A Night of National Storytelling

The Australian Royal Commission into Antisemitism is hearing submissions until the end of May. The Commissioner has said clearly that she needs to hear from individual Jewish Australians — not only from peak bodies, but from you.

Most of us have a story. Something said at work, on a feed, at the school gate, at university, on public transport, since October 7 or long before. A moment when the ground shifted. That story matters to the Commission.

On Sunday 3 May at 7:00pm AEST (5:00pm AWST), ECAJ and other key communal bodies are inviting all members of the Jewish community to gather together in homes across Australia, all connected by one Zoom for A National Night of Storytelling.

You are invited to host a gathering of ten friends in your own home.

• At 7:00pm, AEST every home logs in to open the night together.
• At 7:20pm, each home works together for 45 minutes to write and submit their stories. A paragraph is enough. You don’t write alone — the friends around your kitchen table are writing alongside you.
• At 8:05pm, we reconvene online to close with a song of hope.
• At 8:30pm, the event concludes.

A few things worth knowing:

Your submission can be fully confidential. Your submission goes directly to the Commission.

You do not write alone. You write with the friends around you, and our volunteer leaders are on a live Q&A throughout the 45 minutes — anything a host needs, we’re there.

If writing your story brings up difficult feelings, you can step back at any time. No one will push you.

This is a moment our community has been given, and it will not come again. The more of us who submit, the more weight the Commission’s final report will carry — and the more seriously Australian institutions will be asked to respond.

To register as a host, please click on the following link: www.shareyourstory.org.au/storytelling#host

You’ll be asked to confirm your details and roughly how many friends will be joining you.

Please share the registration link with your networks — a friend, a parent, an adult child, a neighbour, a colleague, anyone in the community who should be hosting. Every host brings ten more people; every share matters.

For further information, click on the following link or the flyer below:  www.shareyourstory.org.au/storytelling