Sorella Abrahams, a survivor of the massacre at Sydney's Bondi Beach and a friend of murdered Chabad Rabbi Eli Schlanger, delivered a powerful message of resilience in the face of intimidation and antisemitism, moving Sky News reporter Sharri Markson to tears with her family's story.
Speaking with Sky News Australia in the days following the attack, Abrahams recounted: "My husband and I run a Chabad center here in Randwick and a hospital support system and we have a big menorah outside our home and we've become that home in Randwick that all the neighbors know and we keep it up all year because since October 7th especially we just feel the community needs that and we've gotten so much positive feedback for it."
She cried as she explained how she and her husband came home after surviving the mass shooting to find their children in tears. "They said: Please turn off the menorah, our home is going to become a target,' and my husband and I looked at each other and we said: 'No way we're not going down like this. We don't turn off menorahs, we don't hide our kippahs, we stand proud and loud.' But our children were crying and they begged, they said: "Please, mom, father, turn that menorah off. and so I looked at them and I said, as a mother, we're going to turn it off."
"The next day, a Christian neighbor came past. I wasn't home, I was in the hospital ... and she said, yesterday my daughter drove past your house and the menorah was off and she just sobbed and she said: 'No, mom, they're turning off their menorahs. The evil can't win. And so, when she came and said that, my husband called me and I said no matter what, that menorah goes back on. We don't turn off menorahs. We don't stop shining light. And that was would be Rabbi Eli's message today, I can promise you. I can say with full certainty, if he was standing here today, he would say we don't go down in darkness we shine light. That's the only way to push out darkness. we look out for each other. We spread goodness," Abrahams said.