Sydney: With harrowing expressions of grief and declarations of faith, hundreds of mourners gathered in Sydney on Wednesday to begin funerals for the victims of an antisemitic mass shooting in which gunmen targeted Jews celebrating Hanukkah.
The two shooters slaughtered 15 people on Sunday during a Hanukkah celebration at Bondi Beach, with more than 20 other people still being treated in hospitals. All of the victims identified so far were Jewish.
The funerals began as a country reeling from its deadliest hate-fuelled massacre of modern times turned to searching questions, growing in volume since the attack, about how it was able to happen.
As investigations unfold, Australia faces a social and political reckoning about antisemitism, gun control and whether police protections for Jews at events such as Sunday’s were sufficient for the threats they faced.
First, however, was a day of anguish for families from Sydney’s close-knit Jewish community who gathered, one after another, to begin to bury their dead. The victims of the attack ranged in age from a 10-year-old girl to an 87-year-old Holocaust survivor.
The first farewelled was Eli Schlanger, 41, a husband and father of five who served as the assistant rabbi at Chabad-Lubavitch of Bondi and organised Sunday’s Chanukah by the Sea event where the attack unfolded.
The London-born Schlanger also served as chaplain in prisons across New South Wales state and in a Sydney hospital.
“After what happened, my biggest regret was — apart from, obviously, the obvious – I could have done more to tell Eli more often how much we love him, how much I love him, how much we appreciate everything that he does and how proud we are of him,” said Schlanger’s father-in-law, Rabbi Yehoram Ulman, who sometimes spoke through tears.
“I hope he knew that. I’m sure he knew it,” Ulman said. “But I think it should’ve been said more often.”
Outside the funeral, not far from the site of the attack, the mood was hushed, tense and grim. A heavy police presence was visible on nearby streets, with officers checking identification cards of people making their way to the service.