The two Lubavitch bochurim who were shot in the Sydney terror attack are reportedly in stable condition, Boruch Hashem.

Leibel Lazaroff, 20, who grew up on the Texas A&M campus with his father, shliach Rabbi Yossi Lazaroff, was shot in the abdomen and leg. He initially remained in “critical but stable condition,” according to his uncle Zalman Lazaroff, 51, of Crown Heights, who spoke to the New York Post.

“He still has shrapnel in his abdomen and right thigh, and is intubated and will need another surgery [Monday] to clean out the shrapnel. He lost a lot of blood,”  his family was informed on a WhatsApp group chat.

Leibel had spent the past year learning at Chovevei Torah Yeshiva in Crown Heights and moved to Sydney just two months ago on shlichus, together with a group of bochurim.

“He’s very special – a very capable and sociable young man,” his uncle said, noting that Leibel enjoyed volunteering at events in Crown Heights and touching the lives of those around him with his warmth.

That spirit is what brought him to the “Chanukah by the Sea” celebration in Bondi Beach, where he was helping Rabbi Eli Schlanger HYD organize the event.

“He was there organizing and helping to create this very large, annual event,” said the devastated uncle.  “He was doing what his DNA is wired for – spreading yiddishkeit.”

After multiple life-threatening surgeries, encouraging news emerged.  “Leibel is up and communicative!” a relative shared on Monday night.

Yanky Super, 24, an emergency first responder with Hatzalah, was also struck by a bullet in the back during the attack.

Super, from a large Lubavitch family with siblings on shlichus around the world, was on duty with Hatzalah at the Chanukah event when he was shot. The bullet had narrowly missed his spine.

“He started screaming on his radio that he needs backup – he was shot,” Mendy Litzman, Sydney Hatzalah coordinator, who responded to the attack, told the Jewish Telegraphic Agency.

“I heard it, and I responded to the scene. I was the closest backup. I was one of the first medical people on the scene.”

He added, “We just went into action and saved a lot of lives, including one of our own.”

Miraculously, on Monday, there was good news to report.. Yanky underwent a successful first surgery to remove the bullet. While additional surgeries will be required, his prognosis is good. He was awake and able to communicate with family members shortly after being moved to recovery.

Still, the families insist on responding with light. “We have to double down and not retreat. We have to light up brighter,” Leibel’s uncle Zalman said.

In a message shared with friends, Leibel’s mother, Maya, urged the Jewish community not to be deterred and asked to  “please add in music, light and joy this Chanukah in merit of complete recovery of all those injured in Sydney.”

“While it might not be easy for me to stand up there and speak tonight,”  Rabbi Mendel Super, shliach to Lake Havasu, Arizona and Yanky’s brother, told chabad.org. “We are all resolute: We will not back down.”

“They want us to cower in fear. We refuse. We respond to darkness with more light. That’s the message of Chanukah.”

Update (Tuesday morning):

Leibel Lazaroff is “fully aware, has made progress, and has a long road ahead of him,” his family shared. Yanky Super has come out of his second surgery and posted that he “is doing well.” Both families thanked everyone for their continued tefillos.

Please continue to say Tehillim for:  Yehuda Leib ben Manya, Yaakov Dov ben Penina, and all of the wounded.

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