Chabad Rabbis Rekindle the Extinguished Lights at Bondi Beach

by Motti Wilhelm – chabad.org

On the afternoon of Sunday, Dec. 14, Bondi Beach in Sydney, Australia, was transformed from a site of Chanukah celebration and mitzvah-doing into the scene of a horrific terror attack, the deadliest antisemitic assault in Australian history. By the next morning, it had also become a place of Jewish resolve and defiant pride, with mitzvahs performed by the thousands.

The massive effort is being led by the rabbinical colleagues of Rabbis Eli Schlanger and Yaakov Levitan, the two rabbis who were murdered at the Bondi Chanukah Massacre. The rabbis, who lead Chabad-Lubavutch centers across Sydney, are determined to bring light and mitzvahs to the very place where the worst of humanity was displayed.

Among them is Rabbi Chida Levitansky, director of JEMS CTeen Sydney, a Chabad youth organization located just blocks away from the site of the massacre. He was at the “Chanukah by the Sea” event on Sunday, circulating with his tefillin and offering men the chance to don them. Rabbi Eli Schlanger, the event’s organizer, was doing likewise. After some time, Rabbi Levitansky left to attend another Chanukah celebration. Less than five minutes later, the terrorists’ first shots rang out.

Levitansky returned to the beach on Monday morning, his tefillin again in his hands. The park where the massacre had taken place was closed off by the police, but thousands were showing up at the pavilion right outside to pay their respects.

Joining him was his brother-in-law and fellow rabbi at JEM CTeen, Rabbi Yossi Shuchat.

“I was coming from morning prayers and had my tefillin with me,” Shuchat says. “I offered one man the chance to put on tefillin, then another, and before we knew it, there were lines of Jews waiting to pray in tefillin.”

Together with Levitansky and other rabbis who were called as reinforcements, they set up a simple stand consisting of a folding table and a gazebo. Menorah and candles were brought and distributed and Shabbat candle kits were given to women. Soon, the makeshift stand got a delivery of traditional Chanukah donuts, which they distributed in the hundreds.

A large poster displayed the poignant words said last year by Rabbi Schlanger, which have taken on renewed meaning since Sunday: “In the fight against antisemitism, the way forward is to be more Jewish, act more Jewish and appear more Jewish.” Other signs encouraged donating to the campaigns to support the families of the murdered rabbis.

In the afternoon, a large menorah was brought to the site, and as afternoon turned to evening, a public menorah lighting was held with thousands in attendance. A second lighting, presided over by Chabad Rabbi Levi Wolff of the Central Synagogue of Sydney, was held later that evening, with another crowd of thousands.

“So many people of every walk of life have been showing up to show support and solidarity. But the Jewish visitors are looking for something more. They are looking for comfort. They are looking for a hug, for a shoulder to cry on,” Shuchat says. “They are desperate to do something, to perform a mitzvah. We are here to provide them that.”

By the time night fell on Monday, over 1,300 men had put on tefillin, a similar number doing so on Tuesday. Hundreds of menorah and candle kits have been distributed, and thousands of brochures about the Seven Nohaide Laws, a project recently envisioned by Rabbi Schlanger, were handed out to the many non-Jewish visitors who stopped to pay their respects.

“I’ve been putting on tefillin with teens, with men who haven’t worn tefillin in 15 years, and some who haven’t worn them in 50 years,” Levitansky says. “After they say the ‘Shema,’ I ask them if they want to take a moment for themselves, and many of them burst out crying. People are so thankful, saying they needed the tefillin and the chance to do a mitzvah.”

“The past few days have been like trying to drink from a firehose,” says a clearly harried Rabbi Noach Koncepolski, one of the coordinators of the activities at Bondi. “This has been our October 7th event, and the work since has been overwhelming. I haven’t had time to talk to anybody, answer phone calls, or even snap a picture.”

“A rabbi has a guy crying on his shoulder here every five minutes,” he says. “Grown men are breaking down on your shoulder.”

What’s driving these rabbis is the determination to stand strong in the face of terror, and shine thousands of lights where the terrorists had snuffed out the bright souls of their brothers and sisters.

“Chanukah teaches us that even though there might be darkness in the world, we must light a flame, and keep on adding in light,” Shuchat says.

This conviction takes on an added dimension for the rabbis who had been at “Chanukah by the Sea” on Sunday and whose lives had been spared.

“The terrorists tried to stop me, and I’m not letting them,” says Levitansky with conviction.

“I also feel like I am helping Eli and Yaakov continue their work down here, even as they ascend to the highest levels of Heaven,” he adds. “This is what they did, and this is what we continue to do.”

“Rabbi Schlanger was out there on the street, very dedicated to the tefillin campaign,” adds Shuchat. “The last pictures we have from before the attack are of him wrapping tefillin with men at the party. Rabbi Levitan as well, being in charge of providing tefillin and mezuzahs for Sydney, had a large part in the mitzvah. We now need to step into the role, continuing their life work as much as we are able.”