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While Australia winds down for a traditional Christmas holiday during slow-moving days of coast and blistering heat set to the soundtrack of sporting matches and insect sounds, this year the nation's summer atmosphere seems, unfortunately, like none before.

It would be a dramatic oversimplification to describe the national disposition after the anti-Jewish terrorist attack on Australian Jews during the beachside Hanukah celebrations as one of mere discontent.

Across the country, but especially than in Sydney – the most iconically beautiful of the nation's urban centers – a tenor of immediate shock, grief and terror is shifting to anger and deep polarization.

Those who had previously missed the often voiced concerns of the Jewish community are now highly attuned. Similarly, they are sensitive to balancing the need for a much more immediate, vigorous government and institutional crackdown against antisemitism with the freedom to peacefully protest against mass atrocities.

If ever there was a moment for a countrywide dialogue, it is now, when our belief in humanity is so deeply depleted. This is particularly so for those of us fortunate enough never to have experienced the hatred and fear of religious and ethnic persecution on this continent or anywhere else.

And yet the algorithms keep churning out at us the trite instant opinions of those with inflammatory, polarizing views but no sense at all of that profound vulnerability.

This is a period when I regret not having a stronger faith. I lament, because having faith in people – in mankind’s capacity for kindness – has let us down so painfully. A different source, something higher, is required.

And yet from the horror of Bondi we have witnessed such profound examples of human decency. The heroism of individuals. The bravery of those present. Emergency personnel – police officers and paramedics, those who ran towards the gunfire to aid fellow humans, some recognised but for the most part anonymous and unheralded.

When the police tape still waved in the wind all about Bondi, the imperative of community, religious and cultural solidarity was admirably championed by faith leaders. It was a call of love and acceptance – of unifying rather than splitting apart in a time of targeted violence.

In keeping with the symbolism of Hanukah (illumination amid gloom), there was so much fitting evocation of the need for hope.

Togetherness, light and compassion was the essence of faith.

‘Our public places may not look exactly as they did again.’

And yet elements of the political landscape reacted so disgustingly quickly with fragmentation, finger-pointing and recrimination.

Some elected officials gravitated straight for the darkness, using the atrocity as a cynical chance to challenge Australia’s immigration policies.

Witness the harmful message of division from veteran agitators of societal discord, capitalizing on the attack before the site was even cold. Then consider the statements of leadership aspirants while the investigation was still active.

Government has a formidable task to do when it comes to uniting a nation that is mourning and frightened and looking for the hope and, importantly, explanations to so many uncertainties.

Like why, when the official terror alert was judged as likely, did such a large public Hanukah celebration go ahead with such a grossly inadequate security presence? Like how could the alleged killers have multiple firearms in the residence when the security agency has so openly and repeatedly alerted of the danger of targeted attacks?

How rapidly we were subjected to that tired line (or iterations of it) that it’s individuals not guns that cause death. Naturally, both things are true. It’s possible to simultaneously seek new ways to stop violent bigotry and keep guns away from its potential perpetrators.

In this metropolis of immense splendor, of pristine blue heavens above sea and sand, the water and the coastline – our shared community spaces – may not look quite the same again to the multitude who’ve observed that famous Bondi seems so incongruous with last weekend’s horrific bloodshed.

We yearn right now for comprehension and meaning, for family, and perhaps for the solace of aesthetics in culture or nature.

This weekend many Australians are calling off Christmas party plans. Reflective solitude will feel more in order.

But this is perhaps somewhat counterintuitive. For in these days of anxiety, anger, sadness, confusion and loss we require each other more than ever.

The reassurance of community – the human glue of the unity in the very word – is what we likely need most.

But sadly, all of the portents are that cohesion in politics and society will be elusive this extended, draining summer.