What was meant to be a joyful celebration for Sarah Vanun, the KKL-JNF emissary in Australia, and her family turned into a night of chaos and survival. On the first night of Hanukkah, while celebrating her son’s bar mitzvah at the Bondi Pavilion in Sydney, Australia, a terrorist attack erupted just meters away. As music and dancing filled the courtyard, panic broke out. Guests fled, children were separated from parents, and the event turned into an improvised shelter as hundreds sought safety from the violence outside.
A nightmare transformation
Vanunu described the surreal transformation of the venue, from a bar mitzvah celebration filled with Israeli music and dancing, to a place of refuge. People from the beach, many of them strangers, Muslims and non-Jews alike, rushed into the hall for safety. “There was an amazing spread of food,” Vanunu said, “and we told them, ‘Eat, you may as well eat and drink. You’re with us. We’re in this together.’” She and others worked to keep the children calm, halting the spread of alarming videos and creating a sense of stability inside, even as fear gripped the city.
Though shaken, Vanunu’s message is one of strength. “This is the story of the Jewish people,” she said. “We survive. They tried to get us. They don’t succeed. And we will continue to celebrate.” Her hope is that Australians, Jewish and non-Jewish alike, recognize the broader threat of rising violence, and that unity and resilience remain stronger than fear.