“I think it’s a day that all of us in the Jewish community have been dreading. It was the day that I think we warned the government and higher authorities in many ways about the possibility and the risk. And it almost feels like we’re unheard, almost invisible.” “This was a massacre, a pogrom here in our city, here at one of our most treasured landmarks, Bondi Beach. Lives irrevocably destroyed in a single moment. Small children who will no longer have a father from now on. Parents who have lost their beloved 10-year-old daughter. This is the moment we have arrived. We should never have experienced this in Australia.” “I think everyone knew that this was going to happen sooner or later, the way we were traveling as a society, but that it was actually going to happen here at our Hanukkah event on Bondi Beach, which is just the most wonderful family event every year 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 immediate reaction, like so many other people, is to point the finger at whoever you’re also pointing with fear. Why doesn’t the media voice the concerns of the Jewish community? Why don’t governments understand how we feel and the threats we face? We feel alone. And then mine says Brain: No, stop.” I am a rabbi. I’m not a politician. My job is to spread good things.
