What would it take for me to feel safe wearing a kippah (a Jewish head covering) on a daily basis? This is a question I have been asking myself since 14 December. Which is not to suggest that I felt safe – or maybe comfortable is a better adjective – being Jewish in public before the Bondi massacre, but is to say that the question has suddenly become far more urgent.

I do not feel safe wearing a kippah because I fear that to many Australians this would be interpreted as a sign that I support Israel. I do not want people to make assumptions about my politics based on my appearance. And, more prosaically, in terms of my fear, I do not want to be shouted at when I’m going to the shops. I do not feel safe wearing a kippah because all of my life I’ve overheard non-Jewish people sharing antisemitic conspiracy theories. Greedy, cheap, power hungry, in control of the media. A host of conscious and unconscious biases inform how people react to Jews – to wear a kippah is to invite these reactions.

And, finally, I do not feel safe wearing a kippah because I know there are people who want to murder Jews – and I know also that, despite everything, there are many who simply seem unable to accept this as fact.

The truth is, like many secular Jews, my sense of safety and acceptance in Australian society has always depended on my secularness, which is another way of saying on my invisibility. Invisibility, here, is no accident. It is made possible, I know, by my whiteness. And enabled too by the foresight of my parents, who gave me an English name and adopted Australian customs (ie sporting teams) when they immigrated here. And, my invisibility is also aided by my partner, who is non-Jewish and non-white; together we hardly look like a historically typical Jewish couple.

But our first child was born earlier this year and I’d like her to grow up proud of her cultural heritage. And, for her, invisibility will mean something quite different. Today, she is unlikely to be read as Jewish by other Jews. She is also........

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