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Home / World

Rabbi Eli and Matilda, 10, filmed together moments before Bondi attack

Clareese Packer, Ria Pandey, Andrew Hedgman, Aris Schuler-Shah and Ella McIlveen
news.com.au·
17 Dec, 2025 11:54 PM2 mins to read

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In the Instagram clip, Matilda can be seen standing alongside Rabbi Eli Schlanger as he performs the ritual of Tefillin on her father Michael. Credit: bigmonya

Heartbreaking footage has emerged of victims Rabbi Eli Schlanger and Matilda, 10, interacting just moments before the horror Bondi Beach attack.

In the clip, posted to Instagram by Matilda’s father Michael, Matilda can be seen standing alongside Schlanger as he performs the ritual of Tefillin on Michael.

Tefillin is the process of wrapping small boxes with tiny parchment scrolls from the Torah around the arm and head.

It symbolises binding the mind and the heart to God.

Matilda can be seen smiling and dancing before cheekily swiping a hat off her sister’s head.

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Matilda had just celebrated her 10th birthday when she was tragically killed in the terror attack.

Matilda had just celebrated her 10th birthday when she was killed on Sunday. Photo / bigmonya
Matilda had just celebrated her 10th birthday when she was killed on Sunday. Photo / bigmonya

At a candlelight vigil, her father recalled the harrowing scenes as the shooting began.

“While the shooting was still going on, I saw Matilda. She ran to where we were. I saw her go down and I crawled to her,” he said.

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“I took my shirt off and stuck it on her wound.

“I was talking to her. She was in shock telling me ‘It’s hard to breathe’.

“I was holding her saying ‘calm down’.”

In other footage, Matilda can be seen smiling and cuddling her younger sister moments before the tragedy.

Her aunt, Lina Chernykh, who shared the footage, said the family was shattered at losing their “happy kid”.

The heartbreaking final footage shows a smiling Matilda with her face painted, petting animals and playing at Archer Park in Bondi.

Matilda will be laid to rest at midday today at Woollahra’s Chevra Kadisha.

Schlanger’s funeral took place yesterday morning, and was attended by hundreds.

The late rabbi had only just welcomed his fifth child to the family, a little boy born less than two months ago.

In gut-wrenching scenes, Schlanger’s wife, Chayale, wept as she and other family members threw themselves on the coffin.

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Her father , Rabbi Yehoram Ulmann, shook with grief as he took to the stage, pausing to lay his hand on the coffin.

“It is unthinkable that we talk about you in the past tense,” he told mourners.

Sign up to Herald Premium Editor’s Picks, delivered straight to your inbox every Friday. Editor-in-Chief Murray Kirkness picks the week’s best features, interviews and investigations. Sign up for Herald Premium here.

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