This has been a week where much of the news has been difficult and sad, and could feel personal even when the stories came from across the country, or the other side of the world.
Last Sunday night was the first night of Hanukkah when two gunmen opened fire at Bondi Beach in Sydney, Australia as people were celebrating the Jewish Festival of Lights.
Fifteen people died.
The oldest was Alex Kleytman, a man who survived the Holocaust, emigrated to Australia from Ukraine, and had 11 grandchildren. He was 87.
The youngest was 10-year old Matilda Britvan. Her aunt told Australia’s 9 News, “Everywhere she goes, she was like the sun.”
But even in the midst of these dark and tragic losses, Rabbi Shoshanah Conover of Chicago’s Temple Sholom told us that acts of courage in the face of catastrophe may remind us of Hanukkah’s gift, to remind us to cherish those who bring light into our lives.
“Looking at the heroes who banish the darkness with their righteous deeds,” says Conover, “inspires us to do more.”
Reuven Morrison, who was 62, and left the old Soviet Union as a child to escape anti-Semitism, was reportedly able to throw a few bricks at one of the shooters before he died.
Tibor Weitzen was 78, and died as he tried to shield a friend from gunfire.
Boris and Sofia Gurman confronted the shooters. Boris wrestled the gun from one of them. The couple, who were married for almost 35 years, died together, trying to save others.
And Ahmed al-Ahmed, who came to Australia from Syria in 2006, a former policeman who now owns a fruit stand at Bondi Beach, tackled one of the gunmen and wrenched the rifle from him, even as he was wounded himself.
When we hear again the names in news accounts of those who risked so much in a dangerous moment, we might recall words from the English poet Stephen Spender, who wrote:
“The names of those who in their lives fought for life,
Who wore at their hearts the fire’s centre
Born of the sun, they traveled a short while toward the sun
And left the vivid air signed with their honour.”
