“And the children of Israel wept for Moses in the plains of Moab 30 days: so the days of weeping and mourning for Moses were ended.” - Deuteronomy 34:8

So the Bible records the agonising days after the death of the beloved, charismatic leader of the Jewish people. It becomes the source for the Jewish practice known as sheloshim, Hebrew for 30, because it lasts for 30 days. It includes shiva, the primary seven-day mourning period.

Mourners lay flowers outside the Bondi Pavilion following the massacre.Credit: Kate Geraghty

This past week we observed the sheloshim for Bondi. For the past month, our beautiful Bondi, bereft of 15 of her children, wounded by her injured offspring, has been in mourning, marked by blood and broken bodies instead of beach and bronzed bodies. No garland of........

© The Sydney Morning Herald