We Will Prevail: voices, fury and faith after Bondi

“We Will Prevail” is not a book written in hindsight. It was produced in the immediate wake of terror; while blood was still on the grass near Bondi Beach, many victims were still in hospital, and the shock of what had happened had barely begun to settle.

Edited by Rabbi Menachem Creditor, the anthology brings together Jewish responses to the Bondi Beach antisemitic terror attack, in which 15 people were murdered during a Chanukah celebration.

The anthology includes rabbis, poets, communal leaders and eyewitnesses from Australia and abroad, reinforcing the book as a collective Jewish response rather than a single narrative.

Creditor is an American rabbi, author, musician and educator who has written or edited more than 30 books, serves as Scholar-in-Residence at UJA-Federation New York, and is known for his work on Jewish identity, faith and moral responsibility.

Among those wounded in the attack was Creditor’s brother-in-law, Arsen Ostrovsky, who was struck in the head by a bullet and survived by what doctors described as millimetres.

Ostrovsky opens the book with a searing foreword that sets its tone, describing the attack without qualification. “The attack that occurred at Bondi was not random. It was a targeted act of antisemitic terror, a deadly and catastrophic manifestation of a relentless campaign of intimidation, hatred and incitement.”

The violence, he writes, is permanently etched into memory. “What I saw on Bondi was pure evil. The terror, screams and lifeless bodies. Images, sights and the stench of death have been permanently seared into my memory.”

Yet even in that darkness, Ostrovsky records moments of moral clarity. “Ordinary Australians, both Jews and non-Jews, people with no obligation and no protection, ran towards danger to help the wounded,” he writes. “This is the real Australia. Not the ravenous hatred of the murderers and their enablers, but the quiet courage of decent people, and that is why we shall prevail.”

The book’s title comes directly from Ostrovsky’s words. Creditor recounts speaking to his brother-in-law shortly after the attack. “Without hesitation, he said, ‘Evil shall not triumph. We shall prevail.’”

Creditor also describes how his sister Tzeira, who had moved with Ostrovsky from Israel to Australia only weeks before Chanukah, shielded their daughters with her body, whispering, “We survived Iran. We will survive this too.”

“This is the world as it is,” Creditor writes. “Jewish vulnerability in Sydney, in Israel, in America, in South America, and in Europe. The locations differ; the hatred is tragically familiar.”

In an interview with J-Wire, Creditor said the book emerged from the need to respond, not retreat. “This is definitely in response to this crisis directly touching my family, not just my community. As soon as I knew that Arsen was going to be okay, I was able to think about amplifying his voice. Thinking about amplifying his voice birthed the idea of the book.”

Many of the essays express anger without apology. Creditor believes that anger, in this context, is not only justified but necessary.

“In this case, Jewish anger is justified,” he said. “The Bondi Beach attack could have been prevented. The fact that there was not adequate protection for a very public event is inconceivable. It is ludicrous and blasphemous.”

Across the anthology, contributors repeatedly return to the theme of Jewish responsibility. “Survival carries responsibility,” Ostrovsky writes. “To remember those who were taken, to speak for those who no longer can, and to stand without apology against hatred, terror and antisemitism.”

Creditor frames that responsibility as an act of faith made real. “Judaism teaches that faith is what we do with our body,” he said. “Emotions must become manifest through action.”

Several essays focus on the experience of raising Jewish children in an environment shaped by fear and vigilance, without surrendering joy or continuity. In her poem “Parenting Jewishly Today”, Lauren Kasiarz, a Jewish educator and writer, describes a reality defined by “metal detectors, locked doors, security guards, and active shooter drills”, yet insists that these measures exist alongside a stubborn commitment to Jewish life. “And still,” she writes, “we yearn to give our children the joyous Jewish experiences of our own childhoods,” framing Jewish parenting as an act of defiance as much as care.

Other contributors turn their attention to the psychological weight of the attack and its aftermath.  Australian Jewish writer Joanne Fattal reflects on the uneasy sense of recognition that followed Bondi, describing how warning signs that once felt abstract suddenly snapped into focus. She writes of “reading the signs” and realising, too late, how visible and vulnerable Jewish life had become, capturing a shared reckoning that the danger was not sudden, but slowly building.

Poetry plays a central role in the anthology, often expressing what prose cannot. In one stark piece, Dina Elenbogen, an American Jewish poet, distils the horror of the night into a few devastating lines, recalling how “the shadows became accomplices as he aimed at those who still danced around candles.” The poem ends with a blunt accounting: “The child survived. 15 others died,” resisting any urge to soften or spiritualise the loss.

Other essays argue forcefully against retreat or quiet endurance. Rabbi Sharon Brous, senior rabbi of IKAR in Los Angeles, writes that Jewish survival cannot be reduced to mere persistence, insisting that “memory demands action, not withdrawal,” while American Jewish theologian Yehuda Kurtzer challenges readers to resist despair by remaining publicly Jewish even when it feels risky. Together, these contributions assert that continuity is not passive but a deliberate moral stance taken in full view of the world.

The structure and tone of the anthology recall the recent book “Ruptured”, a collection of essays by Australian Jewish women from all walks of life reflecting on how the world has shifted since October 7.

The book closes not with consolation, but with resolve. “We shall prevail,” Ostrovsky writes, “not because the forces of hate are weakened, but because we choose to stand upright in defiance of them.”

For Creditor, that choice defines the book’s purpose. “This is not silence in response to tragedy,” he said. “This is a call for dignity, pride, protection and unity.”

“We Will Prevail: Jewish Responses to Bondi Beach” is available from Amazon now.

There will be an official launch of the book in Sydney in coming weeks – details soon