“Dear Friends

I want to begin by con­vey­ing my best wish­es to you all as we approach Rosh Hashanah and our Yamim Noraim.

There is no sense in pre­tend­ing that these high holy­days will be like every oth­er for our Aus­tralian Jew­ish com­mu­ni­ty. We all labour under var­i­ous restric­tions, and many of us are pro­hib­it­ed from shar­ing the most mean­ing­ful days in the Jew­ish cal­en­dar with those we love. For me, this means that my hus­band and I won’t be attend­ing our syn­a­gogue in Syd­ney on Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kip­pur. It means that we won’t be enjoy­ing a fam­i­ly meal with our chil­dren and grand­chil­dren and extend­ed fam­i­ly. This is the real­i­ty of our time and it is a painful one.

I want to con­vey to you though a sense of hope. These dif­fi­cult times WILL pass. Those of us in New South Wales, Vic­to­ria and the ACT will soon be able to meet our friends and fam­i­ly in per­son. We will soon be able to pray togeth­er and share in each other’s sim­chas and com­fort each oth­er in our grief. Unfor­tu­nate­ly that is not the case for these high hol­i­days. This year we each have to strict­ly observe the restric­tions and health orders that apply in our states, cities and local gov­ern­ment areas. We have to do this because of our para­mount duty as Jews to pro­tect our health and abide by the laws of our land. We must also pro­tect each oth­er and the com­mu­ni­ty itself. For our com­mu­ni­ties in Vic­to­ria, New South Wales and the ACT, stay­ing home is our duty this year. Yom Kip­pur this year can still be a time of reflec­tion and intro­spec­tion – even for those who have to spent it at home. We can still find joy in our his­to­ry and our tra­di­tions but please fol­low the rules.

Be healthy, be well, and may you and your loved ones have a sweet and healthy new year and may you each be sealed in the Book of Life. On behalf of every­one at the ECAJ I wish you Shana Tova um’tukah and Gmar Cha­ti­ma Tova.”

Jil­lian Segal AO, ECAJ Pres­i­dent