‘Nation has stood up’: mourners resilient after attack
A month after burying many members of his congregation, a rabbi who caught the eye of the prime minister is hoping the country can begin to heal.
Rabbi Yehoram Ulman of Chabad Bondi, who lost his son-in-law Rabbi Eli Schlanger and many members of his community in the Bondi mass shooting, called the sheer number of losses heartbreaking.
“For me personally, it was the hardest time I’ve ever been through in my life,” he told reporters.
“I’ve lost friends. I’ve lost my beloved son-in-law. I’ve seen members of my community lose their parents, their spouses. I’ve seen parents lose their children, and it’s devastating.”
Thursday marked a national day of mourning for those killed in the Dec. 14 attack, when two gunmen shot 15 people, including 10-year-old Matilda, during Hanukkah celebrations at Australia’s most famous beach.
On the forecourt of the Sydney Opera House, Rabbi Ulman delivered a stirring message of defiance amid a heavy police presence with a helicopter patrolling the harbor and a sniper positioned on the roof.
“We claim this Australian icon that has become a place of darkness, a place of hatred, a place of incitement to violence,” he said.
The rabbi also touched on protesters lighting flares, burning Israeli flags and chanting anti-Semitic remarks on the Opera House steps following Hamas’ attack on Israel in 2023.
“Today we come with the exact opposite message, and that is actually what should happen, because the Australian people deserve better,” Rabbi Ulman said.
At the memorial service, Prime Minister Anthony Albanese hugged the rabbi and offered a heartfelt apology, which was accepted with thunderous applause.
NSW Premier Chris Minns also received great applause when he warned those who criticized their freedom that “Australia is not the country for you.”
While thousands of people applauded the tobacconist for his valiant efforts, they also paid tribute to Syrian-Australian Ahmed al-Ahmed, who confronted one of the attackers and took his rifle from him.
Chaya Dadon, a 14-year-old survivor who saved several children from bullets, said in an impromptu moment on stage that “the nation rose to its feet” by embracing Jewish-Australians in the weeks after the attack.
Rabbi Ulman also touched on Jewish teachings, emphasizing that the community will refuse to silence its cultural and religious identities despite ongoing suffering.
“I hope Australia is moving in the right direction, but we can’t live in fear.”
Mourning day, Queen Elizabeth II. It was the first such incident in Australia since Elizabeth’s death in 2022.
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