These are the victims of the Bondi Beach Hanukkah celebration shooting in Sydney

A woman taking part in Hanukkah menorah lighting ceremony holds up a placard with a heart and the inscription “Sydney” in front of the Brandenburg Gate in Berlin on December 14. Photo by John Macdougall/AFP via Getty Images

(JTA) — Two local rabbis, a Holocaust survivor and a 10-year-old girl are among those killed during the shooting attack Sunday on a Hanukkah celebration in Sydney, Australia.

Here’s what we know about the 15 people murdered in the attack, which took place at a popular beachside playground where more than 1,000 people had congregated to celebrate the first night of the holiday, as well as about those injured.

This story will be updated.

Eli Schlanger, rabbi and father of five

Schlanger was the Chabad emissary in charge of Chabad of Bondi, which had organized the event. He had grown up in England but moved to Sydney 18 years ago, where he was raising his five children with his wife Chaya. Their youngest was born just two months ago.

In addition to leading community events through Chabad of Bondi, Schlanger worked with Jewish prisoners in Australian prisons. “He flew all around the state, to go visit different people in jail, literally at his own expense,” Mendy Litzman, a Sydney Jew who responded as a medic to the attack, told the Jewish Telegraphic Agency.

Last year, amid a surge in antisemitic incidents in Australia, Schlanger posted a video of himself dancing and celebrating Hanukkah, promoting lighting menorahs as “the best response to antisemitism.”

The best response to antisemitism. Happy Chanukah! pic.twitter.com/33RSGYzhUY

— Rabbi Eli Schlanger (@SchlangerEli) December 17, 2024

Two months before his murder, he published an open letter to Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese urging him to rescind his “act of betrayal” of the Jewish people. The letter was published on Facebook the same day, Sept. 21, that Albanese announced he would unilaterally recognize an independent Palestinian state.

Yaakov Levitan, rabbi and teacher

Originally from South Africa, Levitan worked as the secretary to the Sydney Beit Din, or rabbinical court, and was ordained as a rabbi himself through a Chabad seminary. He also worked at a learning center operated by Chabad and, according to his LinkedIn, had a charity payments company.

“He was a man of quiet devotion, known for his kindness and tireless work in assisting others, including his commitment to distributing tefillin as a sacred act of service,” read a fundraising page for Levitan endorsed by Chabad World Headquarters and Chabad NSW. “His senseless murder has left an irreplaceable void. Yaakov was the cornerstone of his family: a devoted husband and father.”

Matilda Britvan, 10-year-old girl

Matilda Britvan, a 10-year-old girl who was playing with her six-year-old sister Summer at the Hanukkah celebration when the attack began, has been identified as the youngest victim, according to Australian outlet 9News.

“A happy kid,” Matilda’s aunt, Lina Chernykh, told 9News. “She was open-hearted. Everywhere she goes, she was like a sun.”

Chernykh told 9News that Matilda was fatally shot in front of her younger sister.

“Matilda was a bright and loving soul who taught us that true goodness is in the love and compassion we share,” wrote her language teacher, Irina Goodhew, on a GoFundMe page that has since raised $357,678 for her mother, Valentina Poltavchenko. “Her memory reminds us to carry kindness in our hearts and spread it to the world.”

Matilda’s school, the Harmony Russian School of Sydney, also confirmed she was one of its students, according to BBC News.

“We remember Matilda with love, grief, and deep sorrow, and we honor her memory by standing together in compassion,” the school wrote in a post on Facebook.

Alex Kleytman, Holocaust survivor originally from Ukraine

Kleytman had come to the Bondi Beach Hanukkah celebration annually for years, his wife Larisa told The Australian. She said he was protecting her when he was shot. The couple, married for six decades, has two children and 11 grandchildren.

The Australia reported that Kleytman was a Holocaust survivor who had passed World War II living with his family in Siberia.

“He came on Bondi Beach to celebrate Hanukkah, for us it was always a very, very good celebration, for many, many years,” His wife, Larisa Kleytman, who is also a Holocaust survivor, told the outlet.

The couple emigrated from Ukraine and had been married for 57 years. Kleytman was a retired civil engineer.

Dan Elkayam, French immigrant to Australia

France’s foreign minister, Jean-Noel Barrot, announced that Elkayam was among the dead in Bondi Beach. “It is with immense sadness that we learned that our compatriot Dan Elkayam would be among the victims of the vile terrorist attack that struck the Jewish families gathered on Bondi Beach in Sydney on the first day of Hanukkah,” he tweeted.

Elkayam, 27, moved last year from the Paris area to Sydney, according to his LinkedIn account, which said he worked in IT for NBC Universal in Sydney. He attended a high school in suburban Paris operated by the World ORT organization, a Jewish nonprofit focused on vocational training.

He was also an associate player on a soccer team affiliated with Rockdale Ilinden FC, which memorialized him in a post on Facebook early Monday.

According to the team, he was employed and lived with his girlfriend in the Eastern Suburbs.

“Those who were closest to him described him as a down to earth, happy go lucky individual who was warmly embraced by those he met,” the post read. “His smiling face and respectful nature will be sorely missed by his team mates and everyone that knew him.”

Peter Meager, former police officer

Peter “Marzo” Meager, a former police officer and long-time rugby volunteer who was working as a freelance photographer at the Hanukkah party, was confirmed as one of the victims of the attack by the Randwick Rugby Club.

“’Marzo’ as he was universally known, was a much loved figure and absolute legend in our club, with decades of voluntary involvement, he was one of the heart and soul figures of Randwick Rugby,” wrote the club’s general manager, Mark Harrison, in a statement. “The tragic irony is that he spent so long in the dangerous front line as a Police Officer and was struck down in retirement while taking photos in his passion role is really hard to comprehend.”

Reuven Morrison, emigre from the USSR

Morrison, 62, moved to Sydney from the Soviet Union in the 1970s and had raised a family in the Bondi area. A year ago, as antisemitic incidents surged, he told ABC News of Australia that he felt prepared by his background to grapple with the changes.

“Walking around the streets in the USSR we always looked back, we were aware of our environment, and we expected the unexpected,” he said, adding about his fellow Australians, “There is a feeling of being scared, when people are taking their kids to kindergarten and school, they do not know what kind of events can take place. It is unpredictable. They have not experienced this before.”

Marika Pogany, 82-year-old Slovak citizen

Marika Pogany, an 82-year-old Slovak citizen and devoted volunteer, was one of the victims of the Bondi Beach attack, according to the President of Slovakia, Peter Pellegrini.

“Today, that grief has reached Slovakia as well — among the victims of this senseless, violent rampage was a Slovak woman, Marika,” wrote Pellegrini in a post on X. “Hatred ultimately recognizes no limits, and its final outcome is the destruction of innocent human lives. I extend my heartfelt and sincere condolences to Marika’s family and loved ones.”

The Hertfordshire Friends of Israel also memorialized Pogany in a post on Facebook, writing that she had “delivered over 12,000 kosher meals, ensuring dignity and nourishment for those in need.”

The former president of Slovakia, Zuzana Čaputová, who was a friend of Pogany, also described their last communication in a post on Instagram.

“Marika was an exceptional woman, she lived her life to the fullest, very active, she could enjoy life,” wrote Čaputová. “In the last message that Marika sent me, among other things, she wrote: ‘Life is a struggle and you have to take it as it is.’”

Tibor Weitzman, beloved great-grandfather and Chabad member

Tibor Weitzman, 78, was at the Hanukkah event on Bondi Beach with his wife and grandchildren when he was killed by armed gunmen, according to COLlive News.

He was a father, grandfather and great-grandfather. He was also a member of the Chabad of Bondi, where he was famous for greeting the shul’s children with “lollipops and a smile,” according to COLlive News.

Weitzman’s grandson, Mendy Amzalak, told The Australian he was a “man full of life, joy, smiles and laughter”, who died shielding a family friend from the bullets.

“My family were there for the event, and my wife called me, so I ran down to the beach with my defibrillator, and the shooting was still going. I started treating people, and then I came across his body,” Amzalek told The Australian.

12-year-old girl

Alex Ryvchin, co-CEO of the Executive Council of Australian Jewry, told CNN that a friend “lost his 12-year-old daughter, who succumbed to her wounds in hospital.” The girl’s name was not immediately released.

Dozens of people were injured

• Yossi Lazaroff, the Chabad rabbi at Texas A&M University, said his son had been shot while running the event for Chabad of Bondi. “Please say Psalms 20 & 21 for my son, Rabbi Leibel Lazaroff, יהודה לייב בן מאניא who was shot in a terrorist attack at a Chanukah event he was running for Chabad of Bondi in Sydney, Australia,” he tweeted.
• Yaakov “Yanky” Super, 24, was on duty for Hatzalah at the event when he was shot in the back, Litzman said. “He started screaming on his radio that he needs back up, he was shot. I heard it and I responded to the scene. I was the closest backup. I was one of the first medical people on the scene,” Litzman said. He added, “We just went into action and saved a lot of lives, including one of our own.”