{"id":77041,"date":"2025-12-21T11:30:07","date_gmt":"2025-12-21T11:30:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/77041\/"},"modified":"2025-12-21T11:30:07","modified_gmt":"2025-12-21T11:30:07","slug":"defiant-sister-of-slain-bondi-beach-rabbi-who-battles-jew-hate-in-her-own-nyc-nabe-says-were-not-afraid","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/77041\/","title":{"rendered":"Defiant sister of slain Bondi Beach rabbi — who battles Jew hate in her own NYC nabe — says ‘We’re not afraid’"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Brooklyn sister of the beloved rabbi slain in the Bondi Beach Hanukkah massacre<\/a> is doubling down on her Jewish pride, insisting, \u201cWe\u2019re not hiding and we\u2019re not afraid.\u201d<\/p>\n

Chani Schlanger Drizin, 54, sat shiva this week for her baby brother, Rabbi Eli Schlanger, in her home in Crown Heights, which has been a hotbed of antisemitic attacks for years \u2014 and again this week.<\/p>\n

She insisted she\u2019ll honor her brother\u2019s legacy and her faith by standing proud in the face of rising hate.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe would tell us to keep going,\u201d said Drizin, who wore a freshly torn sweatshirt, per the Jewish custom as an expression of pain.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Chani Schlanger Drizin remained defiant in the face of increasing antisemitism. \u201cWe\u2019re not afraid,\u201d she said. Helayne Seidman<\/p>\n

Her brother helped organize the Hanukkah celebration on Dec. 14, the first night of the holiday.<\/p>\n

The entire Schlanger family, including wife, Chaya, and five kids, from 17 to six weeks old, showed up to help the rabbi run the beloved annual Hanukkah by the Sea event that drew some 2,000 people.<\/p>\n

Death rained down when Sajid Akram, 50, and his son, Naveed, 24, allegedly opened fire on the crowd, killing 15 and leaving dozens hurt. The rabbi was shot in the back after throwing himself on a community member to shield them from the bullets, and died instantly.<\/p>\n

Mourners gathered for the funeral of Rabbi Eli Schlanger, who was killed in the Bondi Beach shooting. REUTERS<\/p>\n

Hate unfolded closer to home days later, when a Yeshiva student was assaulted on the subway<\/a> and a man was stabbed by an attacker who allegedly seethed \u201cI\u2019m going to kill a Jew today.\u201d<\/a><\/p>\n

\u201cI don\u2019t know what happened to New York. I wish I knew. This is my home, but the spike in antisemitism is terrifying,\u201d Drizin said.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe scary thing is, It\u2019s going to happen again,\u201d she predicted. \u201cI pray it doesn\u2019t happen here, but it won\u2019t stop me from leaving my house and continuing doing our holy work.\u201d<\/p>\n

She sobbed as she scrolled through videos of her adored brother on her phone, watching clips of him goofing around with family. <\/p>\n

Schlanger was killed trying to shield an attendee from the bullets. via REUTERS<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re still going to light the menorah in public and take the subway \u2014 they\u2019re not going to tear us down.\u201d<\/p>\n

A British native who\u2019s lived in New York for 36 years, she insisted \u201cWe\u2019re all in this together.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey try to destroy us, but every time they do something, we become stronger and more resilient.\u201d<\/p>\n

Family friend Shalom Goldstein \u2014 whose cousin, 20-year-old American Leibel Lazaroff, was critically injured after being shot multiple times<\/a> at Bondi Beach \u2014 blamed \u201cpolitical correctness\u201d for rising antisemitism and said he appealed to NYC Police Commissioner Jessica Tisch for protection after the recent spate of hate crimes in Crown Heights.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe were hoping we\u2019re in better times, but the ugly head of antisemitism is rearing again. The problem is the bystanders and those who rationalize it or find politically correct ways to try to spin it,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

CAPTION<\/p>\n

Drizin prayed for \u201can end to the hatred in this dark world\u201d as she lit the candles on her menorah, while summoning the strength to sing the traditional tune commemorating<\/a> the miracles God delivers for the Jewish people.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re going to make this world a bigger and brighter place and keep our faith. We\u2019re going to come out stronger than ever,\u201d she vowed.<\/p>\n

With each passing car blasting festive Hanukkah music, Drizin is reminded of the mission of her 41-year-old brother, who regularly visited the sick and incarcerated.<\/p>\n

\u201cEli was all about joy, love, and appreciation for being Jewish.\u201d<\/p>\n

Schlanger, a \u201cmodern-day Maccabee,\u201d inspired his loving sister. \u00a0\u201cNo one\u2019s going to stop us from continuing what we\u2019re doing.<\/p>\n

\u201dWe will carry that legacy unafraid.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The Brooklyn sister of the beloved rabbi slain in the Bondi Beach Hanukkah massacre is doubling down on…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":77042,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[36],"tags":[3862,36404,98,100,99,12721,10685,57,9,24,63,1076],"class_list":["post-77041","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-brooklyn","tag-antisemitism","tag-bondi-beach-shooting-2025","tag-brooklyn","tag-brooklyn-headlines","tag-brooklyn-news","tag-hanukkah","tag-hate-crimes","tag-metro","tag-new-york","tag-new-york-city","tag-nyc","tag-world-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/77041","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=77041"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/77041\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/77042"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=77041"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=77041"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=77041"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}