After getting up from Shiva, Chani (Schlanger) Drizin, sister of Rabbi Eli Schlanger HYD who was murdered in the Bondi Chanukah massacre, spoke at Brooklyn’s largest Menorah lighting on Sunday evening.
“My baby brother, Eli, was killed for being a Jew,” Drizin said. “Eli’s mission in this world was to spread goodness and kindness and spread light around the whole world.”
“They try to break us down. They try to cause darkness in this world, but they will not break us. We will continue spreading light throughout the whole world. We will bring more light. We will light. We will do more mitzvos,” she said.
Drizin also shared a chilling memory: “This time last year, on the first night of Chanukah in Sydney on Bondi Beach, there were 2,000 people [at his Menorah lighting event.] Eli said, ‘This time next year, the entire world is going to know about Chanukah and the Menorah lighting.’ Eli was right,” she concluded.
Drizin also spoke to the NY Post from her home in Crown Heights, which has been a hotbed of antisemitic attacks for years — and again this week.
“Eli would tell us to keep going,” she said. “I don’t know what happened to New York. I wish I knew. This is my home, but the spike in antisemitism is terrifying,” Drizin said. “We don’t feel protected. Jews are under threat here – it’s very scary.”
“The scary thing is, It’s going to happen again,” she predicted. “I pray it doesn’t happen here, but it won’t stop me from leaving my house and continuing doing our holy work.”
This gave me the chills