Sydney Delegation Address: Rabbi Ulman, Ahmed al Ahmed & Bill Ackman - Colel Chabad Awards Gala 2025

Tonight we have the deep honor of welcoming Rabbi Olman, a respected Dion and community leader, a renowned Halahek authority who has guided individuals and families through some of the most complex questions of our time. This evening is Rabbi Olman's first appearance outside his own community since the tragedy that struck Bond the Bondi community that changed the live lives of his institution and left immeasurable pain. And yet, Rabbi Olman comes to us with strength of Torah, the courage of leadership, and a message of resilience rooted in his lifelong connection as aid of the Rebi. Something we all need to hear. Please join me in welcoming Rabbi Olman. Dear friends, I come here tonight not as an individual but as a representative of my community of Bond Beach, Australia. a community that I've served as an emissary of the labba. Actually this month is 40 years. Three weeks ago we were struck by evil. It was the eve of Hanukkah, a beautiful [snorts] Sunday afternoon. We were preparing to light the minor when two terrorists, a father and son, opened fire on our gathering. 15 precious souls were stolen from us. Men, women, a 10year-old child, not just members of my community, but people are very, very close to me, like family. And of course, one of them was my beloved son-in-law, Rabbi Elish Langanger. Friends, there is pain, deep pain. Each life lost is an entire world taken from us. But I'm also here to tell you the darkness will not win. We will not lessen our holy work for even a moment. Not in Sydney, not anywhere. The Torah teaches us two truths that exist side by side. first that God is the master of our destinies. There are things that we will never understand until the end of times. But the second truth is that we have free choice. It is up to us how we act in times of danger, in times of crisis. What we saw at Bonda Beach was evil in its purest form. Irrational hatred. A father who taught his son to murder innocent people. Our answer irrational love. The love to shhatra and mitzvah. with our families, with our friends. The love to feed the hungry, to clothe the unfortunate, [clears throat] to extend a hand and drop a coin in the Toddapushk in the charity box. This was the Reb's approach. Never allow the darkness to win. Double down. on goodness and kindness. Do not wait for tomorrow. Start today. This choice which is our choice is embedded in the seven mitzvah, seven no laws. The universal code that God gave to all humanity. When we find ourselves in a certain place at a certain time and we face a a a disaster, we have to make a decision. Do we allow evil to fester? Or do we do everything in our power to stop it? To help our fellow human beings to bring salvation to humankind? Yes, we saw devastation that day, but we also saw incredible miracles. Bombs that were planted but did not explode and heroism. people from all walks of life who stood up to fight, to protect, to shield children and adults, to wrestle with armed terrorists. Tonight, I have the privilege of having one such hero here with me, Ahmed Alah Ahmed. I'm crying. I remember the the moment and I feel sorry for everything for everyone lost. I'm so sorry what's happened. I do my best to save the innocent people life and I'm sorry for the lost. Ahmed, you are not of Jewish faith. When you saw the terrorists, you knew that God put you there for a reason. When faced with the choice to run or act, you chose to save others. In doing so, you fulfilled two of the seven no laws. The first one is a belief in the creator who dictates his will. and also to cherish human life. Human life is sacred. And these essential ideals and ideas, they transcend boundaries. Ahmed, you represent many others tonight. Unfortunately, also while they fought terrorists, but they didn't survive to be here and to tell us how they feel. My dear friend of over 30 years, Rua Morrison who bravely faced the terrorists saving lives by losing his own. Boris and Sophia Gurman, many many others. Geffen Betton who just recently woke up from a deep coma and who needs our prayers together with label Lazarov and many others who need a speedy recovery. But I want to mention a miracle, another miracle, an outpouring of support that we that I personally have witnessed. It's true that there was financial assistance for the families of those who lost for the wounded Kabar Bondai which suffered a devastating blow on so many levels. But it was more than that. We felt the love of people all around the world. And this sent a strong and vital message to those who perpetrated this as much as to ourselves. We are strong. We're going to rebuild will complete the work of the fallen and ensure the light is shed is never extinguished. We are taught that as our world is coming closer to the era of Mashiach, clarity will descend upon us. Well, we see very clearly who stands on a side of evil and darkness and who stands on a light on a side of goodness and light in this existential battle. Tragically, the casualties and of this we were reminded three weeks ago. It was supposed to be the first in Kaneka and historically Kaneka then the story of Kaneka there were many many casualties. Believe all of the The Makabes, the brothers, almost all of them lost their life. But the Kanuka prayer promises us that the mighty will be delivered into the hands of the few and the wicked into the hands of the righteous because light ultimately prevail. It is My absolute pleasure to introduce to you my friend and partner, Mr. William. Bill did not just join the recent fight against anti-semitism in the United States. He started it. Bill started it by ripping the band-aid off the harassment of Jews on college campuses. And he did this at great personal and professional peril to himself. His almost daily tweets calling out the most vile haters of Jews and the state of Israel shines the light on the worst of our enemies. It is my pleasure to introduce to you Mr. William Aman. So, thank you uh so much. Uh actually Richard uh texted me a couple days ago and he said, "Bill Ahmed Akmed is coming to the United States. Uh would you give us the honor of honoring him?" And of course, um, and then Lauren, uh, who's an amazing lawyer and she won a great case on behalf of the Persian Square Foundation. Thank you, Lauren. Um, also texted me and said, "Bill." And so, two very important people to me called an extremely important people to our community, uh, needed an honor. And I thought, what should I speak about tonight? And I thought kind of an opportunity to talk about heroism. Um, you know, we're fortunate in the world to have heroes and heroes are really amazing people. Um, but even among heroes, there's a hierarchy of heroism, right? If someone breaks into your home, uh, and it's going to harm your family, you know, member of the family gets up to fight, that person's a hero. They're stepping in to protect their family. Um, but it's a very different thing. Um, when someone, you know, there's a a famous very sad story. 61 years ago in Queens, woman named Kitty Genevesei uh was being murdered and she screamed and there was a fight. 38 people were witnessed uh the screams and no one stepped in uh to save her. Uh you very important story, a very unfortunate story in the history of our of our city. But it talks about what people call the bystander effect. You there are a lot of people around you. willingness to step forward and put yourself in danger. Very few people are willing to do so. Uh I first learned about the Bondi massacre uh on Twitter. I started to see videos of the shootings and they just seem to go on and on and on and then a video appeared of a man unarmed, of a similar size to the shooter, but the shooter had a a gun and he snuck, you know, he snuck up and tackled him. Now, how do I have a video of Ahmad? Because someone else was a witness, but they sat there with their phone recording uh the events. What he chose to do is step into the fight. He was not a target of the shooter. He could have minded his own business. No one would ever know that he chose not to uh intervene. So I think that in the hierarchy of heroes, the person that is willing to risk his own life for the benefit of people that he does not know where he takes on someone who is armed with a weapon and he has none, right? So he's prepared to give up his life. This amazing person So, you know, think about the decision to risk your own life for people you don't know, for people for whom you're not a target. And I think, you know, why is this this man, this hero, uh why was there such an outpouring to support him? I think that was an important part of it. But if you bring it kind of back to this evening, you know, it's been more challenging to be a member of the Jewish community since October 7th. You know, I grew up really without any there was social anti-semitism when I grew up. You know, the the country club across the street did not have Jewish members. That was the extent of the anti-semitism that I experienced. Uh started the foundation about 20 years ago. My father at every board meeting would say, "Bill, we're not doing enough for the Jews. We're not doing enough about anti-semitism." And I would say, "Dad, the Jews are doing great, and I'm not I don't see any anti-semitism." My dad was so concerned about the issue that when he passed away and wrote me letters of instruction in advance of a a surgery that he thought could could cost him his life, he wrote me letters saying, "You, Bill, this is how I want you to handle my funeral arrangements." You know, there was a letter from him about what I how I should call my mom every day, which have not yet done. I'm have to call mom today. Uh and uh and Bill, I'm very concerned about anti-semitism. You need to do more about anti-semitism. I think you know the October 7th was one of the most horrible days in the world, a very horrendous day for the Jewish people. But in some ways, October 8th was asbad. And because we saw a response on university campuses on the campus uh school I attended which was not about supporting the Jews but in fact was supportive of the the terrorists and that made I think the last couple of years has been more challenging for Jewish people because you know uh that uh a reminder that we're 2% of the world you know you've so I think you know seeing someone step forward on behalf of people he didn't you know, to risk his own life. And you know, the calculus of going after a guy with a gun, uh, of, you know, I mean, he's a strong man, but but he was taking on a man of similar size, um, is is really one of the great great acts of heroism. And I think it was very reaffirming uh to the Jewish community to have someone stand up on behalf of our community in in the most profound uh life affirming way you can. So that that's why we're here. So thank you so much. And uh a very very appropriate uh oops about the most beautiful uh such honorarium I've seen. If you think about the manora, it represents uh endurance, represents courage, represents persistence, and most of all represents light and light in the darkness. And and this man deserves this incredible award. [music] And even if you say goodbye, you'll never go away. You are the rainbow in my sight. My colors are the gray. [music] My only wish upon a star. Sunshine in the day. The only [singing and music] song that my piano ever plays. So lastly, I I actually was not familiar with Kohal's Kabad uh but I thought uh in honor of the victims, in honor of the men, uh thought to make a $180,000 donation towards Thank you. Hello everyone. I will just say I want to say I'm proud to be here with a community and with a human innocent people who I put my life in the risk to save the innocent people. That moment it was very very hard to explain but I think it was a a holy and the miracle is from the god choice me for this moment and thank you for everything. Thank you for everything. New day will arise. Life will go on. Everyone cries. Don't cry alone. [singing] [music] Darkness will fade. All the pain will go by. But we will stay. [music] Even if you say a new day will rise, life will go on. Everyone cries. [music] Don't cry [singing] alone. Darkness will fade. Know the pain will go by but we will stay. [music] Love [singing] of my life. [singing] [music] before [singing] new day will rise. Everyone cries. Don't cry [singing] alone. [music] Darkness will fade. All the pain will go by. But we will stay. [music] Even if you say [music and singing] goodbye, a new day [singing] will rise. [music] New day will arise. [singing] Fore! [music] Foreign! Foreign! [music] [singing] Oh, [music] [music and singing] [music] [singing] there is [music] and high [music] shadow. >> [music] >> I'm inside. [music] I'm [music] >> [music] [singing] [music] >> Columbia. [music] I'm Messiah. >> [music] >> Push your Baby [music] [music] show. [music] Oh. Oh, [music] I'm Israel. I'm Israel. Oh, [music] I'm in my life. I'm tired. I'm tired. I'm tired. [music] I'm tired. I'm tired. I'm kind of I'm Messiah. [music] I'm cry oh [music] I'm fire I'm fire [music] I'm fire I'll be fire I'll be this I'll be flying. I'll be flying. I'm fire [music] dye. [music] I la. [music] I die. [music] of your dead [music] any [music] of your Be on your door. Be on your door. Be on your door. Be on your door. Stay on your [music] head. Be on [music] your be on your be on your be on your be on your [music] be on your be [music] on your be on your be on [music] Beyond your becom, [music] ladies and ladies and gentlemen. Thank you all for coming. Thank you all for joining us. There is dessert both to my right and to my left. I mean to my left and to my right. Thank you each and every one of you for joining and join us again. And of course don't forget the Miami dinner March 5th in Miami. And I would be remissed if I would not mention to thank the children that all those that use the Pushka app. And if you don't yet, you could download the Pushka in the app store. Thank you so much. above you.