As the sun rose over Bondi beach on Friday, splashes and cheers echoed as thousands formed a circle in the ocean to honour the victims of Sunday’s terrorist attack and support the Jewish community.
Surfers, runners, pregnant women and children from the nippers program paddled or swam 200 metres offshore as the community continues to mourn the 15 people killed in the attack on a Hanukah celebration. Life-savers – among the first responders to the mass shooting – and a local rabbi addressed the crowd.
Morning walkers and visitors to the memorial paused on the shore as swimmers and board riders swelled into a circle around a white buoy.
Floating on calm waters beneath the morning sun, the circle of thousands remained silent until a whistle blew and they erupted into wild noise.
“It felt insane, the energy out there, when everybody started cheering … just showing that this is part of who we are,” a local surfer, Larissa Volken, told the ABC.
Christophe, who has lived in Bondi for 16 years and surfs the beach daily, said the gathering had eased tension and fear.
“As soon as people were back in their happy place in the water, everything felt better,” he said.
“You feel that sense of community and patriotism … This just made me love Bondi more.”
Christophe, who didn’t give his last name, paddled out on his magenta and pastel green board with hundreds of others, soon joined by members of Tamarama and Bronte surf clubs paddling around the headland from the north.
Bondi’s past paddle outs, held to remember friends and community leaders, usually drew dozens or a few hundred. Trent Knox, who runs the local 440 Run Club and helped organise the event, said more than 2,000 attended – four times the expected number.
“I was overwhelmed with the crowd,” Knox said.
“People from all walks of life were there, everyone. People who weren’t competent on a board just swam out.”
Knox’s friends, Rabbi Joseph Eichenblett and David Solsky, coordinated the event alongside him.
“[Jewish Australians] need support and comfort now … Hopefully it sends a shock of positivity through the world, to say we’re standing up to this,” Knox said.
Solsky, a local Jewish man, said events like this helped strengthen connections between Jewish Australians and their neighbours.
“We are a community who, for the last few years, has felt quite isolated and alone, and to see this many people out on the beach, to hear the message of support is incredible,” he told Nine news.
‘There’s so much love and so much peace’
After nearly a week of grief at Bondi, swimmers leaving the paddle out passed signs that the community onshore was also beginning to heal.
Beachgoers embraced as they walked up the sand, pausing in silence at the park where their neighbours had been shot just days earlier.
Crossing the footbridge from which the shooters opened fire, paddlers saw a chalk-drawn menorah and bee, symbolising the middle name of Sunday’s youngest victim, 10-year-old Matilda.
And at the memorial behind Bondi Pavilion, mourners and locals shared laughter, before singing Waltzing Matilda in honour of the girl named after the iconic Australian anthem.
As Yossi Friedman, a local rabbi who has visited daily since the attack, finished leading the crowd in song, one man close to a victim praised the crowd for coming together, once again, day by day.
“There’s so much love and so much peace,” he said. “Thank you … It’s helping us heal.”
The paddle-out was the latest response in the outpouring of grief, which has also come with a swell of public support.
More than $5m has been donated across various fundraisers, with more than 70,000 donations from people in more than 60 countries made to verified pages for victims, GoFundMe said.
This includes $2.5m for Bondi hero Ahmed al-Ahmed, who wrestled a firearm from one of the gunmen before being shot twice in the arm.
The Police Association of NSW has also set up appeals for two officers injured in the attack, including one who could lose his vision permanently, which have reached nearly $750,000.
More than 25,000 blood donations have been made since an appeal for help from Lifeblood after the attack, with about 90,000 appointments booked across Australia in a record-breaking show of support.
With AAP and Guardian staff
• In Australia, support is available at Beyond Blue on 1300 22 4636, Lifeline on 13 11 14, and Griefline on 1300 845 745. In the UK, the charity Mind is available on 0300 123 3393. Other international helplines can be found at befrienders.org
