In a poignant tribute to their daughter Matilda, the youngest victim of the Bondi attack, her parents Michael and Valentyna were married in a religious ceremony during her funeral on Thursday. The couple, Ukrainian immigrants who had previously only had a civil wedding, chose to honour their Jewish faith and their daughter's memory by exchanging vows in a full religious service.
The funeral at Sydney's Chevra Kadisha funeral home was filled with bee motifs, Matilda's nickname 'Bee'. Mourners wore stickers bearing her name in purple, her favourite colour, above a small bee. The flower memorial at Bondi pavilion has also been adorned with bee plush toys, illustrations, and stickers, as the family asked the nation to remember her by this symbol.
Rabbi Dovid Slavin, who officiated, said the couple had been forced to hide their Jewish identity in the Soviet Union. In Australia, they were delighted to be able to marry in a religious ceremony. The rabbi described Matilda as a 'ray of sunshine' whose birth brought such joy that they decided to have another child, Summer, who now faces a 'house that has suddenly gone dark'.
Matilda, 10, was killed in the Bondi beach massacre on 14 December, Australia's deadliest terrorist attack. Her father described her as simply 'Bee', her middle name. The funeral was attended by federal opposition leader Sussan Ley, Coalition frontbencher Julian Leeser, and New South Wales premier Chris Minns, among many others who spilled out of the building due to the large turnout.
Earlier that day, the same funeral home held a service for Alex Kleytman, a Holocaust survivor from Ukraine who also died in the attack. The double tragedy underscored the profound grief felt across the nation, as Rabbi Slavin noted that every adult has since asked: 'Is this the Australia I want to live in?'
