Moments Before His Death, Bondi Terror Victim Embraced His Jewish Identity

In a deeply moving and tragic twist, one of the victims of the Bondi Beach terror attack in Sydney, Peter Meagher, discovered he was Jewish and performed a sacred Jewish ritual just moments before he was murdered in the attack.

Meagher, a former police officer and widely known volunteer photographer in the Bondi community, had a chance encounter with Chabad emissaries near a local Chanukah event. During a casual exchange, they asked if he was Jewish. Meagher responded that he wasn’t sure, but that his maternal grandmother had been Jewish.

The emissaries gently explained that according to Jewish law, identity passes through the maternal line meaning that he, too, was Jewish. Without hesitation, Meagher agreed to put on tefillin, a traditional ritual act involving the donning of prayer boxes during weekday prayers.

With quiet joy and evident sincerity, he embraced the moment. It was later revealed that he had performed the ritual once before earlier in his life. This second time, however, would be his last. Mere minutes later, Peter Meagher was fatally shot in the terror attack that unfolded at the Chanukah celebration.

His final act was one of connection to his roots, to his people, and to a faith he had scarcely known he was part of.

Meagher’s death has reverberated far beyond Sydney. For those who knew him, he was a gentle, familiar presence known for quietly photographing local events and freely sharing his images with the community. He was not a man of public accolades, but of private generosity.

In life, he gave to his community without asking anything in return. In death, he reminded us of the quiet sanctity of identity, the power of chance encounters, and the unbearable human cost of hatred.

As the Jewish world mourns the victims of terror, Peter Meagher’s story stands as a testament to the enduring bond of Jewish identity one that can lie dormant for years, only to surface with beauty and meaning, even in life’s final breath.

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