Thursday last, our High School commemorated Kristallnacht. We focused on our choices in creating a humane and caring world and how Kristallnacht, amidst a ‘response’ of by-standing and silence, served as a beginning rather than an end to the great tragedy that would engulf Europe and our people. In addition to reading our students’ reflections below, please click on the following link to hear Joel Ehrlich’s beautiful and moving composition which he played at our Kristallnacht commemoration. https://youtu.be/Ex8TBfNm1jk

Rabbi Daniel Siegel

Rachel Turtledove Year 12 – 2019

Kristallnacht could have been the end. A world of bystanders should have stood up. Except they made the choice not to. Kristallnacht could’ve been the end, but it was the opposite. It was the beginning of the persecution of our people, all because people made the wrong choice. They decided not to act, they decided to be bystanders rather than upstanders. Not choosing to act when the time calls for it, is still a choice.

Eighty years on, we have this choice of being by-standers or up-standers each and every day. We know of the atrocities that befell our people as a result of by-standing but we, here today, have the choice of how we act. Kristallnacht was a night of breaking things down, of pure destruction. The ramp-up of a dehumanising process of a people! But, we have chosen to rebuild our community and work for a better humanity rather than sit by and allow for Kristallnacht to form into a symbol of the destruction of our people.

So, we choose positivity. We, as a Jewish people, made the active, positive choice to rise out of a negative situation and now we, as Emanuel students and the next generation of Jewish citizens, choose to be upstanders – to stand for what we believe in. We stand in solidarity against what is wrong in our world. This is the result of a positive choice we make in our lives.

Let’s think of the Pittsburgh synagogue shooting a few weeks ago. An horrific act was committed. We experienced dark days again, Jews were killed and injured because they were born Jewish, because they were active in their faith and supported the plight of refugees. Nearly 80 years on from Kristallnacht, the start of the Holocaust and an end to the lives of so many, we Jews have the choice of what we do with this. Do we stand by, say nothing and ignore the Pittsburgh massacre? Or do we rather stand up together as one united, global Jewish community and work towards eradicating hate speech and hateful actions in our world, against the Jewish people and against all who have been discriminated against due to the colour of their skin, their race, religion or gender.

Kristallnacht was a symbol of destruction. But we have chosen to learn from our past, to stand and together, we have chosen to construct an Emanuel community based on Mind, Spirit and Being.

                                         _____________________________________________________

Mia Shapiro, Year 12 – 2019

William Cooper* shows a constructive action in the time of great destruction for humanity.

Like Cooper, we Emanuel students can be a force to change the world for good, or stay safely hidden in the back row of life. Statistics show each of us will have a noticeable effect on the lives of at least 162 other people Your life will leave its mark, whether positive or negative, but you have to choose what kind of mark it will be, for the choices you make today will shape your future.

Cooper was not prejudiced by religion, race, ethnicity or beliefs but stood up for human rights, while not even being recognised as a human himself. This act speaks to me on a deep level. This is what I think about when we talk about Kristallnacht, not only the destruction and devastation which it was.

How do we pay tribute to William Cooper?

By all of us trying to make a difference we pay tribute to him. I want all of us to think about William and his acts of upstanding and acknowledge that we too can make a difference and that the Emanuel School is an incredible platform for us to do so. We can raise consciousness, we can speak out about the horrific things that are happening today and how we can be a part of a solution.

I am not here to preach to you, I simply want everyone to understand that they have more power than they could imagine. Yes, we are young, but we are extremely privileged and we can make a difference. And, even if you feel like none of your words or actions have an effect, remember William Cooper. Not even ‘classified’ as a human being, he was said be the only one to generate a private protest against the Nazis following Kristallnacht.

In your life you will shed tears from laughter and sadness, you will go through disappointments and achievements, you will fail and succeed but it is what you take from these experiences that shapes you. Will you feel too small to make a difference or will you upstand to the best of your ability? I hope we choose to make our Jewish tradition and William Cooper proud.

*Aboriginal elder and activist William Cooper was at his home in Footscray, Victoria when he learned about the Kristallnacht attack upon Jews. Having publicly condemned the mistreatment of Aborigines in Australia, the Yorta Yorta man could not stay silent.

He led a delegation from his home to the German consulate in Melbourne to deliver a letter protesting the Nazi violence. According to the National Museum of Australia, it is considered by many to be the only protest of its kind in the world at the time.

The Jewish convenor of William Cooper’s Legacy, Abe Schwarz, said: “I don’t believe he actually met a Jew in his life, but he knew what racism was and he knew how to act ethically. I think it was the humanity of the man; he knew what was right and what was wrong. When he read what was happening in Germany, he said if someone didn’t stand up to Hitler, there would be genocide”.