Boris and Sofia Gurman Remembered as Heroes at Funeral After Bondi Chanukah Attack • Jewish Breaking News

As terrorists exited their car with rifles in hand along Bondi Beach, Boris and Sofia Gurman did what most people cannot.

They moved forward into the line of fire.

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Boris Gurman, 69, and his wife Sofia Gurman, 61, were laid to rest Friday after being killed while trying to stop terrorists during the Chanukah terror attack that devastated Sydney’s Jewish community. In their final moments, they chose courage over survival, stepping into danger to protect others.

Dashcam footage that spread across the world captured Boris confronting and tackling one of the attackers on Campbell Parade in the opening seconds of the massacre. Sofia stayed with him. She did not flee. She did not turn away. Later aerial footage showed the couple lying motionless together on the pavement side by side, the final image of a marriage defined by loyalty, bravery, and love.

Their joint funeral at Chevra Kadisha drew mourners from across Australia. Political leaders, communal figures, and grieving families filled the hall. The couple died in each other’s arms on Sunday after stepping between terrorists and families celebrating Chanukah.

Rabbi Yehoram Ulman, the senior rabbi of Chabad of Bondi, addressed the mourners in English under a burden of grief that few could bear.

Just two days earlier, Ulman had buried his own son in law, Rabbi Eli Schlanger, the assistant rabbi of Chabad of Bondi, who was murdered in the same terror attack while helping lead the Chanukah celebration. One day before that, Ulman had stood at the grave of 10 year old Matilda Britvan, the youngest victim of the massacre.

Speaking through layered loss, Ulman framed the Gurmans’ final act as one of eternal significance.

“Boris and Sofia were taken from us not just because they were Jewish but fighting for being Jewish,” Ulman said.

“A place in heaven is reserved for those that are called Kedoshim (holy martyrs) above even those that are called Tzadikkim (righteous people).”

Ulman, who has now officiated multiple funerals in the aftermath of the Bondi massacre, said the scale of devastation was almost impossible to process. He compared the horror experienced in Sydney to Israel’s darkest modern trauma.

“The shooting was comparable to the 7th of October in Israel, relatively speaking,” he said.

“Yesterday we buried a 10 year old girl and today … it’s been years since I’ve seen two coffins next to each other.”

As his voice broke, Ulman turned to the couple’s son, Alex, delivering words that silenced the room.

“You thought your parents were very far from Judaism, you told me. But I will tell you, they were closer than all of us.”

The rabbi read from a tribute written by Alex, which began, “If you were lucky enough to know Sofia and Boris, you didn’t just know them, you felt their presence in your life”.

Ulman spoke of the couple’s journey from Ukraine during the Soviet era, immigrants who rebuilt their lives from nothing, forged a home in Australia, and found peace along Bondi Beach. The place they loved most became the place where terror found them.

Boris and Sofia Gurman were the first two of 15 people murdered when a father and son terror team opened fire on Chanukah celebrations along Campbell Parade on Sunday evening.

As the funeral concluded, police closed portions of Oxford Street. Two hearses stood side by side, waiting to depart.