Australian leaders condemn pro-Palestine vigils planned for 7 October anniversary amid Jewish commemorations as reflected on by Giani Harpreet Singh
At our Gurdwara, nestled between interstate freight arteries and container depots, night shift drivers often arrive exhausted. In the Langar hall, before we stir the dal and roll the rotis, we begin with Ardas. This standing prayer ends with a plea for Sarbat da Bhala, the welfare of all creation. Here, people of every creed sit cross-legged to eat. Grief is not rationed. When someone weeps for a lost kin or broken by fear, no one checks their passport. Instead, we place a hot bowl in their hands. Therefore, as **leaders condemn vigils** across Australia, we observe how quickly human hearts can narrow.
Embracing Shared Grief, Not Division
A political and civic storm gathers over commemorations. Jewish communities gather quietly, shadowed by genuine fear and raw agony. Terror and abduction struck their families. In contrast, Palestinian families and their neighbors assemble to mourn tens of thousands. These individuals lie buried beneath endless bombardment. Instead of elders holding space for widespread human sorrow, the civic arena descends into bitter administrative combat. They declare one vigil legitimate and another an affront. Our Sikh tradition teaches that grief is not a finite commodity. We do not defend it with barricades. Guru Nanak Dev Ji taught us to recognize the divine light within every soul. He warned that haumai, or ego-driven separation, blinds us to our shared origin.
When state authorities and partisan voices reduce public mourning, they commit deep spiritual violence. They make it a territorial, zero-sum dispute. Consequently, they tell one grieving family their tears insult another family’s tears. This compounds trauma rather than offering shelter. Our fifth Guru, Guru Arjan Dev Ji, sat upon burning sand. He maintained an unwavering state of Chardi Kala. This sublime spirit refuses to yield to despair. He declared he had no enemy. He considered no human an alien. To cultivate that spirit in a fractured world means rejecting false choices. We must offer compassion for a murdered child in a kibbutz and for a starved child in a refugee tent. The moment we demand grief must silence another community’s agony, we abandon divine justice. We bow to sectarian vengeance.
True Safety and Collective Conscience
Fear is real. Many ordinary Jewish citizens report dread while walking city streets. Their concerns cannot be dismissed. The memory of terror cuts deep into generational memory. True safety must be guaranteed for every place of prayer and gathering. However, security built on silencing another people’s catastrophe is an illusion. Silencing the cry of those weeping for seventy thousand dead will not heal hostage wounds. It will not build safety for Australian synagogues. True protection arises when communities see each other’s vulnerability. They do not demand ideological surrender as the price of empathy. Furthermore, when **leaders condemn vigils**, they often miss this vital point.
In freight logistics, if one central junction collapses, the entire network grinds to a halt. In moral life, the breakdown is identical. When we deny humanity to any segment of the human caravan, our collective conscience stalls. Leaders who condemn vigils out of convenience or fear fail their primary spiritual duty. Their role is to steady the vessel during rough seas. Instead of outlawing sorrow, civil leadership ought to protect every sacred gathering. They should model strength that endures plural suffering without fracturing into prejudice. Tomorrow morning, before dawn, the fires will light again in our community kitchen. We will prepare food for whoever walks through the gate. We know hunger and bereavement speak the same language everywhere. My prayer for this nation is that our hearts do not shrink into fortified encampments. Let the mourners weep. Let the fearful be protected. Let those who guide our society remember that true peace is never constructed upon the forced denial of another soul’s lament.
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