In the days following the Bondi Beach terror attack, Ezry Israel turned to his brother Mizzi, expressing the need to do something, anything, to help. For the pair, music has always been how they cope. So it only made sense that they’d turn to song.
During the shiva, the Israels wrote Light Will Win – Ha’or Yenatzeiach. It became part of their healing process.
“Our families were there that day. My wife, Chavi, was at Bondi with our son Meir, near the petting zoo. Someone was shot and killed within about a metre of where they were lying. They were very much in the middle of it and came under direct fire. In an instinctive moment, Chavi shielded Meir with her body,” Ezry told The AJN.
Ezry and Mizzi were performing at a wedding in Jervis Bay when the attack occurred. “Mizzi’s wife, Sari, was also there with their daughter, Osher. She saw the attacker and immediately understood how serious the situation was. For about one hour, we had no way of knowing whether our wives or children were safe.”
“If the song brings comfort, helps someone feel less alone, or offers strength in the face of fear, then it has achieved its purpose.”
Ezry explained that music was always part of the family’s home. While Mizzi was immersed from a young age, showing a natural talent for music and performing, for Ezry, music was quietly there. A shy person by nature, he never believed he could pursue music professionally. That changed, though, when their brother passed away tragically at a young age just a few years ago.
“Losing him opened something in me. Music became a way to process grief, express emotions I couldn’t otherwise articulate, and support my family during an incredibly difficult time,” Ezry said, explaining that his professional music journey started at Nefesh in Bondi Beach where he became the chazzan, and grew organically from there.
So it made sense for Ezry and Mizzi to turn to music once again when tragedy struck their community.
They began writing Light Will Win during the shiva. The song came together within two weeks.
“The atmosphere was raw and heavy, and the words and melody came naturally. It felt less like writing and more like channelling what we, and so many others, were feeling,” Ezry recalled.
Mizzi handled the production of the song, working alongside Israeli producer Eli Melamed, and drummer Matan Osmo also contributed.
It was a true family affair as well, with Ezry and Mizzi’s sister Nechama creating the accompanying music video. It was a race against time for the entire team as they had to move quickly to meet their desired completion date: marking the shloshim.
“In many ways, the song became a meeting point between everything we were living through, grief, community resilience, and the need to find meaning in the aftermath,” Ezry explained.
Light Will Win is intentionally sung in both Hebrew and English. Ezry told The AJN that they wanted the song to feel deeply personal while allowing people from all backgrounds to connect to it.
“Hebrew connects us to our roots, identity, and spiritual strength. English allows the message to reach a wider audience,” he said.
For Ezry and Mizzi, the song is also about choosing light over darkness, and helping to strengthen the Sydney Jewish community, the Australian Jewish community and indeed, the whole global Jewish community in a moment of deep pain.
“That message was inspired by Rabbi [Yehoram] Ulman of Chabad of Bondi. Many of the victims were members of his shule, including his son-in-law, Rabbi Eli Schlanger,” Ezry said. “On the final day of Chanukah, a large gathering was held in solidarity on the beach, where Rabbi Ulman spoke about light overcoming darkness and the belief that light will ultimately win. That message became the foundation of the song’s theme and name, Light Will Win, or in Hebrew, Ha’or Yenatzeiach.”
Ezry said that the response has been beautifully overwhelming, with the pair having received messages from people all around the world.
“We’ve received messages from people across Australia, the United States, Israel, and beyond, saying the song captured exactly how they were feeling during an incredibly difficult time,” he said. “If the song brings comfort, helps someone feel less alone, or offers strength in the face of fear, then it has achieved its purpose.”
The song is a beautiful way to draw attention to what happened in Bondi on December 14, but Ezry told The AJN the focus must now be to support the victims and their families in practical ways, including ongoing financial assistance as well as the NSW Government’s “One Mitzvah for Bondi” campaign, “which is about spreading light through action, encouraging people to take on a mitzvah or a good deed in memory of the victims, whether through kindness, charity or helping someone else,” he said.
“Both efforts reflect different but equally important ways of responding: by supporting those directly affected, and by choosing to bring more good into the world in their name.”
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