A Week Like No Other
An Incredible Update
The Victorian Jewish community came out in force for Israel this week, with over 10,000 people flocking to Zionism Victoria’s Yom Ha’atzmaut Family Festival. Thursday’s celebrations at included live music, rides, food trucks, a market, community stalls and arcade games. Explore the Yom Ha’atzmaut gallery here.
Two days earlier, a capacity crowd had filled Torah Shule (Melbourne Hebrew Congregation) for Zionism Victoria’s annual Yom Hazikaron commemoration. Joining the more than 1,200 community members who turned out to honour Israel’s fallen and victims of terror were senior members of both the state government and opposition. Explore the Yom Hazikaron gallery here.
Message from Elyse Schachna — President, Zionism Victoria
As we reflect on 77 years since Israel declared Independence, the scars of 7th October and the despair at hostages still held in captivity continue to cast a pall over Yom Ha'atzmaut celebrations. Meanwhile, the past eighteen months have witnessed a surge in antisemitism, both in Australia and globally, with the war against Israel providing an all-too convenient mask for the haters to hide behind.
Once hailed as a beacon of multiculturalism, it's unfathomable how Australia's has changed over the past year and a half. How different to the world our grandparents and great-grandparents lived in when there was no State of Israel to take us in. A world that turned a blind eye to their suffering. A world that shut its doors so the only journey they could make would be on a cattle car to a concentration camp.
Seventy-seven years ago this week that world changed. After centuries of persecution and pogroms, stepping out of the shadows of the Shoah, the Jewish people declared, "No more". Finally we were no longer in exile, we had an option, we had a choice.
No more would we allow our fate to be determined by anyone but ourselves, no more would we be dependent on others for our very existence, no more would we have to plead for mercy when our lives were threatened.
The Declaration of Independence, the establishment of the State of Israel, placed the destiny of the Jewish people in the hands of the Jewish people for the first time in 2,000 years.
From that very first Yom Ha'atzmaut in May 1948, we had a country of our own to call home, a land that offered refuge when the enemy came knocking at our door. And since that very first Yom Ha'atzmaut, millions have made the move either through choice or necessity.
Of course, we don't just celebrate Israel as a bolthole, a place to flee from the antisemites. Over the past 77 years, the Jewish State has been a world-leader in almost every field: science, agriculture, medicine, arts, technology, academia, music, culture - the list of Israeli achievements and contributions to humanity is endless.
The pioneers who drained the swamps and made the desert bloom are now the pioneers of Al and tech. There is so much to be proud of. Our tiny country is a titan of a country. And as an organisation, we aim to foster a love and appreciation of Israel among both our own community and the wider Victorian community.
From righting the wrong perceptions that people have about our homeland to bringing Israel's top talent to perform in Melbourne, from hosting inspiring speakers to hosting incredible events, and from organising the solidarity rallies where thousands stand shoulder-to-shoulder to the memorial services where we grieve as one, Zionism Victoria's mission is to engage our community and connect them to the Jewish State.