Boris and Sofia Gurman, a local couple who were killed in the Bondi terrorist attack after trying to stop one of the gunmen, have been remembered as hardworking, loving and brave at their funeral service in Sydney’s east.
Dozens of people, including politicians and senior members of the Jewish community, gathered at the Chevra Kadisha in Woollahra on Friday morning to farewell Boris, 69, and Sofia, 61, who died in each other’s arms on Sunday.
Addressing the mourners in English, Rabbi Yehoram Ulman said because of their courage there would be a separate “place in heaven” reserved for the couple, who he said were heroes.
“Boris and Sofia were taken from us not just because they were Jewish but fighting for being Jewish,” he 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 led funerals for other Bondi victims including 10-year-old Matilda and fellow Rabbi Eli Schlanger, said the shooting was “comparable to the 7th of October in Israel, relatively speaking”.
“Yesterday we buried a 10-year-old girl and today … it’s been years since I’ve seen two coffins next to each other,” he said.
Ulman wept at the lectern as he spoke of the couple’s son, Alex, believing his parents had seemed far from their faith: “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 a tribute written by Alex about his parents, 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”.
Sofia always had a “natural authority”, even from a young age when “she was always the … first up the tree”, but her leadership was “practical and quietly decisive” rather than loud, the rabbi said.
She was someone whose instincts were trusted and who showed her love “in every tangible way”, especially through food.
Boris, a retired mechanic who “had his own unmistakeable presence”, was open, warm, good humoured and deeply loved his garden, his home and his family.
He had been “something of a troublemaker” in his younger years, however his “energy matured into a deep sense of responsibility and care for the world around him”.
Ulman spoke of Sofia and Boris’ emigration from Ukraine when it was part of the Soviet Union and their strength in starting a new life in Sydney.
They were very proud of their home in Bondi and considered the beach paradise, the rabbi said.
Boris and Sofia were the first of 15 people to be killed when father and son Sajid and Naveed Akram opened fire on Hanukah celebrations at Bondi beach on Sunday evening.
Dashcam footage posted to the Chinese social media platform Rednote and circulated widely showed the moment Boris tackled shooter Sajid on Campbell Parade early on in the attack.
Separate footage from a drone, taken afterwards, showed the couple lying motionless together on the footpath.
The funeral home was full, with mourners standing at the back and by the door, while others sat in the shade at the front of the red brick building.
There were men in kippahs, people in suits and others in T-shirts, old and young alike, and a mother with a small baby.
The New South Wales premier, Chris Minns, Minister Ron Hoenig and federal Labor MP Matt Thistlethwaite attended, along with Israel’s ambassador to Australia, Amir Maimon, and the NSW Jewish Board of Deputies president, David Ossip.
Sofia was a beloved member of the post office team in Bondi and the funeral was attended by a group of women in black Australia Post uniforms.
A dozen police officers stood nearby and two lanes of traffic on Sydney’s busy Oxford Street were closed, ready for the two hearses, side by side, to carry the couple to their final resting place.
