More than 600 people turned out to hear Australian Prime Minister Kevin Rudd’s third address to Sydney’s Yeshiva Centre, a speech in which the politician singled out the New South Wales headquarters of Chabad-Lubavitch as a “force for good in the world.”

In his address, the government leader lauded the center’s vast array of social welfare initiatives. After receiving a silver menorah from the center’s dean and spiritual leader Rabbi Pinchus Feldman, Rudd pointed out that the center’s symbol is the menorah.

““The menorah is a symbol of light,” stated Rudd. “It is about the Jewish people’s tradition, in the words of the biblical prophet Isaiah, of being ‘a light unto the nations’ and illuminating this world with acts of goodness and kindness.”