{"id":367717,"date":"2026-03-31T15:12:10","date_gmt":"2026-03-31T15:12:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/367717\/"},"modified":"2026-03-31T15:12:10","modified_gmt":"2026-03-31T15:12:10","slug":"as-bondis-jewish-community-celebrates-passover-freedom-and-fear-are-front-of-mind-bondi","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/367717\/","title":{"rendered":"As Bondi\u2019s Jewish community celebrates Passover, freedom and fear are front of mind | Bondi"},"content":{"rendered":"

Rabbi Mendy Ulman\u2019s family is one of a dozen who will be sitting down for the Jewish holiday of Passover for the first time since the massacre at Bondi beach without the loved ones they lost that day<\/a>. When Ulman remembers his brother-in-law at previous celebrations \u2013 known as Pesach in Hebrew \u2013 he says simply: \u201cHe was life.\u201d<\/p>\n

Rabbi Eli Schlanger<\/a> was always singing and initiating the traditional Jewish toast \u201cl\u2019chaim\u201d (meaning \u201cto life!\u201d): \u201cHe\u2019d make sure everyone\u2019s spirits were high.\u201d<\/p>\n

Schlanger\u2019s highlight of the holiday was the first night, which they celebrated as a family, allowing him to focus on his children \u2013 engaging them in the story of their ancestors\u2019 liberation from slavery in Egypt more than 3,000 years ago.<\/p>\n

Matzah \u2013 unleavened bread \u2013 is prepared in the lead-up to Passover at Bondi Chabad. Photograph: Blake Sharp-Wiggins\/The Guardian<\/p>\n

On the second night, the orthodox Bondi Chabad congregation<\/a> would host a communal Seder meal where Schlanger would \u201crun the whole show\u201d, Ulman says.<\/p>\n

This year, with many families in their community also facing a very different holiday, the communal Seder will move to the first night, Wednesday.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s going to be very stark, and very, very confronting, so doing it together as community will be much more comforting,\u201d Ulman says.<\/p>\n

The hope is the evening will be a \u201chealing experience\u201d, though for many in the community \u201cthere\u2019s still a long road to go\u201d.<\/p>\n

\u201cI know grandmothers who have never been to therapy \u2013 babushkas who are 90 years old and they\u2019re going to therapy. It\u2019s a new time for a lot of people \u2026<\/p>\n

\u201cThe way that we heal \u2026 the way we\u2019ve always done as a community is coming together on occasions like this.\u201d<\/p>\n

A painting of Ulman\u2019s father Rabbi Yehoram Ulman and Rabbi Eli Schlanger\u2018A radical notion\u2019<\/p>\n

The Haggadah \u2013 the text guiding the Seder \u2013 instructs each participant to imagine they personally left Egypt, experiencing the journey from slavery to freedom.<\/p>\n

\u201cPart of the power of Passover is that the themes do continue to resonate through generations, through time periods,\u201d Rabbi Jacqueline Ninio from Emanuel Synagogue says.<\/p>\n

\u201cPesach really at its heart is about what it means to be free \u2026 It was a radical notion of the time that everyone should be free<\/a>; there are not people who should be slaves and people who should be masters\u2026<\/p>\n

\u201cWe all \u2013 every human being \u2013 deserves to be free.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u2018Every human being deserves to be free,\u2019 Rabbi Jacqueline Ninio says. Photograph: Emanuel Synagogue<\/p>\n

Because Judaism<\/a> encourages different interpretations of its texts, Ninio says, each person connects with the story in their own way, bringing their own circumstances to bear on how they create meaning from the holiday. The Seder meal in particular is a time of discussion and debate.<\/p>\n

A topic of debate at this year\u2019s Seder, predicts Alex Ryvchin, the co-chief executive of the Executive Council of Australian Jewry, will be \u201cour status as Australians and how free we truly are\u201d.<\/p>\n

Like many who are part of Bondi Chabad, which is closely connected to Sydney\u2019s Russian-speaking Jewish immigrant community, Ryvchin arrived in Australia with his family, escaping Soviet persecution.<\/p>\n

\u201cOur bondage lasted a lot longer than many other Jewish families, where even in modern times, we were prohibited from practising our faith<\/a>,\u201d he says, adding: \u201cEveryone that came from that part of the world has a very common experience.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s an experience of being abused on the street, in public transport. It\u2019s an experience of being excluded from jobs and university places. It\u2019s an experience of having a killing field in your neighbourhood.<\/p>\n

Ulman reads from the Haggadah. Photograph: Blake Sharp-Wiggins\/The Guardian<\/p>\n

\u201cIt made us cherish being Australian all the more, knowing that not every place is like Australia, not every place is accepting of the Jewish community and grants us those rights.\u201d<\/p>\n

But what was once taken for granted is questioned, Ryvchin says: \u201cHow will we view freedom in Australia as Jews \u2013 if we can\u2019t gather in a park to light the Hanukah candles are we free to practise our faith?\u201d<\/p>\n

\u2018Everybody knows each other\u2019<\/p>\n

Many in the community are still distressed, says Lynda Ben-Menashe, the president of the National Council of Jewish Women of Australia. Bondi represented \u201cthe culmination of two and a half years of sustained feeling of attack<\/a> and dread that something physically violent would happen \u2013 and it did.<\/p>\n

Alex Ryvchin in Bondi after the shooting. \u2018We can\u2019t ignore or forget what happened just a few months ago,\u2019 he says. Photograph: Mick Tsikas\/EPA<\/p>\n

\u201cThe Jewish community is very small in this country. We\u2019re maybe 100,000 people<\/a> \u2013 0.2% of the Australian population \u2013 and we are a very close-knit community.<\/p>\n

\u201cEverybody knows each other. It\u2019s not six degrees of separation in our community. It might be two. You are connected to that event.\u201d<\/p>\n

The question asked each year at the Seder table \u2013 \u201cWhy is this night different from all other nights?\u201d \u2013 begets another this year, she says: \u201cWhy is this Passover different from all other Passovers?\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019ve experienced murder on Australian soil and we have never been feeling less safe in this country than we do today.\u201d<\/p>\n

The national debate surrounding freedom of speech is also front of mind. \u201cThere are still people in this country who think it\u2019s OK to call for violence,\u201d Ben-Menashe says. \u201cThat\u2019s not freedom of speech from our perspective.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u2018Everything seems like an act of defiance\u2019<\/p>\n

Ninio says distress and trauma exist alongside \u201cincredible resilience\u201d<\/a>. Ryvchin sees a \u201csurge in pride\u201d in being Jewish. Yet both are concerned.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe are existing in our Judaism behind walls and behind security and police, and it\u2019s quite confronting\u2026 it doesn\u2019t feel so free right now,\u201d Ninio says.<\/p>\n

Ryvchin says: \u201cEverything seems like an act of defiance at the moment. Even just being a Jew, walking down the street visibly Jewish or celebrating the holidays, it seems like defiance rather than a humble observance of faith. And I think that\u2019s incredibly sad.<\/p>\n

\u201cBut at the same time, [that defiance] is tinged with fear,\u201d he says, citing the need to protect children.<\/p>\n

\u201cBoth those conditions exist simultaneously; we can\u2019t ignore or forget what happened just a few months ago and the likelihood of another attack.\u201d<\/p>\n

The royal commission into antisemitism and social cohesion<\/a> offers hope. \u201cThere is finally a willingness to address the issues,\u201d Ben-Menashe says. Her organisation\u2019s submission to the inquiry will focus on \u201chow Australia can become a better and safer place for everyone\u201d.<\/p>\n

Ninio says one of Passover\u2019s messages is to refuse to accept things the way they are \u2013 and taking action to make a change: \u201cAt the end of the Seder, we look ahead to a future of freedom for everyone. And it\u2019s not just about us. It\u2019s about all people.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u2018Pesach wants us to be free by saying have some gratitude in life in the good things,\u2019 Ulman says. Photograph: Blake Sharp-Wiggins\/The Guardian<\/p>\n

For Ulman, the theme of Passover that speaks most strongly to him is gratitude, exemplified by one of the closing songs of the Seder: \u201cDayenu\u201d<\/a>, opening up the possibility for hope and celebration.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think Pesach wants us to be free by saying have some gratitude in life in the good things \u2013 not to negate the bad things \u2013 but not to highlight them constantly \u2026 to allow yourself to laugh and have a good time.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe would all be excused if this Pesach we decided not to have joy \u2013 there\u2019s a good excuse for that \u2013 but that\u2019s not freedom, that\u2019s not what Pesach is about.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Rabbi Mendy Ulman\u2019s family is one of a dozen who will be sitting down for the Jewish holiday…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":367718,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[42,43,40,38,41,39],"class_list":{"0":"post-367717","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-headlines","8":"tag-headlines","9":"tag-news","10":"tag-top-news","11":"tag-top-stories","12":"tag-topnews","13":"tag-topstories"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/367717","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=367717"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/367717\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/367718"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=367717"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=367717"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=367717"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}