A tsunami of grief hit Bondi. The people filled St. Matilda, ten years old, was the youngest victim of the recent terrorist attack that killed 15 innocents. The vigil at Bondi Pavilion quickly grew to over 2,000. They came together to pay tribute to the little girl who lost her life to senseless violence, and to raise their voices together in anger for what was taken from her.
Yet it was Matilda’s father, Michael, who found himself at the microphone by accident, as the memorial began. He hadn’t intended to give remarks, but felt the need to express his heartbreak.
I never do — I don’t think I even planned to — but somehow I find myself standing here by the mic, he stated while addressing the crowd.
Tears came to hear Matilda’s mother, Valentyna, speak to the unspeakable tragedy. The family had immigrated to Australia from Ukraine before the Russian invasion, in search of peace and new lives. For Valentyna, the possibility of her daughter being lost to them forever like that in Australia was unimaginable.
“I can’t imagine losing my daughter in Australia,” she expressed amidst tears.
Matilda’s name is not an arbitrary choice and it holds special significance to her family. Valentyna selected it to pay tribute to her, as their firstborn in Australia. Their family, like so many others, suffered a great deal of pain from their senseless loss. Rabbi Eli Schlanger, a close friend of theirs, was also among those killed in the attack.
The vigil became not just a place to honor Matilda but to acknowledge the larger significance of the tragedy’s fallout. Matilda’s cousin had celebrated Hanukkah at home with her two children, ages 6 and 4. Through their holidays’ close brushes with tragedy, she writes down what constitutes a safe future city. This chilling salute to how tragically close danger can be echoed across the gathering.
Rabbi Yossi Friedman was an indispensable force of creation to give honor to the victim during the memorial. He saw Matilda’s name listed in the loved ones lost that day, making sure that her memory would live on.
During the course of that day, I had been standing there reading aloud the names, the names of the lost, Rabbi Friedman conveyed somberly.
The anger, mourning and grief, and resolve of the Jewish community was most palpable as Rabbi Motti Feldman stepped to the mic. Frankly, he urged everyone in the room to unite against hatred. He concluded his remarks by pointing out that we cannot remain silent when violence threatens our democracy.
We grieve, we mourn, we cry. But we’re not gonna go away,” Rabbi Feldman said, invigorated.
He punctuated that message by encouraging people to respond to hatred with love and kindness.
“Hatred must be extinguished, hate in all of its forms, and that is the message of the chanukia, the menorah, the candles that we light on this Jewish festival, which they tried to extinguish,” he added.
As Rabbi Feldman spoke about resilience and hope in troubling times, he urged those gathered to continue lighting their metaphorical candelabra despite attempts to dim their spirit.
To snuff it out before it ever got started, but we won’t stop lighting that candelabra. We will increase in light,” he proclaimed.
With Matilda’s portrait decorating the venue at Bondi Pavilion, community members jumped at the chance to reminisce and reflect on Matilda’s radiant zest for life. The mood was understandably somber, yet charged with a resolve to honor her memory and legacy.
The symposium offered a unique opportunity for collective mourning and reflection, giving attendees space to process their heartbreak.
Matilda’s father concluded with a poignant call to action for everyone present: “So just remember – remember her name.”