One week ago, as Jews worldwide were waking up excited to celebrate and commemorate the greatest Zionist military victory of all time, when the Maccabees defeated both the Hellenized Jews and the Syrian Seleucids under Greek rule, over 2,000 years ago in the heartland of Israel (Judea & Samaria), simultaneously our collective Judean hearts sank and feelings of infuriation arose upon hearing of the Muslim perpetrated (color me (not) shocked) massacre against a Chabad Chanukkah celebration on Bondi Beach in Sydney.

This particular murderous act of Jew-hate hit close as the heroic rabbi, Eli Schlanger, a father of five including a two-month-old baby, who both saved a life as he was killed, and prior to the event he organized, helped fulfill a mitzvah for a young man who had not wrapped tefillin in 16 years, was the cousin of my hometown’s Chabad Rebbetzin. When even one Jew bleeds, all of klal Yisrael feels it.

There was an emotional video circulating on social media of Rabbi Schlanger, who was known as the ‘Bondi Rabbi’ giving a tour of the Chabad House he helped built. Post-October 7th Judean genocide, he mentioned it was important that much of the wood for the seats were sourced by a kibbutz in the south of Israel, that the Chabad Center is Israel-focused, and most heart-warming was the hidden lift for bar-mitzvah boys. I am not surprised that a Chabad rabbi thought of absolutely everything, with much meaning behind all design decisions.

Although much attention, absolutely deserved, was bestowed upon Ahmed al-Ahmed, whose religion is still being debated — quite a few Maronite Christians claim him, while Muslims do as well, meanwhile his own family has not disclosed – as in every targeted attack on Jews, there were numerous Judean heroes. Alex Kleytman who at 87 years old, and a Holocaust survivor, saved his wife’s life by shielding his body from bullets. Reuven Morrison threw bricks at one of the gunmen (a father-son Muslim terrorist duo), whose daughter described his father’s actions as such, “He went down fighting.” A pregnant woman protected a little girl, using her own body as a shield, until help arrived.

Fourteen-year-old Chaya Mushka Dadon was shot during the massacre. She used her own body to shield two younger girls after their mothers were shot, saving their lives. She has recovered from surgery which removed a bullet. Leibel Lazaroff, critically injured, who has already undergone 4 surgeries this week, is a 20-year-old hero who shielded a police officer. And Israeli-national, Geten Bitton (30) rushed to confront one of the terrorists. He helped Ahmed Al-Ahmed confront and disarm one of the subhumans, and was shot three times by the other. And the first victims of the massacre were Boris and Sofia Gurman, a Russian-Jewish couple. Boris managed to wrestle a gun from one of the terrorists, held the gun, but then the terrorist retrieved a second gun from his car and shot both Boris and Sofia.

Chabad is the shamash candle of the Judean world. Chabad shluchim provide absolute light to all Jews, from secular to other Hassidic Jews. They truly do not judge Jews based on observance levels and are there to teach, invite, and develop Jews to love and appreciate our faith. I hope that all of you tried to attend at least one Chabad Chanukkah menorah lighting event this past week, and if not, to ensure attending the next Chabad event in your area. Chabad are not bagel Jews, but are strong Judeans, whose last rebbe, Rabbi Menachem Schneerson, constantly emphasized the need for Israel to be strong (militarily, geo-politically, and of course in faith), for Israel not to kowtow to Jew-haters of any type, and highlighted the importance of full sovereignty.

Chabad is located worldwide and not just in fancy tourist spots like Fiji and Dubai, but in freezing parts of Russia, in Rostov, bringing back to life a nearly extinct Judean community (an area where my own great-grandmother ended up after WWII), in Nigeria where the environment is not always friendly to Jews with Boko Haram an arm’s length away. Across the U.S. from major cities where antisemitism has risen to despicable rates, Chabad perseveres, to small towns and even remote areas, where not many Jews live, but those who do, are comforted in knowing there is the Judean bright light of Chabad.

In India, where kosher meals are provided to the numerous Israeli and non-Israeli Jews who pass through as tourists and are connectors to the several long-standing Judean Diaspora communities in India (the Cochin Jews, some remaining Baghdadi Jews, and the Bene Israel – who are an offshoot of the Cochin Jews). The Judean community in Mumbai had also been rocked to its core by terrorist attacks, and yet, Chabad remains, strong as ever.

This most recent massacre was not the result of ‘all hate’ or ‘radical Islam’ or ‘Islamism’ (Islamism is a terrorist CAIR created term) but rather, actual Islam. And until we all have the courage to identify the enemy, the enemy will prevail. It is the same enemy that has closed Christmas markets across Europe, the same enemy that is murdering Hindus currently in Bangladesh, and the same enemy that has been butchering Christians in Nigeria and other parts of Africa for years. Judean blood, the blood of young Matilda, who was just 10 years old, to the oldest of the martyrs, the 87-year-old Holocaust survivor are on the hands of those who have participated in demonizing Israel for the past two+ years and well beforehand.

PM Albanese in 1998 celebrated the Second Intifada and only met terrorist Arafat, refusing to meet with Israeli leadership upon his visit to Israel (Ramallah is part of Israel as is Gaza). When NY Governor Hochul, this past Tuesday, at a Chabad Chanukkah lighting could not utter the words ‘Islamic terrorists’ and instead said ‘those who committed 10/7 and the Sydney attack’ – that is deadly cowardice.

Australian Jews sent a loud and clear message today when they fervently jeered the liberal PM Albanese who had the temerity to attend a vigil event for the victims of the Muslim terrorist attack. His jihadist decision to recognize a third terrorist state inside Israel gave Jew haters legitimacy to ‘globalize the Intifada.’ The rest of the world should take heed to do as the Australian Jews did, take your politicians to task for masking the problem and blaming murdered Jews on inanimate objects (guns) rather than who picks up the guns to murder those they deem kaffirs.

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