NYC honours the Chanukah massacre victims
Australians, both Jewish and non-Jewish gathered in New York at the iconic Old Mates Pub for a Chanukah vigil, in honour of the Bondi Beach terror attack.
When Raf Mihalovich woke up on Sunday, December 14, his phone kept buzzing, over and over again, as he received messages from almost everyone he knew, even those he hadn’t heard from in years.
When he realised what was going on, at first, there was extreme shock, then concern. And then he galvanised, needing to do something for the expat Australian community in New York where he now lives.
Mihalovich has deep roots in Bondi. While he grew up in Melbourne, his family lives in the famous Sydney suburb and he talks about North Bondi with fondness. He knew many people at Chanukah by the Sea, counts Rabbi Eli Schlanger as a friend, and shares many mutual connections with Dan Elkayam.
Mihalovich told The AJN that it was a visit from an American friend on Sunday night – “a shiva of sorts” – that inspired him to get in touch with Old Mates Pub, an authentic Aussie pub nestled in the heart of Downtown New York.
He described Old Mates as the unofficial Australian embassy so it just made sense to approach them to hold a memorial for the victims and be together as an Australian community. He stressed that Old Mates really wanted the vigil to be community-led.
The original plan was to get the Jewish community together, along with Mihalovich’s beloved New York Magpies Australian Rules footy team, who he described as remarkable teammates in the face of the heartache the Jewish community has felt since October 7, 2023.
It was Old Mates who turned to Mihalovich and asked him to make it bigger.
“Old Mates called back and said they’ve been getting a lot of inquiries about it and asked if I could do it for the entire Australian community in New York,” he recalled, saying it was a resounding ‘yes’ on his part.
The pub, he explained, was at total capacity.
The comfort he received throughout the night was indescribable, he said, particularly from the non-Jewish attendees.
One couple told him they were simply there because they wanted to be there. He quickly realised that he now had a responsibility to represent the Jewish community, the Australian community and those who were simply there because they cared.
When addressing the crowd, Mihalovich spoke about antisemitism, hatred, extremism and heroism. But ultimately, he spoke about the light of Chanukah.
“Bondi, for many of us, our backyard and for all of us a symbol of Australia,” he said. “A place to spend all summer, forever tarnished by the bullets of antisemitism.”
It was at this point that he looked around the room and saw the tension, as people processed their pain.
He told The AJN that it became important for him to share that Bondi, Sydney and Australia, do not have to be associated with hatred and bigotry, first mentioning the heroic efforts by Ahmed Al Ahmed and then sharing the story of Chanukah and the lights inside each victim that need to be rekindled.
And then, together with everyone in the room, Mihalovich and the Jewish community in attendance lit the chanukiah. So conscious were they of the non-Jewish attendees that they printed out the prayers and songs in both Hebrew and transliterated English so everyone could follow along.
“I saw the levels of grief channel through everyone,” Mihalovich recalled. “And then afterwards, people just kept coming up to me saying they didn’t know how bad it was, they didn’t realise, saying ‘we’re just so sorry’. And these were big men crying; people from our community but also a bunch of people completely disconnected from Bondi and the community, who were just looking for something. I was bought more beers than David Boon and Shane Gillis could drink.”
Old Mates and Mihalovich gave them a sense of home. As Mihalovich told The AJN, “only a couple hundred meters from Ground Zero, this wasn’t just a vigil, it became a menorah which lit up the heart of New York — a reminder of resilience, unity, and who Australians are at our core.”