by Dennis Augustine
While vacationing in Maui, I’ve posted about Cecile and I being deeply shaken by the terrorist attack at the first night of Chanukah by the Sea event at Bondi Beach in Sydney, Australia.
What unfolded was absolute horror — but also humanity. A 43-year-old Muslim man of Syrian descent and father of two daughters, Ahmed al Ahmed courageously disarmed one of the alleged attackers and was seriously wounded in the process. We felt compelled to help and were one of the early donors to support his medical recovery. We also contributed to Chabad Almaden, in Silicon Valley where we live, in memory of the heroic Chabad rabbi, Eli Schlanger, father of 5, who was one of 15 people gunned down, including 87-year-old Holocaust survivor, Alex Kleytman, who shielded his wife Larisa from one of the gunman’s bullets.
One victim has stayed with us above all — 10-year-old Matilda. Her beautiful, angelic smile. Her innocence. As grandparents of three young children, her loss is unbearable to imagine. A child who should have been safe, whose family came seeking peace, taken by hatred.
As we return home to California, we’ve chosen to honor Matilda by donating to her family through a GoFundMe page launched by Matilda’s language teacher, Irina Goodhew, in her mother’s name. May her memory be a blessing
We pray for a world where antisemitism and all hatred are condemned and eliminated, and where compassion always rises higher than violence.
