green button below.

DONATE TO JEWISH RELIEF FUND

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Image via screenshot of YouTube/Sky News.