Be strong, New Zealand. We will rise again

We embrace new Kiwis, we want to get to know them and to share all the riches and wonders of Aotearoa, the land of the long white cloud.

As all communities try to come to grips with the events of Friday, the effects have been widespread. We saw the outpouring of grief from young Maori men and women performing haka across the country in support of the Muslim community, in a show of unity. We saw Tongans sharing in prayer at mosques, and we saw candlelit vigils even in the most remote of rural areas.

The small Jewish community of approximately 8,000 in New Zealand stood with their Muslim brothers and sisters to explore what support they can offer. Senior rabbis from both Auckland and Wellington travelled to Christchurch to meet mosque leaders and families of the victims, bringing the thoughts and prayers of the Jewish community.

We saw the closure of synagogues during Shabbat for the first time in our nation’s history. This was not only due to the possibility that they too could be attacked, but in a show of unity and respect, in honour of the innocent worshippers murdered in their own place of prayer.

The Holocaust Centre of New Zealand also closed its doors for two days to give staff and volunteers much-needed time to reflect and be with their loved ones.

For the Jewish people, a minority group that was persecuted to almost total annihilation in Europe during the Second World War, this is a most uncertain time.

With such a horrific tragedy dealt to one religious group within New Zealand, the Jewish community rightfully feel that they need to protect themselves with increased security measures to enter synagogues or places such as the Holocaust Centre.

Amongst the uncertainty, there is a call for education: to discuss with our children the future of our nation and aspects of cultural awareness and diversity, and to ask what kind of a world they want to live in.

Yehuda Bauer’s quote “Thou shalt not be a victim, thou shalt not be a perpetrator, but, above all, thou shalt not be a bystander” rings so true for how we need to go on.

We must not be that bystander; we must be the upstander in society. When we see, hear or read wrongdoing we must speak up and call it out. History has shown us that when we do nothing, we allow hate to manifest and grow, so that before too long our world is changed for the worse.

In November 2018, as part of the Children’s Holocaust Memorial that is touring New Zealand, the Holocaust Centre of New Zealand launched a social media campaign with that word: #Upstander.

This campaign encouraged people to tell their stories on Instagram, whether accounts of being a victim of bullying or discrimination and how they or how their peers stood up to it, or if they were an upstander when seeing someone spreading hate and intolerance or persecuting another person.

Tolerance and understanding has to begin with humility and the realisation that in serving our fellow man and woman, we arrive at a point of understanding. We become better people by being compassionate, caring and showing the love that our Creator has shown us.

Our nation needs time to grieve, time to come to grips with the actions of one hateful, ignorant person. We will rise together, coming back stronger and united.

New Zealand will show the world, as it has on so many other global issues, that the gunman’s values have no place in society. We are one people, rich in our diversity and strong in our beliefs.

Kia kaha — be strong, New Zealand.

Chris Harris is the chief executive of the Holocaust Centre of New Zealand