The silence that fell upon the Bondi Pavilion forecourt was not the silence of peace, but the heavy, leaden quiet that follows an explosion of hate.<\/p>\n
Under the gathering dusk, a community stood bowed, its grief focusing on the most poignant loss: 10 year-old Matilda, the youngest victim of Sunday\u2019s terrorist attack by two gunmen that has so far claimed 15 innocent lives.<\/p>\n
Valentyna and Michael (surnames withheld on family request) who came to Australia as Ukraine immigrants before the invasion by Russia, articulated a heartbreak too vast to fully comprehend.<\/p>\n
\u201cI didn\u2019t expect to say anything, but I kind of end up here next to the microphone,\u201d said Matilda\u2019s father, tears strangling his voice.<\/p>\n
Matilda, aged 10, was the youngest victim of the bondi beach shooting. Photograph: Supplied by family<\/p>\n
\u201cWe came here from the Ukraine \u2026 and I named her Matilda because she was our firstborn in Australia. And I thought that Matilda was the most Australian name that could ever exist.<\/p>\n
\u201cSo just remember \u2013 remember her name.\u201d<\/p>\n
At this he broke broke down and turned to his wife.<\/p>\n
\u201cI couldn\u2019t imagine I would lose my daughter here,\u201d Valentyna told the crowd, which was steadily swelling to more than 1,000. Later the crowd had grown to more like 2,000.<\/p>\n
Mourners gathered at Bondi Pavilion. Photograph: Saeed Khan\/AFP\/Getty Images<\/p>\n
\u201cI can\u2019t imagine what is a monster that stands on that bridge, and seeing a little girl running for her father to hide with him, and\u2026 and he just pulled the trigger on her… it wasn\u2019t an accident, it wasn\u2019t just a bullet, fired from a hill … it stays here\u201d \u2013 she pressed the palm of her hand to her heart, hard \u2013 \u201cit just stays here and here.\u201d She cannot continue to speak.<\/p>\n
Earlier in the evening, Rabbi Yossi Friedman informed the crowd at the Bondi Pavilion memorial that the Jewish community would start burying their dead the following morning. He read the names of the nine victims so far identified: Rabbi Eli Schlanger, assistant rabbi at Chabad of Bondi; Peter Meagher, a retired detective sergeant and freelance photographer who was working at the event; Tibor Weitzen, who reportedly died shielding his wife; Alex Kleytman, a Holocaust survivor who was also reportedly killed while shielding his wife, Larisa; Dan Elkayam, a Frenchman; Marika Pogany, a longtime local community volunteer; Reuven Morrison, a businessman and member of the Chabad community; Rabbi Yaakov Levitan, secretary of the Sydney Beth Din; and Matilda.<\/p>\n
Rabbi Yossi Friedman speaks to people gathering at Bondi Pavilion on Tuesday. Photograph: Mark Baker\/AP<\/p>\n
\u201cThroughout the day, I\u2019ve been standing and reading out the names, the names of the victims,\u201d Friedman told the mourners. \u201cThere are more victims, as we know, and no doubt their names will keep coming.\u201d<\/p>\n
And they did. Two hours later another victim\u2019s name was revealed to the crowd. Edith Brutman, the vice-president of NSW\u2019s anti-prejudice and anti-discrimination committee at B\u2019nai B\u2019rith.<\/p>\n
Somewhere in the throng, a woman\u2019s anguished cry pierced the silence.<\/p>\n
A young woman sat weeping alone on a park bench.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019ve come to rip off the Band-Aid,\u201d she said, asking not to be identified. A close friend of her mother\u2019s was one of the victims, and her cousin, who attended the Hanukah celebrations with her two children, aged 6 and 4, escaped narrowly with their lives.<\/p>\n
\u201cShe dodged bullets \u2013 on her birthday,\u201d the woman said through her sobs.<\/p>\n
A portrait of 10-year-old Matilda at a vigil at Bondi Pavilion on Tuesday. Photograph: Saeed Khan\/AFP\/Getty Images<\/p>\n
But the experience had hardened her resolve: \u201cI\u2019ve always kept my religion quiet, because I run a tech business, but not today. It\u2019s time to stand up to those bastards.\u201d<\/p>\n
At the entrance to the grieving site, Rivky Shuchat, from Jewish Education Matters, had not left her post since early morning for the second day running. An A-frame sandwich board bore the photos of two of her close friends, the slain Jewish community leaders Rabbi Eli Schlanger and Yaakov Levitan, each pictured with their five young children. The board showed two QR codes, and Shuchat was urging everyone to scan and make a donation. Many skipped the technology and forced $20 and $50 bills into her hand.<\/p>\n
In the past 48 hours, almost $400,000 has been raised for the rabbi and almost $200,000 for Levitan.<\/p>\n
\u201cAnd I won\u2019t stop until we get to a million for each \u2013 these men had young families,\u201d said Shuchat, who attended Sunday\u2019s festivities but left about two minutes before the shooting started.<\/p>\n
\u201cI don\u2019t know why,\u201d she said of her miraculous escape along with her husband, Rabbi Yossi Shuchat. \u201cAll we can do now is kindness. That\u2019s the only thing we can do. There\u2019s nothing more, nothing less.\u201d<\/p>\n