Community reacts to Australia Chanukah shooting

At least 15 people were murdered by two gunmen as they celebrated the first night of Chanukah at Bondi Beach in Sydney, Australia. More than two dozen were injured in the terrorist attack, which took place at 6:30 p.m. local time on Sunday, Dec. 14.

The Chanukah event, attended by hundreds of people, was organized by Chabad of Bondi, and those killed include Rabbi Eli Schlanger, an emissary of the movement who has worked in Australia for the last 18 years.

Several Pittsburgh Chabad rabbis knew Schlanger and his family. Aleph Institute’s Rabbi Moishe Mayir Vogel was a cousin of the shliach.

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“I watched him grow up,” Vogel told the Chronicle. “It’s so sad and painful. Eli was a great kid.”

One of the shooters, a 50-year-old man, was fatally shot by police. The other shooter, his 24-year-old son, was wounded and was being treated at a hospital.

An unarmed civilian, Ahmed al-Ahmed, tackled and disarmed one of the gunmen, JTA reported. He was shot twice but is expected to survive.

Police said they found an explosive device in a car belonging to the gunman who was killed.

Rabbi Yisroel Rosenfeld, head shliach of western Pennsylvania and the rabbi of the Lubavitch Center of Pittsburgh, said that the attack was “very sad.”

“Chabad does the public menorah lighting all over the world and is very public in everything that it does,” he said.
Rosenfeld said the Jewish community will not retreat.

“The Jewish answer to darkness has always been the same,” he said. “We add light. We show up. We stand visibly and proudly as Jews.”

Americans learned of the attack as they woke Sunday morning, hours before the community began celebrating Chanukah with public menorah lightings throughout Pittsburgh.

Chabad of Squirrel Hill was readying for its annual menorah parade and celebration. Rabbi Yisroel Altein said that rather than shrink from public gatherings, the attack should cause the opposite reaction.

“We should stop and think, ‘How can we respond to such hate with more positivity?’” he said. “How can we do it bigger and better? How can we get more Jews involved? How can we bring more light?”

The Jewish Federation of Greater Pittsburgh issued a statement saying it stood in solidarity with the Australian Jewish community, noting that the shooting was the deadliest attack of Jews in the Diaspora since the Oct. 27, 2018, Pittsburgh synagogue shooting.

“This shooting was a deliberate act of terrorism targeting the Jewish community in Sydney as they celebrated the first night of Chanukah and it must be loudly and clearly called out as antisemitism.”

Carole Zawatsky, CEO of The Tree of Life, said in a prepared statement that the shooting “feels like an attack on every Jewish person everywhere.”

“Jewish tradition teaches that in the face of great tragedy, there are no words,” she said. “Yet today we must find the words because this antisemitic attack is another tragic reminder of the urgent need to uproot antisemitism and hate, which have taken too many and left too many in fear of what could happen.”

Tree of Life Congregation Rabbi Jeffrey Myers, a survivor of the 2018 Pittsburgh synagogue shooting, said he was “heartbroken” to learn of the violence.

“Hanukkah is supposed to be a time of light, celebrating the resilience of our people,” he wrote. “In the face of antisemitism and violence, my prayer is that we don’t let the fear win but instead lean into our Jewishness and practice our tradition proudly. And may the memories of those killed in Australia be for a blessing.”

Several of Pennsylvania’s elected leaders were quick to respond to the attack.

Sen. David McCormick wrote on X that he and his wife, Dina, were horrified by the attack.

“The images of the massacre at the celebration and candle lighting on the first night of Hannukah are awful,” he posted.

Sen. John Fetterman noted that the attack came after years of anti-Israel protests in Australia.

“Antisemitism is a rising and deadly global scourge” he wrote on X. “I stand and grieve with Israel and the Jewish global community.”

Fetterman attended Chabad of Greenfield’s Chanukah celebration, which also included words via phone from Rabbi Menachem Aron, an Australian rabbi who was a close friend of Schlanger’s.

“This year’s Chanukah festival featured the ‘World’s Sweetest Menorah,’ promoting the idea of adding sweetness and kindness in the world,” said Rabbi Yitzi Goldwasser, of Chabad of Greenfield. “We can all do a little bit to make the world sweeter and better. We also introduced a very special initiative — Project ARK, Acts of Random Kindness. Every child received a small charity box shaped like an ark to take home and were encouraged to give a small amount to the ark every single day — and when it gets full to empty it and give it to someone in need and start again.

“This is really what Rabbi Schlanger was all about,” Goldwasser said. “Making the world a better place. He lived for this, and he died for this. Let us all do what we can to make the world a better place.”

Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro, whose residence was attacked the first night of Passover in an attempted assassination, noted that the story of Chanukah is one of “resilience and strength in the face of adversity.”

“The First Lady and I are heartbroken by the attack on the Jewish community at a Chabad event in Sydney, Australia,” he wrote in a statement.

U.S. Rep. Summer Lee, who represents Squirrel Hill, posted on X: “The tragic attack in Australia is a devastating reminder of the harm of antisemitism and the work ahead of us to root out hatred in all its forms.”

Lee has not signed onto House Resolution 588, which condemns the slogan “globalize the intifada” as a call to violence against Israeli and Jewish people across the world, and urges U.S. national, state and local leaders to condemn it as such.

“The pain of the shooting reminds us that we need to speak up,” said Temple Sinai Rabbi Daniel Fellman. “As a Jew, I very much appreciate the statements that have been made and I’m appreciative of the fact that it was an Arab Muslim who took down the second gunman, but more need to speak out against violence. This should be a wake-up call on which we all agree and unite around.”

There were no threats directed at the Pittsburgh Jewish community as it readied to celebrate Chanukah, said Eric Kroll, Jewish Federation of Greater Pittsburgh deputy security director.

“We’re monitoring this,” he said. “We’re coordinating with local, state and federal law enforcement and our other Federations. We want people to go out and be in community.”

Kroll said that while there is security at all public events, if members of the community see something suspicious, they should alert law enforcement.

Maggie Feinstein, executive director of the 10.27 Healing Partnership, said members of the Pittsburgh Jewish community might experience vicarious trauma because of the attack.

She said people’s reactions are individualized and there is no “correct” way to respond to the news. At a time when the community is gathering in public groups to celebrate Chanukah, she said, people might want to think about how they respond.

“Isolation breeds trauma,” she said. “The ‘right’ response might be to be with some people but not large groups or going to big groups, but checking in with yourself and giving yourself permission to do both — to show up, but maybe not stay as long or to modify something.”

And, she said, if you are experiencing trauma or anxiety, reach out to groups like the 10.27 Healing Partnership or Jewish Family and Community Services for support.

And while the community mourns the lives lost and recognizes the gravity of the attack, Rosenfeld said it’s important to not let fear of antisemitism quell Jewish community.

“We need to continue to do everything that we should throughout Chanukah,” he said. “Hopefully more light being spread in the world will cause people to see and learn and want to do more good things and kind things for everybody.” PJC

David Rullo can be reached at drullo@pittsburghjewishchronicle.org.