Bondi Beach hero Rabbi Leibel Lazaroff receives key to the city

Waverley Council honours rabbi who rushed to aid wounded officer during Bondi terror attack

In a moving ceremony on February 3, 2026, Waverley Mayor Will Nemesh presented Rabbi Leibel Lazaroff with the Key to the City and a lifetime beach parking pass, honouring his extraordinary courage during the December 14, 2025, terror attack at Bondi Beach.

Rabbi Lazaroff, who was assisting his mentor Rabbi Eli Schlanger at a Chanukah event when the attack occurred, witnessed NSW Police Officer Scott Dyson suffering a critical gunshot wound. Without hesitation, he rushed to the officer’s side, using his own shirt to stem the bleeding. While rendering aid, Rabbi Lazaroff himself was shot twice, sustaining gunshot wounds to his abdomen and leg.

The 20-year-old from College Station, Texas, underwent 11 surgeries and spent six weeks in intensive care at a Sydney hospital recovering from his life-threatening injuries. Just weeks before the Waverley Council ceremony, Rabbi Lazaroff made a remarkable public appearance, playing piano at the Sydney Opera House on January 22 at a national memorial service, only hours after being discharged from hospital. He performed the same prayerful piece he had played before the shooting, before a full house that included Australia’s Prime Minister, survivors, first responders and families of the victims.

The ceremony, held in the courtyard of The Boot Factory in Bondi Junction and attended by NSW Governor Margaret Beasley and US Consul General Jeremy Cornforth, recognised not only Rabbi Lazaroff’s actions that day but also his dignified recovery and the values he represents.

Also in attendance were Alex Ryvchin, Co-CEO of the Executive Council of Australian Jewry, Waverley councillors, Chief Superintendent Jody Radmore of Eastern Suburbs Police Local Area Command, rabbis from Sydney’s Chabad community; and Waverley-based first responders and emergency services personnel.

“Through this horrific tragedy, we have seen the absolute worst in human nature, but also the best,” Mayor Nemesh said during the presentation. “Rabbi Lazaroff personifies bravery and selflessness in the truest forms. In the face of evil and immediate danger, you risked your own life.”

The mayor also paid tribute to the late Rabbi Eli Schlanger, “whose life was among those tragically cut short,” offering sincere sympathies to Rabbi Lazaroff for the loss of his mentor.

Governor Beasley delivered powerful remarks about courage and goodness, reflecting on the emotions she experienced following the attack. “One judge that I spoke to said that she had been down to Bondi about a week or so before the 14th of December,” the Governor recalled. “She found the place so wonderful, so many different people, but the one feeling that she got from being there was the people were happy, and that’s what Bondi is. It’s a place where people are happy.”

The Governor described watching memorial videos of the 15 victims at a service on January 22. “As I sat there listening to those 15 stories, I thought to myself, it’s as though those families were able to pick out every good person who was there. Because what those short videos told us was that these were such good people, such happy people, such family people, such giving people.”

Speaking about the attack’s broader meaning, Governor Beasley said, “It’s as though these two individuals wanted to destroy goodness. That’s how it feels. But what have we got out of it? What we’ve got out of it is that they didn’t destroy goodness. What we’ve actually got out of it is that goodness came to the surface, almost as if in rivers of gold.”

The governor connected acts of bravery to deeper character. “I often think when we give awards for bravery, something is done in a moment. Someone is faced with something that they didn’t expect, and they respond in a moment of courage. And I often think that people who react like that are actually coming from a place of goodness, because if they didn’t have that goodness in them, they wouldn’t have what it takes to respond in a moment of courage.”

She concluded her remarks by noting, “As we honour Leibel tonight, we are honouring goodness and the place from where goodness comes. So you’re going to take home not the keys to the city, but the keys to our heart, because a city is really made of people, and people have hearts.”

In a message read at the ceremony, Rabbi Yehoshua Ullman of Chabad of Bondi, who could not attend in person, praised Rabbi Lazaroff’s “quiet dedication”. The message noted that Rabbi Lazaroff “was there to protect others. He did not hesitate. He did not turn away. He was protecting and helping others, even when being so badly wounded himself.”

The message emphasised that the recognition was not only for Rabbi Lazaroff’s actions on December 14 but also “about what followed, the strength shown in recovery, the humility and the dignity with which Leibel has carried himself, and the way he has continued to inspire so many.”

Opening remarks from Leibel’s father, Rabbi Yossi Lazaroff, honoured both Rabbi Lazaroff’s bravery and the memory of Rabbi Eli Schlanger, describing him as “a man of faith, kindness and moral leadership” whose “memory continues to inspire goodness, compassion and unity.”

He also invoked the Lubavitcher Rebbe’s teaching that “a small light can dispel a great deal of darkness,” adding, “Today, that light is visible in acts of heroism and the strength of survivors in a community that chooses unity, kindness and hope.”

Rabbi Leibel Lazaroff, joined by his parents Rabbi Yossi and Manya Lazaroff, and his wife, Mindy, who travelled from the United States, expressed gratitude for the community’s support. “The unity and strength that the entire community and entire city has shown has been incredible,” he said. “It’s something that needs to continue in a beautiful way.”

He reflected on his three months in Australia before the attack, saying, “I did feel that from the people, and I felt it even more after, and it’s really beautiful. And I think it’s something that is permanent. It’s not like something that’s going to die down.”

The Key to the City presentation was part of Waverley Council’s decision, made in January, to honour three individuals who demonstrated extraordinary courage during the attack: Rabbi Lazaroff, Ahmed al Ahmed, and Geffen Biton.

The engraved key reads: “This key to the city was presented to Rabbi Leibel Lazaroff on the third of February 2026 by Waverley Council Mayor, Councillor Will Nemesh, in recognition of his significant bravery and selflessness on the 14th of December 2025 at Bondi Beach. This key symbolises the enduring impact of his courage and is a token of our everlasting gratitude and appreciation on behalf of all of us.”

The ceremony concluded with Rabbi Lazaroff receiving both the symbolic key and what Mayor Nemesh called “the most coveted lifetime beach parking,” a gesture affirming “our beaches are also yours. You will forever have a place within Waverley, as you personify bravery and selflessness in the truest forms.”