‘It’s hard to process’: Toronto family of Bondi Beach victim mourns loss

CTV’s Scott Hurst has the latest on reaction from Australia in the wake of the country’s deadliest mass shooting in decades.

The family of Rabbi Eli Schlanger, one of the victims killed in Sunday’s mass shooting on Bondi Beach in Australia, is mourning the loss of a loved one.

“He was full of life, positivity,” said Naomi Plax in an interview with CTV News Sunday night.

“It was his mission to bring the light of Judaism into the world and he did that up until the moment that he, tragically, was killed.”

Plax said Rabbi Schalnger is her stepfather’s brother, adding they had met a “couple of times” outside of Toronto during family events, since he was originally from London and later moved to Australia.

“He was just an amazing, amazing individual who, as my mom said today, didn’t have a bad bone in his body. He was just a positive and kind individual,” said Plax, adding she learned of her step-uncle’s passing Sunday morning through a family group chat.

“My whole family group chat was spammed with messages and I was like ‘what’s going on,’ because you just see all the stuff,” she said.

Fifteen people, including a child, were killed when two gunmen opened fire during a Hanukkah celebration on Sydney’s Bondi Beach Sunday.

Orthodox Jewish outreach organization Chabad, which runs outreach programs worldwide and sponsors events during major Jewish holidays, identified one of the dead as Rabbi Eli Schlanger, assistant rabbi at Chabad of Bondi and an organizer of the event.

Chabad said Schlanger served as a rabbi and chaplain in the community for 18 years and leaves behind a wife and children.

“It hits really close to home,” said Plax.

“You hear about these things that happen around the world and it never happens to you -- and then suddenly something happens to someone in your family and you realize, ‘wow, it could happen to anybody.’”

Levi Gansburg, a rabbi at Chabad on Bayview in Toronto also said he knew Rabbi Schlanger, saying the two studied at rabbinical seminary and describing him as “vivacious.”

• GTA’s Jewish community stands strong following deadly attack at Bondi Beach Hanukkah celebration

“It’s hard to process, especially on the eve of such a positive holiday, but we just have to continue to carry on his mission,” said Plax.

“We just have to continue to make him proud and to make the rest of the Jewish people proud.”