Jewish Community on Edge Following Bondi Beach Attack

“It’s a day that I think we were all dreading in the Jewish community. It was the day that we had, I suppose, in many ways, warned government and higher authorities of the possibility and the risk. And it feels almost like we were unheard, almost invisible.” “This was a massacre, a pogrom here in our city, here at one of our most cherished landmarks, Bondi Beach. Lives shattered irrevocably in a single moment. Young children, who from this point forward, will never have a father. Parents who have lost their beloved 10-year-old daughter. This is the moment we’ve arrived at. This isn’t something we should ever have seen in Australia.” “I think everyone knew this was going to happen sooner or later with the trajectory that we were on as a society, but for it to actually happen here at our Hanukkah event at Bondi Beach, which every year is just the most beautiful family event with kids running around and — it’s a celebration.” “Eli was a really wonderful, warm, caring, vivacious, energetic, outgoing guy, who loved people, loved doing good, loved caring for other people. The instant reaction like so many other human beings, is pointing fingers at whoever you might point fingers at with anxiety. Why aren’t the media raising the concerns of the Jewish community? Why aren’t governments understanding the way we feel and the threats that we face? We feel lonely. And then my brain says, no, stop. I’m a rabbi. I’m not a politician. My job is to spread goodness. I know this is what Eli would be saying.”