Wails have been heard as hundreds of mourners solemnly filled into a Bondi synagogue for the funeral of a local rabbi gunned down in a shooting massacre.

Assistant rabbi Eli Schlanger was one of 15 people killed when father-and-son terrorists opened fire on a religious celebration on iconic Bondi Beach on Sunday.

Hundreds of his community gathered at his local synagogue – Chabad of Bondi – to commemorate his life on Wednesday morning, amid a heavy police and security presence, including the complete closure of the road where the funeral is occurring.

Many attendees shed tears as they entered to pay their respects.

Rabbi Schlanger was hailed as a man capable of saving lives through his community work.

His emotional father-in-law gave testament to his warmth and compassion, both with his family and the wider NSW Jewish community.

“Our community suffered our own seventh of October,” Rabbi Yehoram Ulman said in his eulogy, referencing the Hamas attack in Israel in 2023.

Rabbi Ulman also spoke of the tremendous lengths his son-in-law went to in providing spiritual support for the incarcerated: “He became super invovled with prisons and would drive three, four hours each way to visit one single prisoner.”

The synagogue is a significant focal point for the sizeable local Jewish community, and was where Rabbi Schlanger worked and helped organise the Chanukkah by the Sea event on Sunday.

The event marked the first day of the Jewish festival of lights, also spelled Hannukkah.

Ahead of his attendance at the funeral, prominent rabbi Yossi Friedman described Rabbi Schlanger as a dear friend.

“Such an amazing, incredible man ­– a beacon of light,” Rabbi Friedman said on Instagram.

 

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Families walked to the service with locked arms while others chose to make political statements, with one older man sporting a “Make America Great Again” cap.

Alex Ryvchin, co-chief of the Executive Council of Australian Jewry, was seen helping move the rabbi’s coffin inside.

Multiple Christian priests attended in a multi-faith show of solidarity.

Opposition leader Sussan Ley attended, along with fellow Liberal MP Julian Leeser and local independent MP Allegra Spender.

Prime Minister Anthony Albanese met with the rabbi’s family yesterday, as well as many of the families of the shooting’s other victims.

Five other memorials will take place on Wednesday, including another rabbi killed in the shooting, Yaakov Levitan, whose service be at Macquarie Park in Sydney’s north.

The youngest victim of the attack, 10-year-old Matilda, is expected to be laid to rest on Thursday.

Jews are traditionally buried within 24 hours after their death. Coronial investigations since Sunday have delayed the services.

Counter-terrorism investigators are poring over swathes of seized material as they try to uncover how Sajid Akram, 50, and his son Naveed, 24,  committed the atrocity.

The premeditated actions were “a barbaric attack against Jewish Australians”, Australian Federal Police Commissioner Krissy Barrett said.

“It appears the alleged killers were interested only in a quest for a death tally,” she said.

Barrett said early indications pointed to a terrorist attack inspired by Islamic State. There was no evidence to suggest more people were involved in the attack but she cautioned that was an initial assessment and subject to change.

The NSW joint counter-terrorism team continued to review material seized during search warrants, Barrett said.

Police shot dead Sajid Akram, while his son remains in hospital in a critical condition under police guard.

There were still 22 injured patients in Sydney hospitals on Wednesday – three in a critical condition, six in critical but stable conditions and the remainder are stable.

On Tuesday, NSW Police Commissioner Mal Lanyon said officers found two home-made Islamic State flags in a car registered to Naveed. They also defused two improvised explosive devices.

He confirmed the father and son had travelled to the Philippines but said the reasons for the trip were still being investigated.

“We continue to work through the motive of this tragedy, and we’ll continue to do so. It’s really important that our investigators continue to be given time to do that,” Lanyon said.

“This is a very complex investigation.”

Premier Chris Minns stepped in to defend police, saying sufficient resources were devoted to end the shootings.

“[The police officers] engaged the gunmen on a footbridge with handguns, the offenders had long-range rifles,” he said.

“There are two police in critical care … they weren’t shot in the back as they were running away – they were shot in the front.”

Minns signalled the NSW parliament would be recalled before Christmas to pass tougher gun laws as he urged residents to continue donating blood to victims.

Albanese said national laws would be strengthened to limit citizenship requirements around gun ownership, as well as the number that could be owned.

Authorities have ramped up security at Jewish sites, as well as at the Adelaide Oval ahead of Wednesday’s Ashes Test.

Among the 15 Bondi victims were a 10-year-old girl, an 87-year-old Holocaust survivor, a retired police officer and a father who ran at the gunmen, hurling a brick.

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-AAP