Australia mass shooting: College Station rabbi among victims in attack

AUSTIN, Texas - A rabbi from Texas A&M is in Australia to be with his son. His son was among those shot in the Hanukkah celebration attack this past weekend.

College Station rabbi injured in Australia mass shooting

What they're saying:

Rabbi Leible Lazaroff was one of the organizers of the Hanukkah celebration that was targeted by two gunmen this past weekend. The former College Station resident recently moved to Australia.

"He was hit twice, we now know, once in the abdomen and in the leg," said  Menachem Lazaroff is Rabbi Leibel’s brother.

Menachem spoke to FOX 7 Austin on Tuesday from his office in College Station.

"Thank God he is, you know, after a few surgeries, he's stable. And actually, as of now, he is awake and coherent. So that's really nice," said Menachem Lazaroff.

Menachem is also a rabbi. He serves the Aggieland Jewish community with his father, Rabbi Yossi Lazaroff. After being notified of the attack, Rabbi Yossi Lazaroff drove to Austin and flew to Sydney to be with his son.

"Super long flight for a few hours. They didn't know where he was or if he was alive, which hospital he was in. They didn't know anything really," said Rabbi Menachem Lazaroff.

During a layover in San Francisco, Rabbi Yossi Lazaroff observed Hanukkah in the airport.

"We here, lit a menorah at the Texas A&M campus on Sunday night. And the president of the university came and spoke, and it was so beautiful and the whole community came out together in solidarity, and they were doing exactly the same thing in Sydney," said Rabbi Menachem Lazaroff.

Rabbi Menachem spoke about those who ran toward the sound of gunfire, and how some of the heroes were identified as members of the Muslim faith.

"I mean, it's incredible. There are good people everywhere and the good people, you know, all the good people out there in this world, in this country, uh, we have to stand up, you know, it could be a bystander and upstander. And I think the more of us that are upstanders in our community, you know, pillars of light where we try to do good deeds and try to help others out, I think that's really special and really important," said Rabbi Menachem Lazaroff.

That call for unity comes despite news the gunmen were inspired by ISIS.

"There are hateful ideologies out there, and we have to do our best to combat them," said Rabbi Menachem Lazaroff.

There is some concern that the attack could cause a backlash against all people of the Muslim faith.

"I definitely don't think that is appropriate, nor should that happen. But again, all we could do in our communities, whether you're Muslim, you're Christian, you are Jewish, you know, you are Texan, wherever you live, wherever, you as Texans, as Americans, I think we have to just do our best to add light in our local communities, treat each other with respect and with kindness," said Rabbi Menachem Lazaroff.

An example of that was a social media post of a call to Rabbi Yossi from Mohammed Tawhida.

"I know you and your family will need some time, but moving forward, you and your community, tell your son anything that is needed from a Muslim Imam. Consider me there," said Tawhidi.

Tawhidi leads the Global Imans Council, a controversial and vocal critic of Islamic extremism. He has spoken out against protests targeting Israel and members of the Jewish community. Like those that took place last year on several college campuses, including Texas A&M where Rabbi Menachem serves.

"Free speech is free speech, but we're allowed to call out speech. That's also free speech. And we can say that this is hateful and this is wrong. So we can definitely stand up for what's right. But again, I don't know if I have the grand answers to fix the whole society, or the country, or certainly the world, but I know what I could do in my life," said Rabbi Menachem Lazaroff.

Now the Jewish community must move forward.

"With resolve, we're not going anywhere. We're going to light our menorah. We're going to celebrate our holiday. You know, if you're Jewish out there, light your menorah tonight, light your menorah all the nights of Hanukkah. Celebrate your holiday. It's a fun holiday. Let's have a good time. And you know, there's nothing wrong with being Jewish. I'm proud of who we are. And we're going anywhere, you know that's, it's actually the story of Hanukkah, right? To a certain extent, the Greeks tried getting rid of our religion over 2000 years ago, and they weren't successful. Here we are today. And we will continue to be here. We'll continue to be here celebrating as proud Jews," said Rabbi Menachem Lazaroff.