{"id":90899,"date":"2025-12-17T03:22:19","date_gmt":"2025-12-17T03:22:19","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/90899\/"},"modified":"2025-12-17T03:22:19","modified_gmt":"2025-12-17T03:22:19","slug":"texas-am-rabbis-son-wounded-in-mass-shooting-at-hanukkah-event-in-australia-houston-public-media","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/90899\/","title":{"rendered":"Texas A&M rabbi\u2019s son wounded in mass shooting at Hanukkah event in Australia \u2013 Houston Public Media"},"content":{"rendered":"

\t\t\t\t\t\"Australia<\/a><\/p>\n

AP Photo\/Mark Baker<\/p>\n

People gather around a growing flower tribute to shooting victims outside the Bondi Pavilion at Sydney\u2019s Bondi Beach, Monday, Dec. 15, 2025, a day after a shooting.<\/p>\n

Rabbi Leibel Lazaroff, the son of a College Station-based rabbi serving Texas A&M University’s Jewish students and staff, was among the dozens of people injured in a mass shooting at a Hanukkah event on Sunday in Sydney, Australia, his father said.<\/p>\n

Leibel is in an intensive care unit, intubated, and underwent surgery after being shot in the abdomen and leg, according to his brother Menachem Lazaroff.<\/p>\n

Late Sunday evening, Lazaroff’s father, Rabbi Yossi Lazaroff, wrote in a social media post<\/a> that he was flying to Australia to be with him.<\/p>\n

Sign up for the Hello, Houston!<\/a> daily newsletter to get local reports like this delivered directly to your inbox.<\/p>\n

\u201cSitting on a very long plane ride to Australia from Texas, while still grappling with the lives lost & communicating with the hospital as my son Leibel goes into multiple surgeries for his life threatening injuries,\u201d he wrote Monday on social media. \u201cThis is about good vs evil, light vs darkness, up-standers vs bystanders. It’s your choice to make. Who are you?\u201d<\/p>\n

Sitting on a very long plane ride to Australia from Texas, while still grappling with the lives lost & communicating with the hospital as my son Leibel goes into multiple surgeries for his life threatening injuries. Leibel was spreading light, helping a community thrive,… pic.twitter.com\/P0JMwt8nLz<\/a><\/p>\n

\u2014 Yossi Lazaroff \ud83d\udc4d (@AggieRabbi) December 15, 2025<\/a><\/p>\n

Australian authorities said at least 15 people had died<\/a> in the shooting, including a child, as of Monday morning. More than 40 others were injured. Investigators said the alleged gunmen were a father and son; the former was killed by police, and the latter was hospitalized.<\/p>\n

RELATED: Bystander hailed as a hero for disarming Sydney gunman<\/a><\/p>\n

Jewish groups and law enforcement agencies across the Houston area are on alert in the wake of the shooting. Several Hanukkah events are planned<\/a> throughout the week by local Chabad groups, which are Orthodox Jewish organizations focused on outreach. Among the events are public menorah lightings at places like The Galleria mall on Monday and the Baylor College of Medicine on Tuesday.<\/p>\n

Rabbi Yossi Zaklikofsky, who leads The Shul of Bellaire, told Houston Public Media he was unhesitant to continue with his community’s Hanukkah festival, which took place on Sunday.<\/p>\n

“We\u2019re always in touch with the Bellaire Police Department,” he said. “We\u2019re in touch with [Harris County] Constable Alan Rosen\u2019s office. We were [in contact] in advance of this event, regardless, and obviously we were in light of this event. And they\u2019ve looked after our community and events up until now, and they\u2019ll continue to do so.”<\/p>\n

Rosen said he went to both Bellaire\u2019s Hanukkah festival and Houston\u2019s menorah lighting at City Hall on Sunday evening.<\/p>\n

\u201cI was very responsible for the safety and security of both of those events, along with other law enforcement partners,\u201d Rosen said Monday. \u201cWe added more law enforcement officers. \u2026 It was already planned very well, and executed very well, but we added more.\u201d<\/p>\n

Chabad of West Houston also moved forward with its menorah lighting on Sunday evening following the Sydney shooting. According to a news release, the group put more security in place on Sunday and plans to hold another menorah lighting on Tuesday evening.<\/p>\n

\u201cA little bit of light dispells [sic] a lot of darkness and it is necessary now more than ever to do acts that generate MORE LIGHT IN THE WORLD!\u201d Rabbi Dovid Goldstein said in a news release.<\/p>\n

Yossi Lazaroff, the rabbi at the Texas A&M campus, said his son had been working with Rabbi Eli Schlanger, an assistant rabbi and one of the organizers of the event in Australia. Schlanger was among those killed, according to the global Chabad organization<\/a>. <\/p>\n

Leibel Lazaroff was also involved in organizing the Sunday celebration, according to his brother Menachem.<\/p>\n

\u201cMy brother is thousands of miles away, and there\u2019s really not much I can do from College Station, Texas,\u201d Menachem said. \u201cBut what I can do is spread light in my community, spread the message of the joy of Hanukkah, the light of Hanukkah.\u201d <\/p>\n

Yossi Lazaroff, alongside his wife Manya, founded the Chabad Jewish Center at Texas A&M in 2007, with the self-professed goal of being a “home away from home” for Jewish Aggies.<\/p>\n

“This boy grew up here, you know, outside of Houston,” said Zaklikofsky, the rabbi in Bellaire. “And even beyond that, you know, the Jewish community, and especially the Chabad community, is a global family.”<\/p>\n

Republican state Sen. Charles Schwertner of Georgetown shared his condolences in a post on social media.<\/p>\n

Please join me in praying for Rabbi Yossi and Manya Lazaroff’s son, Rabbi Leibel Lazaroff, who was shot, and all those who were killed and injured in the terrorist attack on the Jewish community. The Lazaroffs founded the Chabad Jewish Center at Texas A&M University, where they… https:\/\/t.co\/qNnuYhJj5p<\/a><\/p>\n

\u2014 Charles Schwertner (@DrSchwertner) December 14, 2025<\/a><\/p>\n

Following the attack in Sydney, Houston Mayor John Whitmire participated in the menorah lighting Sunday evening at Houston City Hall. He condemned the shooting in a statement.<\/p>\n

“This is a time for people of the Jewish faith to celebrate light and hope,\u201d Whitmire said. \u201cInstead, families are grieving the unimaginable loss of loved ones. … Violence and Antisemitism have no place in society. I ask everyone to pray for the victims and their families.”<\/p>\n

Houston Public Media\u2019s Rob Salinas contributed to this report.<\/p>\n

Editor\u2019s note: This story has been updated to include more details about Rabbi Leibel Lazaroff\u2019s condition and a quote from his brother, Menachem Lazaroff. <\/p>\n

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