Frank Brennan

In the shadow of the Bondi massacre, Christmas and Hanukkah sit side by side this year. Acts of courage and faith remind us how light is kept alive in dark times.

Christmas is a time when even the most secular Australians turn their thoughts to family, peace, justice and the hope that life can be changed permanently for those who suffer loneliness, war, injustice and despair. For those of a secular mindset, these changes can be wrought only by human effort, and are limited by same. Some people with no religious faith or sensibility spend their lives seeking such changes – with herculean effort, courage, and hope against all odds.

Those with religious beliefs can find energy, hope and direction seeking these changes by reflecting on their religious traditions and praying to their God. Christians on Christmas night, just like the shepherds in the field on that first Christmas night, rejoice at the birth of Jesus, the one who embodies these hopes. On Christmas night, it is customary for Christians to read from the prophet Isaiah in the Jewish scriptures:

The people who walked in darkness have seen a great light; upon those who dwelt in the land of gloom a light has shone. You have brought them abundant joy and great rejoicing, as they rejoice before you as at the harvest, as people make merry when dividing spoils. For the yoke that burdened them, the pole on their shoulder, and the rod of their taskmaster you have smashed, as on the day of Midian. For every boot that tramped in battle, every cloak rolled in blood, will be burned as fuel for flames. For a child is born to us, a son is given us; upon his shoulder dominion rests. They name him Wonder-Counselor, God-Hero, Father-Forever, Prince of Peace.

This Christmas night, many Australian Christians will be fumbling to hold together the contrasting images of the first night of Hanukkah, the festival of lights, celebrated at Bondi Beach on 14 December, first with the lighting of the menorah – light driving out the darkness, and a public gathering driving out fear. Then the lighting of the lamps was followed by the devastating massacre with the deliberate targeting of Jews celebrating publicly their religious faith, culture and traditions.

It’s 50 years since Rabbi Chaim Itche Drizin first displayed a 25 foot menorah in Union Square, San Francisco. The UK’s longtime chief rabbi Jonathan Sacks described the festival of lights which has come to be so publicly celebrated in these terms: ‘Judaism and its culture of hope survived, and the Hanukkah lights are the symbol of that survival, of Judaism’s refusal to jettison its values for the glamour and prestige of a secular culture, then or now. A candle of hope may seem a small thing, but on it the very survival of a civilisation may depend.’

On 14 December at Bondi Beach, candles of hope were those individuals who risked and gave their lives so that others might be saved. One such candle of hope was unarmed Ahmed al Ahmed who tackled one of the two gunmen. Ahmed’s cousin who was with him later recalled: “He was very scared and was saying “I’m gonna die, please stay with me, please tell my family”.” A recent migrant, Ahmed wanted to do all he could to quell violence and evil and to help fellow Australians under fire. His religious beliefs could well have helped him in that split second of crisis, putting his life on the line, espousing the universality of the precondition for human existence – that every human being has an innate dignity and is destined for something more than loneliness, war, injustice and despair, culminating in death.

In secular Australia, religious ritual and belief are often seen to be of marginal relevance – contributing neither meaning nor purpose to life in the public square. But at times and places such as the massacre at Bondi Beach on the first night of Hanukkah, even the most secular amongst us is able to give thanks for the diverse religious commitments of our fellow Australians who constantly light a candle, rather than cursing the darkness.

For those of us who are Christian, the baby in the manger on Christmas night is the light of the world – the light which will never be quenched by the darkness, and the light which will always provide a pointer to true north in the darkest of times and places, including Gaza, Ukraine, Myanmar and South Sudan, in the newest of times when a multi-lateral rules based order underwritten by the US is no longer assured.

On Easter day, the day before he died, Pope Francis said: “We cannot settle for the fleeting things of this world or give in to sadness; we must run, filled with joy.” In his homily at the commencement of his papacy, the new Pope Leo said: “In this our time, we still see too much discord, too many wounds caused by hatred, violence, prejudice, the fear of difference, and an economic paradigm that exploits the Earth’s resources and marginalises the poorest. For our part, we want to be a small leaven of unity, communion and fraternity within the world. We want to say to the world, with humility and joy: Look to Christ!”

If only all of us, whatever our religion or none, could be like Ahmed al Ahmed, ‘a small leaven of unity, communion and fraternity within the world’. This Christmas, together, we can all commit ourselves afresh as small flickering lights which can drive out the darkness. Let’s remember those who were killed on Bondi Beach and their loved ones who miss them so desperately at this time.

May the people who have walked in darkness see a great light, for ‘those who dwelt in the land of gloom a light has shone’. Let’s hope we can all run again, filled with joy.

Happy Christmas.

https://johnmenadue.com/post/2025/12/holding-on-to-hope-a-christmas-reflection/

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