The following post was shared several days ago by Rabbi Eli Schlanger HYD, who was murdered today in the shooting attack during a public Chanukah celebration at Chabad House Bondi Beach.

Rabbi Schlanger served as a shliach of the Rebbe to the Jewish community of Bondi Beach, Sydney, for eighteen years. The shooting occurred as hundreds of men, women, and children gathered by the beach to light the first candle of Chanukah.

The following is Rabbi Langer’s recent post:

The day the Alter Rebbe left prison…
is the day he did too.

For the past several months, I’ve been learning weekly with a Jewish man in prison. Week by week, through Torah, tefillah, and simply showing up for him, I watched his spirit slowly rebuild itself. Before Rosh Hashanah, we learned together about the power of prayer, and I encouraged him to speak to G-d from the depths of his situation and to envision the sound of the shofar whenever he prayed.

A few weeks later, he came to our video session holding a small Chabad siddur he had “miraculously” found. After being unexpectedly moved to a different area of the prison, he went to straighten a messy bookshelf and the very last book on that shelf was an English Chabad siddur. Torn first page, no explanation, no way to know how it got there. He told me, with tears in his eyes, “Rabbi, this was G-d telling me He’s here with me even in a place like this.”

And then came yesterday, which was the 18th of Kislev the very day, historically, when the Alter Rebbe’s (the first Chabad Rebbe) release from prison was decided.

Yesterday morning, I went to court wearing my chaplaincy badge to support him.

Through a series of unbelievable turns, the judge granted his release, with one of the conditions being ongoing study and spiritual guidance. Every detail felt orchestrated.

I jumped into the car and traveled to Nowra Correctional Centre waiting to greet him as he walks out. He lay tefillin outside the prison walls, we sang the song Tzeitchem L’ shalom (as we would do whilst he was inside, over Zoom on Friday afternoons), and we danced to the words Thank you Hashem! We farbrenged the whole way home, and by the time he arrived home, it was already after dark, he stepped into freedom on Yud-Tes Kislev, the day we celebrate the day of liberation of the first leader of the Chabad movement.

This is not coincidence. This is open, revealed Divine Providence.

And it’s exactly the kind of impact that becomes possible when we follow the guidance of the Alter Rebbe and the Chabad Rabbeim, invest in people at their lowest moments and give them a path back to dignity, hope, and Judaism.

Wishing you all a gut Yom Tov!