Among their last acts before their scheduled winter break, legislators in the Parliament of New South Wales hosted a public Chanukah menorah lighting ceremony with leaders from the Jewish Board of Deputies and Chabad-Lubavitch Rabbi Pinchus Feldman of Sydney’s Yeshiva Centre.
Feldman lit all of the menorah’s eight candles – because the celebration took place several days before the Dec. 20 beginning of Chanukah, the event was treated more as a commemoration of the Jewish festival of lights – together with state Premier Barry O’Farrell and Opposition Leader John Robertson.
“It’s a fact that the Australian Jewish community has a proud history of loyalty and commitment dating back to the First Fleet and has made – and continues to make – an outstanding contribution to all facets of Australian life,” O’Farrell said at the gathering in Parliament House.
“It is very fitting to celebrate Chanukah in Parliament House, which stands as a symbol of freedom and democratic values,” stated Yair Miller, president of the New South Wales Jewish Board of Deputies, who opened the program and thanked Chabad of New South Wales for its invaluable contribution to the community.
The premier set the tone for the friendly and joyful celebration, joking about the temptation to indulge in too many holiday treats, before delving into the profound meaning of the festival.
“Today, the menorah is recognized as the symbol of the Jewish people’s love for liberty, something which Australia advocates strongly in our belief of freedom and our respect for all religions, all races and all cultures,” he declared.
“This [Jewish] community is a community that has all those great characteristics – hope, faith and strength of character – and [is] a community that feeds every single one of those characteristics into our great state every single day,” added Robertson. “And for that, we should all be thankful.”
Feldman, dean and spiritual leader of the Yeshiva Centre and director of Chabad NSW, had presented the menorah to Parliament House two years ago. This year, he delivered a prayer for the well-being of Queen Elizabeth II, her representatives and all elected officials in federal, state and local government, noting that New South Wales is “host to many ethnic and religious groups that live together in mutual respect and harmony.”
“It is an atmosphere that has been nurtured by the premiers and governments of both sides of the political divide, who have extended their support to citizens from across New South Wales’ ethnic and religious spectrum,” stated Feldman. “This affirms the divine spark that exists in each one of us, the common denominator of our shared humanity.”
Feldman also beseeched the Almighty “to sustain the leaders of the Free World in their efforts to remove the threat of tyranny and wanton aggression wherever it may be and to succeed in removing darkness, oppression and evil from our societies.”
For his part, Legislative Council president Don Harwin compared the branches of the menorah to the “different types of people, opinions and ways of life.” The original menorah in the Holy Temple in Jerusalem “was made of one piece of gold,” he pointed out, “which underlines the fact that beneath all of our differences there is a commonality that unites all of us.”
Legislative Assembly Speaker Shelley Hancock discussed the significance of lighting an additional candle for each subsequent night of the eight-day-long festival. The message, she said, is “that we shouldn’t be complacent …that we should continue to build on what we’ve done yesterday and today and continue to do those good works tomorrow.”
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