Torah ceremony at Chabad of Bondi
Jewish business leaders write letters in a Torah scroll honouring the 15 victims of the Bondi terror attack.
An international group of Jewish business leaders gathered at Chabad of Bondi on Sunday, October 18 to write letters into a Torah scroll, in a ceremony marking the community’s loss in the December 14 Bondi Beach terror attack.
About 20 members of the delegation wrote letters according to their Hebrew names, following a fireside chat in which Chabad of Bondi spiritual leader Rabbi Yehoram Ulman spoke about faith in dark times, interviewed by survivor Arsen Ostrovsky.
The scroll came from Rabbi Eli Gutnick in Melbourne. Its writing had begun before December, and after the attack the man who commissioned it wanted it connected to the 15 victims.
When Rabbi Mendy Ulman sought a scroll in Australia for the visiting group, it was a perfect opportunity. The scroll will return to Melbourne for dedication.
“It was an extremely powerful experience,” Rabbi Mendy Ulman said.
“We’ve had many people come through over the year since, and this particular experience was unique and gave a very specific way of giving chizuk. It was extremely meaningful to be part of that.”
Ostrovsky, who was wounded in the attack and whose wife and daughters were at Bondi that day, wrote three additional letters at the suggestion of a colleague – two for his daughters and one for his wife.
“To be part of a Sefer Torah dedicated in the name of those whose lives were taken, in a place that holds such profound meaning for our community, was already an extraordinary privilege,” he wrote on Facebook.
“But to write letters in honour of my wife and our daughters, the people who are my entire being and were there that day at Bondi as well, means everything to me.”
He described the morning as a reminder of “the enduring strength of our people, and the power of our faith and unity to bring light, meaning and hope even in the face of unimaginable darkness”.
Sydney-based Renee Dvir, representing the business group, said, “A Torah can’t be complete if even one of its letters is harmed.
“So the symbolism was that we’re all one people, and if even one of us is suffering, then the whole Jewish people are not complete, and not whole.”
A separate Torah, commissioned specifically in memory of the 15 murdered at Bondi Beach, is being written in Israel and will be completed in time for the first anniversary.
Survivors and victims’ families will help complete the letters, and it will be housed at Chabad of Bondi.