Mourners are weeping at the funeral service for 10-year-old Matilda, the youngest victim killed in the Bondi attack, which began with a Hebrew prayer at the Chevra Kadisha Memorial Hall in Woollahra.
The hall in front of Matilda’s coffin is filled with flowers and bumblebee balloons beside a framed photograph of Matilda. She was marking the first day of Hanukkah by eating cake and playing with animals alongside her sister Summer, six, when she was shot.
The photo of youngest victim, Matilda, 10, in among the floral tribute where mourners gather at Bondi Beach after a terrorist attack killed and wounded people at a Jewish celebration for Hanukkah.Credit: Janie Barrett
The rabbi leading the service has described Matilda as a “righteous, special, sweet, kind girl”, and a “beautiful” daughter, sister, and granddaughter.
“It is really an impossible task to stand here today and try to give some words of comfort, some words of strength, when in reality, words fail you.
“All of us, [we are] one family, and all of us who’ve lost loved ones feel the pain of the other person very very strongly.”
Mourners arrive at the funeral of Bondi Beach mass shooting victim 10-year-old Matilda.Credit: AP
The rabbi said he had met with Matilda’s parents Michael and Valya this week, and said: “You gave me strength, at the time when you need strength yourselves,” he said.
“She is so, so beautiful and so innocent. And the eternal question is, why? There is no answer.
“It’s unnatural for grandparents and parents to outlive a child. Tragedy struck.
“The tragic, cruel, unfathomable murder of young Matilda is as painful as if our own daughter was taken from us. The sorrow is too great to bear, but ultimately, we have to go on.”
