Message from Chabad Lubavitch Foundation of Southern Africa

The Chabad Lubavitch Foundation of Southern Africa expresses profound shock and sorrow at the murderous attack on Jews gathered for a Chanukah celebration in Bondi Beach, Sydney. Jewish lives were brutally taken, people were injured, and an entire Jewish community is left shaken. 

This tragedy feels deeply personal, as the South African and Sydney Jewish communities are closely linked. 

We grieve for those who were murdered and daven for a refuah shleimah for the wounded. 

We are particularly devastated by the loss of Rabbi Eliezer Feivel Ben Binyomin Schlanger, a Chabad shaliach who dedicated his life to the Rebbe’s shlichus with humility, warmth, and quiet courage. His murder is a loss not only to his family and community, but to the global Chabad family and to the Jewish people. 

We extend our heartfelt condolences to the families of those murdered. May Hashem grant them comfort among the mourners of Zion and Jerusalem. 

We ask our community to carry the wounded in their prayers and to increase tzedakah (charity), and encourage others to light Chanukah candles in their merit. 

Chabad centres across South Africa, in close coordination with the CSO, have reviewed and improved our security protocols, especially at public events. 

The Rebbe taught us to increase, rather than diminish, our activities in the face of terror. Each additional mitzvah, each act of Jewish presence, is a quiet but powerful answer to hatred. 

May Hashem bring us healing, comfort, and Chanukah miracles. With fervent prayers for the coming of Moshiach now. 

• Rabbi Mendel Lipskar is the Rebbe’s head shaliach, founder, and chairman of Chabad Lubavitch Southern Africa.