“Dear Friends,

I would like to start by wish­ing you all a Shana Tova U’Metuka, a sweet and hap­py new year.

As we approach the high holy­days, we must take a moment to reflect on what a year this has been. We look back on all our achieve­ments, our chal­lenges and dif­fi­cul­ties and our moments of joy, and then we look towards the future and all that we can achieve as a com­mu­ni­ty.

This time last year, COVID restric­tion pre­vent­ed us from cel­e­brat­ing the Chag­im with all our loved ones, with our chil­dren, grand­chil­dren, fam­i­ly and friends. How­ev­er, as a com­mu­ni­ty we were resilient and adapt­ed to a new nor­mal, and this year it is a true bless­ing to be able to gath­er togeth­er and wel­come the New Year around a table with fam­i­ly present. It is remark­able to see just how far we have come, and as we say Shana Tova this Sun­day night, we can be noth­ing but grate­ful.

The year of 5782 has not been easy, yet our com­mu­ni­ty has been stronger than ever.

We have stood behind our stu­dents as they have found them­selves yet again on the front­line of vicious anti­se­mit­ic attacks on cam­pus;

We have col­lec­tive­ly sup­port­ed the Jew­ish com­mu­ni­ty in Ukraine as they con­tin­ue to face a dev­as­tat­ing war;

We have been unit­ed in report­ing hate inci­dents no mat­ter where they come from and we prayed togeth­er for our fam­i­ly and friends in Israel as they faced repeat­ed ter­ror attacks and acts of vio­lence.

More recent­ly, we lived through the end of an era when we lost her majesty Queen Eliz­a­beth the Sec­ond, a fig­ure of strength and admi­ra­tion across the Jew­ish com­mu­ni­ty and the world. We extend our best wish­es to her suc­ces­sor King Charles the Third. May he have wis­dom and for­ti­tude to deal with the chal­lenges that lie ahead.

Con­sid­er­ing all these chal­lenges, Rosh Hashana is an impor­tant time for all of us. We mark and hon­our the tra­di­tions which have sus­tained us for thou­sands of years, and give thanks for renew­al and com­mu­ni­ty which fos­ters and nour­ish­es the Jew­ish spir­it.

As the Late Rab­bi Lord Jonathan Sacks not­ed (and I quote), “On Rosh Hashanah, Yom Kip­pur and the days between, we enact one of Judaism’s most pow­er­ful yet unfash­ion­able beliefs: that our lives indi­vid­u­al­ly and col­lec­tive­ly have a moral dimen­sion.”

Over the high hol­i­days, we are required to reflect on what we have done well and what we must improve on, not just as indi­vid­u­als but as a com­mu­ni­ty. This peri­od of reflec­tion has been inte­gral in keep­ing our peo­ple strong for thou­sands of years. and I am sure this year that our reflec­tions will pro­vide guid­ance for a great year ahead,

With this in mind, I want to wish you all a mean­ing­ful, inspir­ing, and joy­ful Rosh Hashanah. May our com­mu­ni­ty con­tin­ue to thrive and become even more cohe­sive and inclu­sive. I wish you all peace, good health, joy, and pros­per­i­ty.

On behalf of every­one at the ECAJ, Shana Tova.”

Jil­lian Segal AO, ECAJ Pres­i­dent