After the Bondi terror attack people keep calling me a hero. But I am not a hero. I’m a mum who was at a Hanukah event

Stones of remembrance for the victims of the Bondi terror attack sit in front of the Bondi Pavilion on 22 January during a national day of mourning. Photograph: George Chan/Getty Images

Hanukah is called “the festival of light”. It is a minor holiday in the Jewish calendar, not biblically prescribed. There are no long synagogue services, no onerous prohibitions or requirements. Just candles, songs and doughnuts. This is probably part of why I always loved it.

There were four or five events in Sydney for the first night of Hanukah. In 2024 we went to an event at Dover Heights, but parking was a nightmare. We decide on Bondi (where parking is also a nightmare). Five of us – my mum, husband, son (3), daughter (one-and-a-half) and I pile into the car.