Thalia Hakin had been planning her bat mitzvah from the age of nine. The young girl from Melbourne’s southeast, known within her tight-knit Jewish community for her love of life, maturity and gift for poetry, could barely wait for her 12th birthday when the milestone would be marked by a celebration bursting with family and friends.
That celebration would have been in April, but Thalia, on a trip into the city last year with her mother, Nathalie, and younger sister, Maggie, was struck by a speeding car as it hurtled through Melbourne’s CBD, claiming the lives of six people and injuring dozens more.
For the Hakin family, the indiscriminate act of violence won’t ever make sense, yet on the first anniversary of the Bourke Street tragedy, the 10-year-old’s parents are looking to spread the “kindness and love” their young daughter embodied in a project that will involve Jewish children from across the country.
Torah for Thalia, co-ordinated by the Hakin family’s close friend Yisroel Raskin, will see children from Jewish communities across Australia invited to buy a letter of a special handwritten Sefer Torah, which is currently being produced.
“This is something very meaningful for (her parents),” Rabbi Raskin said.
“Obviously they were looking for a way to bring meaning and healing.
“When we suggested the idea, they said: ‘That is what we want. We want something, not just a regular Torah, but we want something to unite the community. Thalia was all about kindness and love, that’s what she exemplified, and that’s what we want. You can’t bring her back, but try to do something in her memory’.”
Read the full article by Simone Fox Koob at The Australian (subscription only).