Grief and resolve shape 2026

As we welcome 2026, so many events have fundamentally changed our world. As a start, we were shattered to see our fellow community in Sydney became the victim of the most horrific antisemitic attack. We are heartbroken by the deaths of 15 at what should have been a peaceful celebration of our shared cultural and religious heritage and practice. We extend our heartfelt condolences to the families affected, with special mention of South African community member Rabbi Yaakov Levitan, who is sadly among those lost. 

The Sydney community holds a special place in our hearts, closely intertwined with our own through bonds of family and friendship, and I am sure that there was barely a South African Jewish family who did not call a family member or friend to check up on them in the wake of the attacks. We hope that this tragedy becomes an inflection point in confronting the rampant antisemitism in Australia since 7 October 2023. No government can afford to dismiss our warnings lightly, we must hold them accountable to confront and act decisively against such hatred. 

Tragically, the Sydney attack doesn’t mark an end to the wave of antisemitic violence afflicting Jewish communities globally. The South African Jewish Board of Deputies (SAJBD) extends its full support and solidarity to the Bet Israel Congregation of Jackson, Mississippi, and to the American Jewish community following the appalling arson attack in the early hours of Shabbat last week. 

Images of a burnt-out synagogue and destroyed Torah scrolls fill Jewish communities around the world with horror and dread. Disturbingly, this attack is the latest in a global escalation of antisemitic violence, and it is the 21st synagogue to be set alight or targeted in an arson attack since 7 October 2023. Similar attacks have occurred in Germany, Canada, Russia, France, Australia, and Tunisia. Notably, Bet Israel was previously firebombed by the Ku Klux Klan in 1967 because of the civil rights advocacy of the rabbi, Perry Nussbaum, a chilling echo of the persistence of this type of hate and its ubiquity across the political spectrum 

We have also witnessed pivotal shifts in Venezuela and Iran, home to small yet resilient Jewish communities long subjected to governmental hostility. Amid these developments, we can only hope that 2026 slows its relentless pace from these initial weeks. 

This week marks the return to school for our students, which this year is particularly significant and historic as it entails the first day of the new “one” King David High School on the Linksfield campus and the incorporation of Hirsch Lyons School into Yeshiva College. The pain and nostalgia that accompanied the closure of Victory Park and Hirsh Lyons are tangible, but the reimagining of the system also offers so much potential for our community. I wish all the students, teachers, staff, and parents well as they navigate this exciting and anxiety provoking period. The SAJBD looks forward to witnessing King David and Yeshiva College thrive and ascend to even greater heights.