Conversations with My Rabbi is an unforgettable true story and a profound book of wisdom, offering seven timeless teachings for living well in an uncertain world.
In September 2022, Nikki Goldstein was comatose and near death in a Sydney ICU when her husband asked Rabbi Eli Schlanger to pray for her. Standing beside her bed, he blew the shofar and whispered ancient prayers. One day later, Nikki began recovering from the life-threatening infection. Doctors called it a miracle.
As she regained her health, this secular Jewish woman and the devout rabbi formed an unlikely and beautiful friendship. Coming from profoundly different worlds – one grounded in religious tradition, the other in temporal modernity – they discovered they were seeking answers to the same essential questions.
Together, they turned to ancient Jewish teachings for guidance on living more ethically, compassionately, and spiritually. In January 2025, they began to record their conversations as a book. But just weeks before they were to write the final chapter, Eli was killed on Sydney’s Bondi Beach in one of the deadliest mass-casualty shootings in Australian history. Devastated by shock and grief, Nikki vowed that Eli’s legacy and his mission to bring light, love and moral clarity to the world would not die, because his teachings were more necessary than ever.
Reflecting the dialogue-driven Jewish intellectual tradition, the question and answer format of Conversations with My Rabbi invites readers to ponder, to question, and to define their own beliefs as they follow Nikki and Eli’s real, raw, tender, sometimes funny, sometimes fierce, yet always deeply human conversations. A repudiation of the madness we are experiencing today, this book is Rabbi Eli’s eternal gift – a guide for all, regardless of faith, who struggle to live with integrity, compassion and courage in a divided and uncertain world
Rabbi Eli Schlanger was Assistant Rabbi at Chabad Bondi for 18 years, served as a Chaplain for NSW Corrections and St. Vincent’s Hospital, Darlinghurst, and was Rabbi for Community Engagement at Friends of Refugees of Eastern Europe. Educated at the Central Yeshiva Tomchei Tmimim and the Lubavitch Yeshiva in Brunoy, France, he oversaw the development of Bondi Chabad and was a passionate community leader. He founded Project Noah, bringing the timeless values of the Seven Noahide Laws to young people through engaging programs. He is survived by his wife, Chaya, and their five children.
Nikki Goldstein is an internationally recognised bestselling author of sixteen books―including GirlForce, a teen girl self-empowerment series and an award-winning copywriter and journalist. She began her career at Vogue and went on to senior editorial positions at Elle, Marie Claire and the Australian Financial Review Magazine.
