Bondi mental health support extended at Jewish House

The federal government will extend mental health support for those affected by the Bondi terror attack, Health Minister Mark Butler announced at the Jewish House Gala Dinner at Le Montage in Lilyfield on Thursday night.

Butler, who attended on behalf of Prime Minister Anthony Albanese, said the mental health package announced after the December 14 attack would be extended so that organisations including Jewish House could continue their work.

Under the extension, the government will continue funding targeted mental health services for the Jewish community delivered by Jewish House and JewishCare. The Bondi Medicare Mental Health Centre in Bondi Junction, which works with both organisations, will become permanent.

In his speech, Butler said lessons from the 2009 Black Saturday bushfires, when he was a junior mental health minister, had shaped the response. Funding after the bushfires had been for a fixed period, but “we realised at the end that the trauma wasn’t over; it wasn’t resolved,” he said.

He praised Jewish House staff and volunteers: “People who have been traumatised themselves doing such incredible work to support a traumatised community.”

Jewish House CEO Rabbi Mendel Kastel said the organisation has more than 80 staff managing more than 200 beds for people experiencing domestic violence and homelessness across nine locations in Sydney. Its new NDIS program has more than 120 clients, and it is supporting more than 500 people directly affected by the Bondi attack.

Kastel paid tribute to his wife Tzippy, whose brother, Rabbi Eli Schlanger, was killed in the attack, saying she had pushed him to go and help the community immediately afterwards despite her own grief. Appealing to guests to support Jewish House, he said: “Jewish House stands at the front of the line. You are the line. Every gift, every hour you give, every word of support is a bucket passed forward.”

The appeal invited guests to sponsor one of 80 rooms (50 for women and 30 for men) at $5000 each, and to help cover a gap of about $1000 a year per client in its NDIS program.

NSW Premier Chris Minns, who was presented with a plaque of gratitude, said Jewish House had “shouldered a titanic load for the people of this state” over the past year.

“From day one, when no grieving families should have to deal with a complicated bureaucracy, they’ve been there, supporting people, sometimes sharing the grief, but making sure that victims and families and members of the community had every drop of support that they needed,” he said.

Minns described Kastel as “an unbreakable rock for this community and our city”, noting that he had led publicly while dealing with “personal grief and private tragedy” after the murder of his brother-in-law.

Four community awards were presented. NSW Multiculturalism Minister Steve Kamper received the Mitzvah Man Award.

“The Hebrew word mitzvah means a commandment … but it is also understood as an act of goodness and kindness, a reminder that even a  small good deed can make a difference,” Rabbi Kastel said. “Following the tragedy of Bondi, Minister Kamper took this beautiful Jewish value and helped turn it into a powerful message of hope, unity, and compassion. Through his leadership of the ‘One Mitzvah for Bondi’ campaign, Minister Kamper encouraged Australians of all faiths and backgrounds to honour those that we’d lost with simple acts of kindness.”

Jewish House president Roger Clifford presented the Eshet Chayil Award  to NSW Opposition Leader Kellie Sloane, who received a standing ovation. She was attending a Chanukah celebration in Dover Heights when news of the attack broke, and went to the scene in a Hatzolah ambulance, where she helped a father and his young son find safety and assisted the injured.

“While others were fleeing, Kellie was running towards those who needed help,” Clifford said. “Kelly demonstrated the true meaning of Eshet Chayil: courage in the face of danger, compassion in the face of suffering, and an instinct to help others regardless of the risk to herself.”

Hannah Damkar, deputy coordinator general of the Bondi Community Response in the Premier’s office, who has since been appointed NSW’s first Independent Victims of Crime Commissioner, received the Chesed Award. The Mensch Award went to Joseph La Posta, former Multicultural NSW CEO and coordinator general of the Bondi Community Response.

The Dennis Clifford Humanitarian Award, established in 2016, was presented to Surf Life Saving NSW. According to the organisation, 121 lifesavers were at Christmas celebrations at the Bondi and North Bondi surf life saving clubs when the attack began. They shielded children, performed CPR and used rescue boards as stretchers.

Surf Life Saving NSW president Steve Pearce said the clubs’ 20 rescue boards were all used, and “not a bandaid was left” in any of the clubs. Many of the boards are now held by the Sydney Jewish Museum.

North Bondi Surf Life Saving Club president Steve Larnach and Bondi Surf Bathers’ Life Saving Club president Liz Webb then presented Kastel with a framed photo of “Shoulder to Shoulder”, taken the week after the attack, when more than 1500 volunteer lifesavers lined Bondi Beach in solidarity with the Jewish community.

The evening was hosted by Jessica Rowe and closed with a prayer for the lifesavers and others who helped on the day, sung by Zalman Simmons. The event’s principal sponsor was Fivex.