Yom Kippur (“the Day of Atonement”) is the holiest day on the Jewish calendar, and this year it begins at sunset on October 4. For devout Jews, it’s day of prayer, fasting, confessions and asking friends, colleagues and family for forgiveness.

Religion has always been a rich source of material for satirist, TV presenter and author John Safran – and this holy day is no exception. For the past five years or so he’s been posting a “Yom Kippur list” on social media. Rather than a list of people he’s humbly asking forgiveness from, it’s a list of people he feels have wronged him, with demands that they beg for his forgiveness.

“I get a few apologies, but I get way more people who are annoyed they’ve been left off the list,” he says. “People are offended I haven’t roasted them. They’ve definitely asked what they have to do to be shamed by me next year.”

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This time he’s pushed the annual tradition to a whole new level and taken out a big digital billboard at the corner of Smith and Gertrude in Fitzroy, designed by David Art Wales. It’s up until October 10.

“The dude who runs that billboard reached out to me and said, ‘If you’ve ever got an idea for an art project that we can put on our billboard, just tell us,’” Safran says. “A few months later I connected the dots.”

“YOU HAVE ALL OFFENDED ME,” the sign reads, with dozens of names below and a QR code linking to the full range of grievances.

And in true Safran fashion, that long list is full of zingers. Check it out:

• Barking japoodles (Jewish Australian Princess poodles) in Caulfield Park
• Jeremy Weinstein and his three loud-mouthed children
• Lobbyist Mark Leibler for failing to chuckle when I described his fans as Beleiblers
• Melbourne Jewish Book Week for snubbing me even though I am a Melbourne Jew who has written three books
• Beekeepers from Chevra Kosher Honey (Kosher? What, you circumcise the bees?)
• Masterchef Alice Zaslavsky for her borscht with no potato recipe
• The black SUV parked outside Glick’s Bagels with the “INFIDEL” plates
• Alleged artist Avraham Vofski [sic] for painting me fat in the Archibald Prize
• Left-wing academics who be like “Ashkenazi Jews are problematic (for being white), Mizrachi Jews are problematic (for appropriating Arab culture), the only non-problematic Jew in the world is this one Jewish Pygmy in the Congo.”
• Raph Mengem for seeking me out as a father figure because his own father (correctly) finds him infuriating
• Alma Street Pickles for sending me a freebie jar with – what they admitted – had already been opened with one pickle eaten
• Classic Cinema for the caved-in choc top you refused to replace
• Caulfield Jews whose grandparents escaped Nazi occupied Europe on a rickety boat but won’t drive northside because it’s too much hassle.

That last one, though. Oof.

Safran couldn’t put all the names and grievances on the board due to limited space. He says some people have already complained about making the social media long list but not the all-important billboard.

And he’s already had one apology. His rabbi called him out during a small public service at synagogue.
“It’s so confusing,” he says, “because of the nature of the billboard being so sarcastic and meta, it’s hard to tell whether the rabbi was genuinely apologising or not. I was a bit surprised, but there’s no way I can take the high moral ground. If you put up a billboard and you mention the rabbi’s name, you can’t really say, ‘How very dare you draw attention to me in this synagogue service!’”

He’s yet to apologise to the rabbi for the public shaming, or indeed, anyone in his life for anything he’s done wrong to them in the past 12 months.

“It just shows how you can be in your own little headspace,” he says contritely. “I will go off now and try to apologise to people I’ve offended – mainly people I’ve put up on the billboard.”