A delegation of six Lubavitcher bochurim touched down in Sydney, Australia, this morning on a critical mission dispatched by Merkos L’Inyonei Chinuch to bolster the local Chabad community following the horrific massacre on the eve of Chanukah at Bondi Beach. Their arrival marks the next phase of “Behemshech Habinyan” – the Rebbe’s famous words on continuing the building amidst the ruins.

Just two weeks ago, what was meant to be a joyful public menorah lighting turned into a scene of devastation when terror struck the beachfront. The annual “Chanukah by the Sea” event, organized by Chabad of Bondi at Bondi Beach, had drawn over a thousand people, including hundreds of families with young children who came to light the first candle of Chanukah.

Moments before the lighting would begin at 6:45 PM, two gunmen opened fire from a nearby bridge overlooking the gathering.

The attack claimed the lives of fifteen people, including the beloved shliach Rabbi Eli Schlanger HY”D, who had served the Bondi community as a rabbi and chaplain for eighteen years under his father-in-law Rabbi Yehoram Ulman, and Rabbi Yaakov Levitan HY”D, an integral pillar of Chabad of Bondi’s day-to-day operations.

Among the other victims were Reuven Morrison, Tanya Tretiak, Marika Pogany, Adam Smyth, Dan Elyakam, ten-year-old Matilda, Boris and Sofia Gurman, Alex Kleytman, Tiber Weitzen, Boris Tetleroyd, Edith Brutman, and Peter “Marzo” Meagher.

More than forty others were wounded, including bochur shliach Leibel Lazaroff, who sustained severe injuries, and Hatzalah medic Yanky Super, who was wounded but was miraculously released from the hospital.

A Community Unbowed

The terror attack shook the community to its core. For Australian Jews, who had already faced years of heightened antisemitism following the Simchas Torah massacre in Eretz Yisroel, including arson attacks on Melbourne shuls and widespread vandalism, what was supposed to be a Western safe haven had turned to face the ugly reality of violent terror.

Yet the community refused to be intimidated. Despite some Jewish organizations calling to close all Chanukah events and public menorah lightings for security reasons, the Jewish community in Australia overwhelmingly supported the continuance of Chanukah celebrations in public. Additional security measures were added, and venues were in some places changed, but no events were canceled.

The morning after the attack, Lubavitcher bochurim and anash were seen donning tefillin as families and supporters came to grieve by the site of the massacre. In elevation for the souls of the murdered and for a speedy recovery of the injured, many joined in declaring Shema Yisrael as they put on tefillin, some for their first time.

Throughout the weeks following, the community demonstrated remarkable resilience. On the day marking the conclusion of Shiva, a new Chabad House opened at the massacre site, named “Ohel Eli v’Yaakov” after the murdered shluchim. Menorahs and memorials were installed across Sydney hospitals for the wounded, while over 1,000 bochurim worldwide united for a hachlata for the injured.

On the eighth and final night of Chanukah, 20,000 people reclaimed Bondi Beach with defiant spirit, lighting the menorah together at the very spot of the attack. Rabbi Yehoram Ulman, who had lost his son-in-law in the massacre, declared to the massive crowd: “I stand here tonight to say, loud and clear, that darkness does not get the final word.”

The Shluchim from New York

The group dispatched from New York to Sydney includes bochurim Zalmy Hirsch, Mendel Kramer, Eli Salek, Sruli Schapiro, Sholom Ber Liberow, and Aaron Zev Moshel. Upon arrival, they were welcomed by Chabad of Bondi, ready to provide hands-on assistance across all areas of community life.

“Although the Bochurim have just arrived, their impact is already being felt,” Rabbi Avremi Joseph, Shluchim co‑coordinator, told Anash.org. “A large crowd attended the Monday night Kollel, and community members are eager to meet and connect with the new Shluchim.”

Their mandate is broad: running shiurim and the Monday Night Kollel, Tefillin and Mezuzah campaigns, mitzvah-based initiatives, ongoing interaction with families throughout Bondi, conducting home visits, manning mivtzoim stations, and supporting CKids, CTeen, and Chabad Young Professionals programs.

Activities also include visiting the sick at hospitals and homes, and overall being present for the community, providing meaningful connection, care, and practical support, while offering learning and educational opportunities for all ages.

Meanwhile, at the newly opened Ohel Eli v’Yaakov Chabad House, bochurim will be closely involved in mivtzoim activities, ensuring continuous Jewish presence and outreach at the sacred site where the kedoshim fell.

Rabbi Noach Koncepolski, who oversees the Chabad Bondi mobile center, shared, “The new Shluchim have hit the ground running – within just two hours they managed to catch a ‘karkfata’! In general, the kiosk feedback has been incredible. Just this morning alone, someone who hadn’t put on tefillin in 30 years came by, and a few minutes later, another person said he hadn’t put on tefillin in 40 years!”

“In addition to literally hundreds of tefillin, over 50 Neshek have been distributed, hundreds of Sheva Mitzvos cards, and a large batch of tefillin and mezuzos is expected soon in response to the many requests we’ve received,” Rabbi Koncepolski added.

The Historic Precedent

The dispatch of this special group is not just a logistical move; it is an echo of something the Rebbe himself did after a similar episode.

In 5716 (1956), the village of Kfar Chabad was plunged into mourning. On a moonless night – Rosh Chodesh Iyar – fedayeen terrorists from Egypt infiltrated the village’s vocational school (Beit Sefer Lemelacha) and opened fire on a classroom of students while they davened Maariv. Five young students and one teacher were murdered al kiddush Hashem.

The tragedy left the village broken. Kfar Chabad, established just eight years earlier, was a fledgling settlement struggling to build its infrastructure. Its residents, predominantly refugees who had survived Stalin and Hitler, were hoping to establish their lives anew. The massacre traumatized them, shaking their confidence in the village’s future. Fear was rampant, and many residents considered abandoning the settlement entirely.

The Rebbe’s response, however, was not one of retreat, but of defiant expansion. He immediately dispatched a delegation of twelve senior talmidim from 770 to Kfar Chabad. Their arrival turned the tide of despair. They did not come just to comfort; they came to build.

The bochurim spent a month living with the people of Kfar Chabad, reaching out to residents, getting to know them, and giving them the courage and moral support they needed to remain and continue building the village. On their way to Israel, they visited Jewish communities in England, Belgium, France, Switzerland, and Italy, bringing the spirit and inspiration of 770 wherever they went.

Their presence breathed new life into the village, signaling that Torah study and Jewish life would flourish with even greater intensity than before.

The Rebbe’s Message: “By Your Continued Building You Will Be Comforted”

At the conclusion of the shiva for the kedoshim of Kfar Chabad, the Rebbe addressed a powerful message to the residents. The Rebbe had secluded himself for three days upon receiving news of the massacre, and when the Rebbe emerged, he dictated his response in just three Hebrew words that would save the village from disintegration and its inhabitants from despair: Behemshech habinyan tinechamu – “By your continued building you will be comforted.”

The Chassidim of Kfar Chabad now had a firm grasp on their future. That very night, the village activists held a meeting to discuss how the Rebbe’s directive might be implemented. A decision was reached: a vocational school would be built where children from disadvantaged backgrounds would be taught the printing trade. On the very spot where the blood was spilled, the building would be raised.

One year later, the new building of the vocational school was completed – 50,000 Israeli pounds raised entirely by the community itself, without the aid of philanthropists or foundations. The Rebbe also penned a longer letter to “all of the Chassidim in the Land of Israel, to residents of Kfar Chabad, to Chabad’s institutions in the Holy Land,” writing:

“It is my strong hope that with the help of G‑d, Who guards with an open eye and oversees with Divine Providence, that you will overpower every obstacle, strengthen both personal and communal affairs, and expand all of the organizations in both quantity and quality. With peace of mind, may the study of our Torah, ‘the living Torah and the words of the living G‑d,’ be strengthened and greatened, as well as the fulfillment of its mitzvos with joy, in a manner of v’chai bahem – ‘living with them.’ From Kfar Chabad will spread out the wellsprings of Chassidus, and the Torah and works of our holy rebbeim, until they reach the ‘outside.'”

The Mission Ahead

Carrying that seventy-year-old mandate, the new shluchim arrived in Sydney ready to strengthen Jewish life in Bondi Beach. Throughout their month-long stay, they will be actively involved in the full range of Chabad of Bondi’s programming, working to provide the spiritual and emotional support the community desperately needs during this painful period.

“The general feeling here in Sydney is grieving for the loss of 15 precious souls,” says Joseph. “However, our response needs to be bigger and better. More light! We are nonstop at our new mobile center, putting on over 500 Tefillin a day.”

Already, the presence of the Merkos shluchim has infused the community with warmth and renewed strength, serving as a powerful reminder that the global Chabad family stands united with Chabad of Bondi – sharing in their pain and committed to helping them rebuild with faith, courage, and light.

Behemshech habinyan tinechamu – through continued building we will be comforted.

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