‘Conversations with My Rabbi’ launched at Chabad of Bondi

“To every conversation he brought his irrepressible joy, his goodness, his utter commitment to his family, and his faith in God. But most of all, what inspired me was his humanity. He wanted to do good, not just for Jews, but for the whole world.”

Writer Nikki Goldstein spoke those words on Tuesday morning at the launch of Conversations with My Rabbi: Timeless Teachings for a Fractured World, a book she co-authored with Rabbi Eli Schlanger, who was killed in the Bondi Beach terrorist attack on December 14, 2025.

Rabbi Schlanger was killed alongside 14 others at the Chanukah by the Sea celebration that he organised at Bondi Beach, an event he had led for 18 years. At the time of his death, he was in the final stages of completing the book.

The book was launched at Chabad of Bondi by ECAJ co-chief executive Alex Ryvchin, with NSW Premier Chris Minns and Opposition Leader Kellie Sloane in attendance.

Structured as an unscripted dialogue between Goldstein, a secular writer, and Rabbi Schlanger, the book grapples with enduring questions: Why are we here? What do we believe? How do we live in a world that feels increasingly broken? And is there a universal moral code that can guide us through it?

The origins of the book are as extraordinary as its message. In 2022, Goldstein lay in a coma in a Sydney ICU. Her daughter noticed Rabbi Schlanger in the hallway and Goldstein’s husband asked him to come and pray. Standing beside her bed, he blew the shofar and whispered ancient prayers over her. One day later, Goldstein began to recover from in doctors called a miracle.

“Within five minutes of meeting him, this time awake, he pulled up a chair next to my bed and promptly told me that it was his lifelong dream to write a book,” Goldstein said at the launch.

“Over time, he convinced me through the sheer weight of his character and the lure of his dream.”

The book is grounded in the Seven Noahide Laws — the principles, according to Jewish tradition, given by God to Noah after the flood to establish a just society. Though rooted in Jewish thought, this ethical framework is intended for all humanity, offering a universal moral architecture for modern life.

Rather than presenting them as rigid commandments, Goldstein and Rabbi Schlanger explore how these ancient principles can guide us through modern chaos.

“The irony of that subject choice, given the events that transpired, is simply beyond comprehension, but it also places so much more importance on the words he shared than I could have ever imagined,” Goldstein said.

“Eli was able to bring these ancient wisdoms into such sharp focus for the world we live in today. Our conversations weren’t fusty or arcane, but modern and urgent, and at the heart of it all was his God. For him, God was alive in everything, God was in every word, every action.”

Following Rabbi Schlanger’s death, the book was brought to completion with the support of his father-in-law, Rabbi Yehoram Ulman, Spiritual Leader of Chabad of Bondi, who contributed a deeply personal afterword.

“Anyone who knew Eli knew his sincerity, his warmth, and the quiet passion he carried for meaningful things. He genuinely cared about truth, about goodness, and about bringing something positive into the world,” Rabbi Ulman said.

“What makes this book unique is its living voice, its engaging style, its accessibility, and the way it expands these timeless laws into the realities and moral challenges of modern life. Eli wanted these ideas not only to be studied but to be lived, discussed, and understood deeply relevant to the world we are living in today.”

Rabbi Ulman expressed profound gratitude to Goldstein for completing the project.

“You made sure that Eli’s dream and his desire to do his part in disseminating God’s will and moral vision in this world would come to fruition. A part of him is still teaching, still inspiring, and bringing light. This book is much more than a memory of what was lost. It’s a declaration of what must be built.”

Premier Chris Minns said Rabbi Schlanger was “the kind of man powered by optimism with a good deed on the go, and a project that he was working on”.

“Eli’s death was an unforgivable crime, but I think it’s important for us to say this morning it’s not the story of his life, nor will any criminal or any terrorist write the story of his life,” Minns said.

“One of the really wonderful things about this book is how it manages to bring Eli’s voice back to life, and you get this palpable, unmistakable sense of the man by reading the conversations, one of those rare people who could talk about deadly serious questions with a wry, joyful, humorous perspective on life, who would connect with absolutely anyone, anywhere, whoever they were.”

Ryvchin said Rabbi Schlanger “was always present. He found meaning in everything. He found the answer in ancient eternal truths, and he wanted to share with the world tzedakah, charity, and he said kindness, that was his creed, and he found the why in life to bring light”.

“He made me better, kinder, stronger, and he was just the best guy in the world,” Ryvchin said.

“As pleasant as it is to be lost in the dialogue and hear Eli’s voice come through the pages as clear as it is on the voice notes he left me, it is difficult to shake off some lingering feeling as you move through the book towards its conclusion. You know you are moving towards something else too, something unthinkable. The pace quickens, the breath shortens. We turn the page, and Eli is with us no more. His work is complete.”

“Eli lives. He lives through his family, who will always carry him in their hearts, who will pray for his soul, who will name children and grandchildren and great-grandchildren in his honour. He lives in his friends, who will tell the stories of his goodness, his wits, and humour. And he lives now in these pages.”

Goldstein said she had her own epiphany as a secular Jew through the process of writing the book.

“I’d spent my life searching for wisdoms in so many other places and practices. When right in front of me, in my own tradition, were some of the most profound teachings for me, for today, for everyone,” she said.

“My hope, and I know it was Eli’s, is that many others, Jewish, non-Jewish, will come to understand this. Rabbi Eli Schlanger was indeed a beacon of light and love, and I hope this book will ignite that flame in everyone who reads it.”

Conversations with My Rabbi: Timeless Teachings for a Fractured World is published by HarperCollins Australia. RRP $39.99.