By: Nomi Kaltmann as seen in The Jewish Independent
19 December 2025
Like most Australians, Moishe Gordon watched the horrific footage of the Bondi terror attack in Sydney. When he realised the man filmed fighting the terrorists with a brick, before being critically injured and gunned down, was his friend, Reuven Morrison, the shock was immense.
But it did not feel out of character with the person he knew. “I saw him as man of action,” Gordon says. “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 at the Sea] was threated, 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 Reuven’s murder, Gordon learned that Reuven was to be driven from Sydney to Melbourne for burial, where his wife, daughter and grandchildren live. The journey would take around 15 hours.
“I was so upset for him, that he was stuck in the refrigerator in the coroners for three days. 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 been flying planes as a hobby for more than 30 years. For over a decade, he volunteered with Angel Flight, transporting Australians from regional and rural areas to city hospitals. But this was different. He had never transported a body before, and this time, it was his friend.
He called the engineers who manage the hangar where his private plane is kept in Melbourne and asked them to remove four of the six seats in his plane to make space.
“I let my engineers know that I wanted to use my plane to bring my friend back from Sydney. 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 was stunned.
“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, something else unexpected happened.
“I have been to Bankstown airport before, but I have never had an air marshal that marshalled me into a particular spot. I was a little surprised. Then, after I landed, the air marshal rushed up to me next to my plane window, and he says ‘we have been waiting for you for over 3 hours, we have arranged a private hanger, so you can transport your friend with dignity and privacy. I couldn’t believe it,’” Gordon says, his voice breaking. The air marshals had heard about his sacred mission and wanted to support Reuven’s flight home.
Grateful and relieved that their beloved father and husband would soon be coming home for burial in Melbourne, the Morrison family made one final request: a flyover of Bondi, a place Reuven loved.
Ordinarily, it would not have been possible. Sydney’s airspace is tightly controlled. The wind that day made a circuit 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,” says Gordon, assuming that despite the family’s request, it could not be done.
“I said to the air traffic controller in Syndey who called me, I appreciate your effort. I tried my best, but it wasn’t possible. 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 Reuven on board.
“The Australian non-Jews who helped me with all of this were par excellence,” he says.
When he landed in Melbourne, the Chevra Kadisha were waiting. Reuven was taken directly to be prepared for burial.
“The whole process was blessed and full of serendipity. Everything fell into place. 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,” Gordon says, refusing to take credit.
For him, the flight was a simple albeit unbearable one.
“This was the most bitter flight I ever did, flying a friend home in a body bag. 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.”