French victim remembered ‘Dan lived for football and Judaism’

Like many friendships, Jesse Singer and Dan Elkayam’s had its own rituals.

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“Whenever it was a sunny day, we’d message each other throughout the day to see if we could finish work as early as possible and get down to the beach to play football.” As Singer told the crowd at Elkayam’s Monday memorial about one of his closest friends, his voice was still shaking from the tears shed while taking to the podium.“The last day I spent with Dan was last Sunday, and it perfectly captured everything he loved.

“We played football on the beach for hours with a group of friends, and then went to celebrate Hanukah at Bondi - two things Dan truly lived for: his love of football and his love of Judaism.

“Dan taught me that you need to live for every moment, to travel, to meet new people, to spend time with friends, to follow your passion and to do all of it to the fullest.”

There is a terrible poignancy that the life Elkayam lived to the full was snuffed out after only 27 years, one of 15 victims of the targeted killing of Jews celebrating Hanukah at Bondi beach on 14 December.