LUBBOCK, Texas — For most of the world, the news of the December 14 terrorist attack on a Hanukkah celebration in Sydney, Australia, was a distant tragedy. But for Rabbi Zalman Braun of Chabad Lubbock, the heartbreak hit much closer to home.
Braun grew up in the Bondi neighborhood where the attack occurred, living there until he was 15. Among the 16 victims killed during the “Chanukah by the Sea” event was Rabbi Eli Schlanger, Braun’s childhood elementary school teacher.
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“It definitely is very close to home,” Braun said. “I only remember good things about him. He was one of those people you couldn’t find anything bad with.”
The attack targeted the Jewish community on the first night of the eight-day holiday. While the loss has left Braun devastated and horrified, he says the motive behind the violence, antisemitism, is met with a specific message of resilience in the Jewish faith…