NYC Jewish community responds at Manhattan synagogue to deadly Bondi Beach terror attack

Rebecca White, Roni Jacobson and Julian Roberts-Grmela, New York Daily News on Dec 14, 2025

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Members of New York City’s Jewish community lit candles during a vigil in Manhattan Sunday evening in remembrance of the 15 people killed in a mass shooting at a menorah-lighting ceremony on Australia’s Bondi Beach, with some attendees recounting that they had relatives caught in the attack half a world away.

“We’re all reeling. Our hearts are shattered. It’s an attack on all of us. We take this very personally,” said Rabbi Ben Krasniaski, director of the Chabad of the Upper East Side.

About 100 people gathered at the Carl Schurz Park Promenade at E. 86th St. and East End Ave. just after sunset for the remembrance.

Police in New South Wales said 42 people were injured in addition to the 15 killed in the attack at the iconic Sydney beach, where Jews in Australia gathered to light the menorah and celebrate the first night of Chanukah. The dead victims included a rabbi with ties to Crown Heights, a holocaust survivor and a 12-year-old girl, Australian officials said.

“They were attacked because they were Jewish and cut down in the prime of their life [at] the first Chanukah gathering in the world,” Krasniaski said at the Manhattan.

Krasniaski and others at the gathering struck a defiant tone in line with the holiday, which celebrates Jewish victory over oppression.

“If our enemies think that we are going to cower and we are going to cancel our public menorah lightings, they have no idea who they started up with,” Krasniaski said. “They have no idea what the Jewish people are.”

“This will only create an avalanche of light and wholesomeness and kindness and goodness that will overwhelm the darkness,” he added. “It hits home very strongly.”

Krasniaski’s son-in-law is from Sydney, and his family was at the beach attending the celebration when they were attacked, he related, acknowledging, “So it’s very personal.”

Toward the end of the vigil, a candle was lit on a large menorah. The vigil was initially planned as a first night of Chanukah celebration and menorah-lighting ceremony, but the organizers changed it to a vigil when they heard about the Bondi Beach attack.

Donuts and latkes — traditional Chanukah treats fried in oil — were passed around to attendees at the vigil.

Anthony Bennett, 55, an Upper East Side resident and marketing consultant stood in the crowd, eating a latkah with his son.

“We came because of what happened in Australia. The rabbi sent out an email saying, ‘You know, you can hide under your covers, or you can show you’re proud in being Jewish,’” he said. “We wanted to come out. It wasn’t for the latkes.”

UJA Rabbi Menachem Creditor, 50, whose organization co-hosted the vigil, said his brother-in-law, Arsen Ostrovsky, was injured in the attack in Sydney.

“He is one of the leaders of Australian Jewish community. He just moved there two weeks ago with his family, my sister and their two daughters, from Tel Aviv,” Creditor said.

”So they landed, they wanted to celebrate Chanukah with this very big gathering for families at Bondi Beach. And they were there together. He took a step away from them and heard what he thought were balloons bursting,” said Creditor, who said he spoke to Ostrovsky on the phone earlier Sunday.

“He realized it was gunshots, and he stood up to look for his family and was shot in the back of his head. The bullet somehow grazed his skull, so he’s in the hospital recovering, but thank God he’s recovering,” Creditor said.

Shmuel Kramer, 32, called on New York politicians, including Mayor-elect Zohran Mamdani, to make sure a similar attack doesn’t happen in New York, which has the largest Jewish population outside of Israel.

“As a new administration takes office, Jewish Americans are watching closely, especially Jewish New Yorkers. We expect real protection, real accountability, and zero tolerance for rhetoric that fuels hate,” Kramer said. “We will stand openly and proud and without fear.”

Like other attendees, Kramer spoke of the resilience of the Jewish people.

“History has already tested us,” Kramer said. “Hitler didn’t erase us. Stalin didn’t silence us, and Hamas won’t break us. This is the real story of Chanukah we’re living now: a people who refuse to disappear or hide.”