The Jewish Independent reported that like most Australians, Moshe Gordon watched the harrowing footage of the terrorist attack at a Hanukkah celebration on Sydney’s Bondi Beach a week ago, in which 15 people were killed. When he realized that the man seen fighting the attackers and throwing a brick at them before being shot dead was his friend, Reuven Morrison, the shock was overwhelming. But Gordon said Morrison’s actions were entirely in character.
“I saw him as a man of action,” Gordon said. “He saw a need for the Russian community in Sydney, and he never just said, ‘I’ll let someone else do the hard yakka.’ He was the one that went to the council. He got the permits. He got the architect. He got a new synagogue for the Russian community in Sydney. So when he saw his community in Sydney [at Chanukah by the Sea] was threatened, why the hell wouldn’t he take direct action? He looked after the spiritual and he looked after the physical. That was in his DNA.”
In the days following Morrison’s murder, Gordon learned that his friend’s body was to be transported by road from Sydney to Melbourne for burial, where his wife, daughter and grandchildren live — a journey of about 15 hours.
“I was so upset for him, that he was stuck in the refrigerator in the coroner’s for three days,” Gordon said. “As Jews, we like to bury on the day of the petirah [death]. When I saw that he was stuck in the coroner’s refrigerator, if I could make him comfortable, and save him the 15-hour drive home, I immediately thought: I am going to do it.”
Gordon has flown planes as a hobby for more than 30 years and volunteered for more than a decade with Angel Flight, transporting Australians from regional and rural areas to city hospitals. But this mission was different. He had never transported a body before, and never that of a close friend.
He contacted the engineers who manage the hangar where his private plane is kept in Melbourne and asked them to remove four of the six seats to make space.
“I let my engineers know that I wanted to use my plane to bring my friend back from Sydney,” Gordon said. “I wanted to remove all the seats, and when the engineers heard the reason for this unexpected flight, without me asking, and without my knowledge, they put anchor points on the floor of my airplane and bought brand-new strappings, at no charge to me, so we could transport the body with greater dignity. All they wanted to do was ensure that Reuven was properly secured on his flight back from Sydney to Melbourne.”
Gordon said he was stunned by the gesture.
“When I asked them why they had done that, they said they had just wanted to. These Australians cared. They really wanted to see Reuven looked after.”
Later that evening, when Gordon landed at Bankstown Airport near Sydney, another unexpected act of support followed.
“I have been to Bankstown Airport before, but I have never had an air marshal that marshalled me into a particular spot,” he said. “I was a little surprised. Then, after I landed, the air marshal rushed up to me next to my plane window and said, ‘We have been waiting for you for over three hours. We have arranged a private hangar, so you can transport your friend with dignity and privacy.’ I couldn’t believe it.”
According to Gordon, the air marshals had heard about the mission and wanted to support Morrison’s final journey home.
Grateful that their husband and father would soon be brought back to Melbourne for burial, the Morrison family made one final request: that the plane fly over Bondi, a place Morrison loved.
Under normal circumstances, the request would not have been possible. Sydney’s airspace is tightly controlled, and on that day the wind made such a maneuver unsafe.
“The day Reuven was released from the coroner, the day he was coming to be picked up, the wind was coming in the worst direction for me to do a circuit over Bondi,” Gordon said, assuming it could not be done.
“I said to the air traffic controller in Sydney who called me, I appreciate your effort. I tried my best, but it wasn’t possible,” he recalled. “But then he said to me: ‘Moishe, we are going to make it happen. We are going to stop the international flights coming into Sydney Airport, because we want you to do a circuit for your friend.’”
After air traffic was halted, Gordon flew two slow circuits over Bondi with Morrison’s body on board.
“The Australian non-Jews who helped me with all of this were par excellence,” Gordon said.
Sydney massacre
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When he landed in Melbourne, members of the Chevra Kadisha were waiting, and Morrison was taken directly to be prepared for burial.
“The whole process was blessed and full of serendipity. Everything fell into place,” Gordon said. “What had to be done, it was through the kindness of so many people — the Chevra Kadisha, the non-Jews in my airport and air traffic control.”
For Gordon, the flight was both unbearable and meaningful.
“This was the most bitter flight I ever did, flying a friend home in a body bag,” he said. “But it was sweet because I knew I was doing my last gift for him as a friend, showing him my love as a friend. When you say bittersweet, that’s what it was.”