Thousands gather for funeral of Reuven Morrison, killed while fighting gunman at Bondi

Thousands of people are gathering for the funeral of Reuven Morrison, who was killed in the terror attack on a Hanukkah event at Bondi Beach while fighting one of the attackers.

Video footage shows Morrison, a 62-year-old grandfather, hurling items at terrorist Sajid Akram, after bystander Ahmed Al Ahmed had disarmed him. Morrison was then shot dead by the other terrorist, Sajid’s son Naveed Akram.

At the funeral in Melbourne, according to the Sydney Morning Herald, Rabbi Gabi Kaltmann says Morrison was a modern “Judah Maccabee,” the hero of the Hanukkah story.

“He’s someone that single-handedly tried to take on the terrorists. He tried to stop him in his tracks, and if you watch the video like I sadly have, you’ll see he picks up anything that he can find around him, a stick, a brick,” Kaltmann says.

Morrison, an immigrant to Australia from the former Soviet Union, “discovered his Jewish identity in Sydney,” Chabad said, and remained deeply connected to the Jewish community there even after moving to Melbourne.

Morrison’s family relocated to Melbourne for his daughter’s schooling, Chabad said, but he continued to split his time between the two cities and worked primarily in Sydney.

Morrison was a “successful businessman,” Chabad recounted, and he donated generously to charitable causes, including Chabad of Bondi.