For Shai Chason and Vikki Bembridge, Sunday night began with Christmas carols and ended with a familiar knot of fear.

The well-known Ballina couple were at the riverside carols with their two daughters, aged 13 and nine, when their phones began filling with messages about the deadly attack at Bondi.

They stayed.

“We didn’t want to alarm the girls,” Shai said.

“It was a beautiful community event, and we didn’t want to take that away from them.”

Only their youngest daughter sang in the choir, smiling alongside other local children, unaware of what had happened hundreds of kilometres away.

Later at home, the couple gently explained the situation to their eldest daughter.  Their youngest still does not know.

Shai and Vikki own and operate a prominent River Street business, combining a hair salon and the café Cafe Boker.

The café’s Israeli-inspired menu has long made it distinctive on River Street.

That same visibility has, at times, attracted hostility.

Yesterday, it became a place of condolence and quiet support.

As Ballina News Daily spoke with the family, a man stepped inside to offer a small floral tribute, explaining that a close family friend had been injured in the Bondi attack.

Moments later, a café staff member shared that one of her closest family friends was among the more than 40 people listed in serious condition.

Although the tragedy unfolded far from Ballina, the impact was deeply felt.

Shai said the attack had been devastating for the local Jewish community, with many families in Ballina directly affected through close friends and relatives in Bondi.

“These aren’t strangers,” he said.

“These are family friends. These are people our community knows.”

“In NSW’s Jewish community, everyone knows someone.”

‘This is not a Jewish problem’

Family friend and Ballina Shire businessman Yoav said the attack should not be framed as a Jewish issue.

“This is an Australian problem,” he said.

“This is about our way of life being challenged.”

Yoav said Jewish families were extremely disappointed with the current government, arguing that hatred towards Jewish people had been allowed to escalate over the past two years without meaningful intervention.

“There were no real restrictions, and there was no proper security put in place for the Jewish community across the country,” he said.

“We’ve been warning about this for a long time.”

He said the Bondi attack did not come out of nowhere.

“It didn’t start at Bondi,” Yoav said.

“It’s been building, and it’s been allowed to build.”

Yoav said Jewish families now live with a level of vigilance he never expected to experience in Australia.

“We don’t sit with our backs to the street anymore,” he said.

“That’s not normal, and it shouldn’t be accepted here.”

A night of light, interrupted

The timing of the attack was particularly confronting.

Sunday marked the first night of Hanukkah, a Jewish festival that coincides with Christmas and centres on the idea of light overcoming darkness.

Earlier in the evening, Shai had been lighting the first candle at home with family and neighbours, sharing food, laughter and songs.

Later, at the carols, messages began arriving.

“It felt deliberate,” Shai said.

“Like targeting people on sacred days, just to show they can.”

Yoav said moments like that carried a powerful message.

“When something like this happens on a night of light, it feels like an attempt to extinguish it,” he said.

‘We blended in, until we couldn’t’

Shai said many Jewish people in the Northern Rivers had lived what he described as an assimilated life before October 7.

“We blended in, and that felt safe,” he said.

“That safety is gone.”

He said hostility now appears in ways often dismissed as minor.

A shouted slogan from a passing car.
A hostile online review.
A flag placed where it does not belong.

“On their own, people say it’s nothing,” he said.

“But when it keeps happening, it changes how you live.”

Yoav said the fear is not directed at Muslims.

“This is not Muslim versus Jewish,” he said.

“This is radicalism versus the values that hold Australia together.”

Children are feeling it too

Shai said the impact is already being felt by children.

Friends with children at Jewish schools have reported abuse on buses and in public spaces.

“Some don’t feel safe getting to school,” he said.

“That should never happen in Australia.”

Vikki said their family has always celebrated both Christmas and Hanukkah, something that once felt entirely natural.

“It’s about family, friends, food, love and happiness,” she said.

“Our daughters grow up with both. They sing Christmas carols, and we light the Hanukkah candles at home.”

She said that shared sense of celebration was part of why staying at the carols mattered so much.

“For that hour, they could just be kids,” Vikki said.

“They could sing, smile and enjoy being part of the community.”

“That mattered.”

‘This is here now’

All three said the Bondi attack must mark a turning point.

“This can’t be dismissed as something happening somewhere else,” Shai said.

“This is here. Now.”

Yoav agreed.

“When something happens in Sydney, it ripples straight through places like Ballina,” he said.

“If we don’t face this honestly, and if leadership doesn’t change, it won’t stop with Jewish families.”

“It never does.”