Shortly after news reached the United States of an attack at a Chanukah celebration on Dec. 14 that killed 15 people and injured another 40 at Bondi Beach in Sydney, Australia, Rabbi Noah Leavitt, spiritual leader of Oheb Zedek Cedar Sinai Synagogue in Lyndhurst, felt compelled to offer his support.
“I just had a sense that I wanted to be there to support the people I knew in person,” Leavitt, who was a visiting rabbi for seven months at the Great Synagogue in Sydney nearly a decade ago, told the Cleveland Jewish News. “I had reached out to them on the phone, but there’s still that distance that a call, or even Zoom – I wanted to be able to show my support to the community in person and to be able to reach out beyond just those I had maintained close relationships with over the years.”
In order to best do so, Leavitt first wanted to close the 10,000-mile physical gap between himself and Sydney’s Jewish community. So, he hopped on the 20-plus hour flight across the globe, touching down on Dec. 19 and departing on Dec. 23, spending the four days on the ground, attending funerals and shivas, visiting victims in hospitals and meeting with local volunteers and rabbis…