The Australian Jewish News, 4 May 2026
Ensuring that memory becomes responsibility
By Bruce Hill
Read the article online at The Australian Jewish News
Around 2000 Australians participated in a national online storytelling gathering on Sunday night, sharing their experiences of antisemitism ahead of the deadline for submissions to the Royal Commission into Antisemitism.
The Share Your Story event attracted more than 330 registered hosts and individuals, with 250 participants on the Zoom call at its peak.
Every state and territory in Australia was represented throughout the evening.
Rabbi Yaakov Glasman of St Kilda Shule officially opened the evening with the sounding of the shofar, and former federal treasurer Josh Frydenberg addressed participants on the importance of the Commission.
Jess Barrett of the Jewish Community Council of WA Shared her personal story, and the evening closed with a song of hope performed by Noy Ben Ami.
In Melbourne, Anita Frayman hosted 17 people at her home to write their submissions together.
She told the AJN the gathering gave people the courage to do something many could not have faced alone. "Many of them who came on the night said to me afterwards, they could not have done it otherwise," Frayman said.
Frayman, whose father's family and husband's family were both largely lost in the Holocaust, said the act of writing to an official authority represented something new for her generation of Australian Jews. "We've grown up in Australia feeling very comfortable, feeling totally accepted as part of Australian society. And even though we've also grown up with antisemitic things written on the walls or called out to us, we n ever really felt it deeply emotionally, and now we're feeling it.
She said everyday experiences had brought the change into sharp focus, including a conversation with her 10-year-old granddaughter while driving past a synagogue.
"She said, 'Why are there guards at a Jewish place of worship where they wouldn't be at churches?' This is what we're getting used to seeing, unfortunately."
Frayman said the evening was not cathartic so much as hopeful.
"I think it gives us hope that something can be done."
Barrett's address to the national gathering captured the breadth of the community's anxiety.
She described her son asking a question she never imagined hearing. He was preparing for his bar mitzvah in the weeks after the Bondi massacre. "He asked us: 'How do I officially stop being Jewish? Is there a form I can fill in?'"
Barrett also drew on the longer arc of Jewish history in Australia, saying the Royal Commission presented an opportunity to tell not only the story of what had happened to the community, but what it had built.
"Jewish Australians built lives. They became doctors, teachers, artists, business leaders, public servants, philanthropists, and neighbours. They helped shape the multicultural success story of this country. That is the deeper story of our community: not only what happened to us, but what we built after it," she said.
Organisers said they received immensely positive feedback from participants and are encouraging people to host their own storytelling gatherings.
Host resources are available by emailing info@shareyourstory.org.au.
ShareYourStory is a community initiative established to support people who wish to make a submission to the Royal Commission. Visit shareyourstory.org.au to learn more.
ShareYourStory has been established as a joint initiative.