Remembering the lives lost to a senseless act of terror : NPR
Mourners gather around floral tributes at Bondi Pavilion on Tuesday to honor the victims of Sydney’s Bondi Beach shooting.
David Gray/AFP via Getty Images
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David Gray/AFP via Getty Images
It’s been a week where much of the news has been difficult and sad, and can seem personal even if the stories came from across the country or halfway around the world.
Last Sunday evening was the first night of Hanukkah when two gunmen opened fire on Bondi Beach in Sydney, Australia, as people were celebrating the Jewish festival of lights.
Fifteen people died.
The eldest was Alex Kleytman, a man who survived the Holocaust, emigrated to Australia from Ukraine and had 11 grandchildren. He was 87 years old.
The youngest was Matilda, 10 years old. Her aunt told Australia 9 News“Everywhere she went, she was like the sun.”
But even amid these dark and tragic losses, Rabbi Shoshanah Conover of Temple Sholom in Chicago told us that acts of courage in the face of catastrophe can remind us of the gift of Hanukkah, reminding us to cherish those who bring light into our lives.
“Watching heroes who banish darkness through their righteous actions,” Conover says, “inspires us to do more.”
Reuven Morrison, 62, who left the former Soviet Union as a child to escape anti-Semitism, could have thrown a few bricks at one of the shooters before dying.
Tibor Weitzen was 78 years old and died while trying to protect a friend from gunfire.
Boris and Sofia Gurman confronted the shooters. Boris snatched the gun from one of them. The couple, married for almost 35 years, died together, trying to save others.
And Ahmed al-Ahmed, who arrived in Australia from Syria in 2006, a former police officer who now owns a fruit stand on Bondi Beach, attacked one of the armed men and snatched his rifle, even though he himself was injured.
When we hear again in the media the names of those who risked so much in a dangerous moment, we might recall the words of the English poet Stephen Spender, who wrote:
“The names of those who in their lives fought for life,
Who carried in their hearts the center of fire
Born of the sun, they traveled a short time towards the sun
And left the lively air signed with their honor.
