CONVERSATIONS WITH MY RABBI

A radically hopeful exploration of faith, identity, morality, and purpose grounded in timeless Jewish principles, captured through profound conversations between Nikki Goldstein and the man who saved her life and became her spiritual mentor, Rabbi Eli Schlanger, whose teachings endure beyond his tragic killing in the December 2025 Bondi Beach Chanukah terrorist attack in Sydney, Australia.

Conversations with My Rabbi is an unforgettable true story and a profound book of wisdom, offering timeless teachings for living well in an uncertain world.

In September 2022, Nikki Goldstein was comatose, near death in a Sydney ICU, when her daughter spotted Rabbi Eli Schlanger in the hallway. Nikki’s husband asked the rabbi to come and pray for her. Standing beside her bed, he blew the shofar and whispered ancient prayers over Nikki.

One day later, Nikki began recovering from the life-threatening infection. The 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 secular modern life, 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 recording their conversations as a book. But before the work was complete, Eli was murdered on Sydney’s Bondi Beach during one of Australia’s deadliest mass shootings. He died before lighting the menorah at the Chanukah by the Sea celebration he had helped bring to the community for many years.

Devastated by shock and grief, Nikki refused to be silenced by terror. She vowed that Eli’s legacy and his mission to bring light, love, and moral clarity into 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, question, and define their own beliefs as they follow Nikki and Eli’s real, raw, tender, sometimes funny, sometimes fierce, and always deeply human conversations.

At the heart of the book are the timeless ethical teachings known as the Noahide Laws, universal principles rooted in Jewish wisdom and tied to the biblical Noah. These teachings speak to all who seek meaning, moral clarity, and hope in their lives.

Questions include:

Tell Me Why I Should Believe in God?

Why Are We So Afraid to Talk About God?

What If People Are Just . . . Terrible?

Do Animals Have Souls?

Is Stealing Really That Bad?

What’s So Scary About Sex?

What Does Justice Look Like?

Conversations with My Rabbi is a repudiation of the moral confusion and despair of our time. It is Rabbi Eli’s enduring gift, a guide for all, regardless of faith, who struggle to live with integrity, compassion, and courage in a divided and uncertain world.