00:02It's hard. I mean, it's just something that's unprecedented in our community here in Australia.
00:09This sort of mass casualty terrorist attack, it's ripped through the community.
00:13People have friends, relatives who have gone forever. Absolutely tragic.
00:18And you're actually friends with Ellie Schleiner?
00:21Yes, yes. And some of the other victims as well and their family.
00:25So Boris Tetleroyd, Rabbi Yarkov Levitan and a number of others.
00:29So it's very, it's really, really hard.
00:33OK, so this interim report has come out today.
00:37It's limited in its scope.
00:40There's going to be a full report released later in the year.
00:44I'd like to go to some of the recommendations of that if I could.
00:47The first one is in relation to security at events like Hanukkah.
00:53The recommendation is that it be increased to the level of the security that is organised for High Holy Days.
01:02What do you make of that?
01:03I think security is a good thing.
01:05I think that, of course, you need to be secure.
01:08You need to be protected.
01:09Law enforcement's a very, very important thing.
01:11But as I've been thinking about today while reading this interim report, there's a lot of focus on the anti
01:18-Semitism part.
01:19It's a report about the Royal Commission, anti-Semitism and social cohesion.
01:24There's a lot of focus on police and counter-terrorism and security and high walls and big offences.
01:30And I think that's important and unfortunately necessary.
01:33But I think equally as important we need to focus on the social cohesion.
01:38How do we build a type of society where this type of thing doesn't happen?
01:41And the Commissioner has made it clear that she is going to go with the structure of this.
01:47The inquiry is going to start looking at those issues from as early as next week.
01:52And you've made a submission on that yourself?
01:54I'm in the process of doing so.
01:56Yeah.
01:57You know, submissions are still being submitted.
02:00But I think that that needs to be a really huge focus.
02:04Because if you look at the health of a society, for example, the community, you know, we talk about a
02:10healthy Australia.
02:11We talk about investing in hospitals and doctors and, you know, those types of things.
02:16But those are all cure.
02:18Those are all focusing on the problem after it happens.
02:20We need to invest equally into good health, making sure there's gyms and parks and healthy food and, you know,
02:28farms providing the type of nutrients that are going to help people be healthy to the point where they need
02:33the hospital less.
02:34And I think if we talk about that in a physical health side, social health of the community is the
02:39same.
02:40Yes, we need policing, counter-terrorism.
02:42That's all the hospitals and the ambulances.
02:43But what about the gyms?
02:45What about the parks?
02:46What about the healthy eating?
02:47What about the programs, activities, good deeds that can be done to ensure that this community is so, so cohesive
02:54and so loving that these types of things don't happen?
02:57Yes, so you're particularly looking forward to this next phase of the hearings.
03:02What do you, like, have you got any ideas at this very early stage at what could be done to
03:09improve that social cohesion?
03:11Definitely.
03:12I'd like to highlight the fact that the New South Wales government acted very quickly within days of 14th of
03:18December, within days of that terrible Hanukkah massacre, and launched a program called One Mitzvah for Bondi.
03:25Mitzvah is the Jewish word for a good deed.
03:27And so on the New South Wales government website, nsw.gov.au forward slash One Mitzvah, they're still there.
03:34It's an initiative which was ran through the multicultural ministry, encouraging people to do a Mitzvah, a good deed, to
03:42add in acts of goodness and kindness, to bring light to combat the darkness.
03:45And thousands of people have uploaded saying, you know, I visited someone I hadn't seen in a long time, I
03:50helped someone in need, I paid for someone's groceries, I've done good deeds.
03:55You know, I just got a message last week from a colleague of mine in Victoria, who was alerted to
04:01the fact that a school in Victoria, Caulfield Grammar, did a Mitzvah campaign.
04:07And they've published a book of 1000 Mitzvahs that the school have taken on to increase social cohesion, to bring
04:14the community together.
04:15Kids stepping up and saying, I've joined the Lifesavers, I'm putting passion into volunteering, into giving blood, acting acts of
04:23goodness and kindness.
04:24I think when we focus the energy, people have passion.
04:28And if we can channel that passion into doing good and to making this world a better place, it doesn't
04:33go into bad ways.
04:34Yeah, and so I had other questions about the counter-terrorism work and the gun buyback and things like that.
04:40But yeah, your focus is very much optimistically looking forward to improvements in social cohesion.
04:48Absolutely. I think that Australia is a beautiful country. I'm a fourth generation Australian, I'm very proud of being Australian.
04:54It was embarrassing what happened here. Embarrassing because that's not the Australia that I love, and it's not the Australia
05:00that millions of Australians call home.
05:02And so I think that Australia has the values, which as a rabbi I can say, you know, the biblical
05:09values of goodness and kindness, of seeing the fact that every single person is creating the image of God.
05:15You know, regardless of colour of skin, regardless of what you believe, regardless of your life choices, we love everyone.
05:24It's an Australian thing, mateship, fair go for all.
05:27And I think we can channel that value of volunteerism, of building a beautiful society, of using our energies to
05:35make the world a better place.
05:36The possibilities are endless.
05:38Once you put that submission into the commission, I'll be surprised if they don't ask you to come forward as
05:45a winner.
05:45Are you free?
05:47You know what? Any opportunity to try and help make this country a more beautiful place.
05:52And I must say, despite December 14 or Hanukkah, what happened, I'm still very proud to be Australian because Australia
06:00is a beautiful country and there are a lot of good people here.
06:04And I think good always overcomes evil. Light always pushes away darkness.
06:08And I think if we lean into that, you know, the possibilities are endless that this country is going to
06:12continue to be a beautiful place.
06:14Let's see.
06:14Paper.
06:14I'm sorry.
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