Dawn prayer service to remember Bondi victims

Around 50 members of the community congregated before dawn at Archer Park on Tuesday morning to mark six months in the Hebrew calendar since the Bondi Beach massacre.

The display of unity and solidarity was organised by the Mitzvah House, which was established at the site to spread light and Yiddishkeit in memory of the victims.

Gathered around the menorah that stands as a memorial to the 15 people killed in Australia’s worst terror attack, participants put on tefillin and davvened shacharit together as the first light of the day emerged from beyond the horizon.

Mitzvah House founder Rabbi Noach Koncepolski told those present that the site was hallowed ground, and that the community was still carrying the memory of those murdered and the wounds left behind.

He drew on the week’s Torah portion, in which 12 spies were sent to scour the land of Israel and returned with two very different perspectives. “They all saw the same land, they all saw the same people, and they all witnessed the same reality, but they came back with two completely different perspectives,” he said.

“The difference was not what they saw, the difference was how they chose to see it,” he said.

Koncepolski said that while the attack could have left people responding with fear and despair, the months since had instead brought unity and kindness.

“We’ve seen strangers helping each other, we’ve seen Torah learning, mitzvahs, prayer, and more concern for one another,” he said.

“Just like Joshua and Caleb, we refuse to allow darkness to define the future. We acknowledge the pain, but we choose to focus on what we can build.”

He linked the portion to its closing mitzvah of tzitzit, a reminder to remember one’s values and identity.

“The answer to darkness is not forgetting who we are. The answer is remembering who we are,” he said.

“We are a people who believe in life and goodness … every act of kindness matters, every davvening matters, and every human being matters.”

As the sun rose, he reflected that the same spot had been pitch black only half an hour earlier. “Every night eventually gives way to morning,” he said. “May the memory of those who lost their lives be a blessing and inspire us to bring more light, more kindness, more unity and holiness into the world.”

The Gregorian calendar six month anniversary will be this Sunday, June 14.