On the fourth day of the Jewish celebration of Hanukkah dignitaries from the Greek community, including members of parliament, past and present, gathered at Melbourne’s Federation Square to celebrate the historical and religious Jewish occasion.
Rabbi Gabbi Kaltman from the Ark Centre and organiser of Pillars of Light, an event that promotes multicultural and multifaith harmony, invited guests to celebrate the event, which was later followed by a cocktail event at the Hellenic Museum.
Addressing the crowd at Fed Square Rabbi Kaltman gave the historical context to Hanukkah.
“Twenty two centuries ago, Israel was under the Greek Seleucid Emperor, Antiochus VI who defiled the Temple and supressed religious freedom.
“The Maccabees revolted to win back their religious freedoms and after three years of conflict they had a stunning victory against one of the most powerful armies in the world they retook Jerusalem.
“They rededicated their temple, relit the menorah and with one small vial of oil which was undefiled that they found in the ruins of the temple, as the legend goes there was only enough for one day’s of oil, to rekindle the menorah and by a miracle that small vial was enough to light the menorah for eight days,” said the Rabbi.
Rabbi Kaltman said that intolerance and antisemitism are unacceptable in a multicultural Victoria and that the Hanukkah is a celebration of all faiths, all cultures and all races coming together.
Various members of commonwealth and federal parliaments spoke including federal attorney general Mark Dreyfus, deputy premier of Victoria, Ben Carroll, the leader of the Victorian opposition John Pesutto and lord mayor of Melbourne Sally Capp.
Along with the various members of parliament, were representatives of the Gandel Foundation, and the Pratt Foundation.
The core theme of all their messages was a rejection of intolerance and antisemitism and the celebration of Victoria’s multiculturalism.
Konstantinos Kalymnios, author, and contributor to Neos Kosmos was the MC who said that his hometown of Ioannina was the first in Greece “to have had a Jewish mayor, the late lamented Moshe Elisaf.”
Kalymnios said he felt “compelled to face the elephant in the room”, and with regards to the Temple and Antiochus IV, “may his name and memory be erased, but not before I mention that his name means “adversary,” I’d like to say, on behalf of all my people: “Sorry” which brought laughter among the crowd at Federation Square.
“Now that we’ve got that awkwardness out of the way, perhaps we can reflect upon the brilliance, if you’ll pardon the pun of the festivity, we are all here privileged to celebrate. A festival of illumination, of hope and of harmony,” Kalymnios said.
Irine Vella, Anthea Sidiropoulos and Achileas Yiangoulis performed, and played Greek songs, including from Theodorakis’ Mauthausen which was written to the lyrics of Greek Jewish playwright, Iakovos Kambanelis.
The event was concluded with the lighting of Menorah by guests and a speech by the Neos Kosmos publisher, Christopher Gogos.
“As a multicultural media outlet that has public interest journalism at its core… we are responsible for informing, educating, and providing a space, an agora, for ideas, dialogue, robust argument, and even disagreement.”
He said that in the global digital environment, “we might influence our Diasporas here, and our compatriots in our motherlands, and our own Australian political leaders, to work towards solutions.”
Gogos said that “regardless of whether one takes a religious or historical view, the fact is that Hannukah, from a terrible war, ultimately became a bridge between Greek and Jewish values.”
He pointed to how Greek was used to transcribe the Torah and ensure its survival and the “Judeo-Hellenic philosophers such as Philo, melded Judaic and Greek thought.”
Greeks, Gogos said, were the “only non-Jews to participate in the Synagogue or συναγωγή or the house of assembly.”
Kalymnios took the stage to farewell all and referred to the Greek Jewish poet Joseph Elias Kapoulias, known as Joseph Eligia, from his hometown of Ioannina “that evokes just how special that act is in this time and all times: It is better to light a candle, than curse the darkness. Shalom aleichem, peace be upon all of you.”
Following the proceedings at Federation Square, a vip event was hosted at the Hellenic Museum with many Jewish dignitaries present along with minister Steve Dimopoulos in attendance, Labor members Nick Staikos, Kat Theophanous and former ministers John Pandazopoulos, Theo Theophanous, and Philip Dalidakis, as well as politicians from the Opposition, community leaders and media.
