Famed Australian rabbi Eli Schlanger, who just welcomed newborn son, among 11 killed in Bondi Beach terror attack
A popular rabbi who had recently welcomed a new son just two months ago has been named as one of the first victims in Sunday’s deadly terrorist attack in Sydney which targeted worshippers at a Hanukkah event.
Rabbi Eli Schlanger, 41, had been one of the 2,000 in attendance at the event on Bondi Beach to mark the first night of Hanukkah when two terrorists opened fire on the crowd, killing at least 11 people and wounding 29 others.
Schlanger, the assistant rabbi at Chabad of Bondi in Sydney, had shared news of his new son in an Oct. 12 post on Facebook.
The father-of-five was born in the UK, where friends and family remembered him as “vivacious” and “joyful.”
His cousin, Rabbi Zalman Lewis, from Brighton, England, only learned of Schlanger’s death when a relative saw a list of the victims people were being asked to pray for.
“I left shul this morning and saw messages from my wife and sister on the family WhatsApp group. They recognised one of the names people were being asked to pray for,” Lewis told the British outlet Jewish News.
“We are just beginning to process this. It makes no sense at all. How can a joyful rabbi who went to a beach to spread happiness and light, to make the world a better place, have his life ended in this way?” he said.
Schlanger’s great-uncle, the late Reverend Lesli Olsberg, served as a rabbi at Heaton Park Synagogue in Manchester, where two congregants were murdered in a terror attack during Yom Kippur last October.
Following that attack, he had criticised Australia’s Prime Minister for “fuelling terrorism” in the country.
“In these difficult times, we must stand united. Terrorism must never be excused, rewarded or negotiated with,” he wrote, as reported by Jewish News.
“To Anthony Albanese [Australia’s Prime Minister], I say this with urgency – stop fuelling terrorism by legitimizing those who spread hate. Listen to the voices of those who understand it firsthand,” he wrote.
Just weeks ago, Rabbi Schlanger had written a letter to the PM begging him to support Israel.
“As a rabbi in Sydney, I beg you not to betray the Jewish people and not God himself,” Schlanger wrote to Albanese, a left-winger widely seen as critical of Israel, according to Australian outlet Channel 12.
“Jews have been torn from their land again and again by leaders who are now remembered with contempt in the pages of history. You have an opportunity to stand on the side of justice,” Schlanger wrote.
“I congratulate you in advance for the courage to do what is right and stand firm against this act of heresy,” he wrote.
Israeli author Hen Mazzig shared a sweet video of Rabbi Schlanger last year celebrating Hanukkah.
“May Rabbi Eli Schlanger’s memory be a blessing. Tonight, I will light the menorah in his commemoration and in memory of every victim who was murdered solely because they were Jewish. You cannot extinguish our light,” Mazzig wrote in an Instagram post sharing the clip.
www.abc.net.au
