Lena is the grandmother of Matilda, the youngest victim of last month's terror attack on a Hannukah by the Sea event at Bondi beach.
On 14 December Lena and her family were first attending another Hannukah event, also in the Bondi area and organised by Russian-speaking organisation Kangarusski.
Lena’s family has been living in Australia for more than 30 years, and attending Hannukah by the Sea for some time.
She planned to attend that day but decided to have a rest at home.
In a moment that would prove very significant, she fell asleep and missed the event.
"I wasn’t feeling well. My younger sister woke me up later, she called me asking where I was ... she told me that there was shooting there. I started calling my kids, and they were not picking up, neither Valya nor my son Misha (Matilda’s father, also known as Michael). Then finally Valya picked up her phone and said Matilda was wounded."
Matilda died in hospital from gunshot wounds.
She and 14 others were killed by two alleged attackers who shot at dozens of people in what police described as a terror attack.
The 10-year-old was remembered at her funeral by her school as a "little ray of sunshine" who always brought joy to those around her, and by her aunt as "full of life and happy".
Lena also thanked a woman, whose name the family still doesn't know, that shielded her other granddaughter during the attack.
"We are so grateful to her that she saved our child. She might not know that it's our girl. She shielded her and took her behind a car. We are so grateful to her for doing that."
In the weeks following the attack, pressure mounted on prime minister Anthony Albanese to announce a royal commission to investigate the circumstances leading up to the attack.
On Thursday, he relented and announced a royal commission into antisemitism, social cohesion, and the Bondi attack would go ahead.
To begin the official process, on Friday the Governor-General Sam Mostyn signed Letters Patent establishing a Royal Commission on Antisemitism and Social Cohesion.
Due to report in December, it will be led by former High Court justice Virginia Bell and incorporate a national security review by Dennis Richardson.
The Australian Federal Police will also conduct an internal review into the lead-up to the Bondi attack and how the organisation responded.
Lena said she welcomes the royal commission and hopes it will change this for her community in Australia.
"I think everyone is expecting some kind of results from this commission. Some kind of change in the attitude toward the Jewish community. It’s become simply unsettling to walk around."
Others have agreed with Lena's sentiment.
Lia also attended the Hannukah by the Sea event in Bondi on 14 December, where 15 people were killed. Source: Supplied
Lia, who was visiting from Israel, was at the Bondi beach Hannukah event the day of the attack, along with her daughter and grandson.
She told SBS Russian it’s a "timely and correct decision by the Australian government" to have a royal commission.
"It is necessary to consider where it all came from, the whole phenomenon of antisemitism. How such antisemitism was possible in Australia?"
However, some are asking why it took the government almost a month to call one.
National Council of Jewish Women of Australia’s Lynda Ben-Menashe said, "It is disappointing that it has taken so long to get to this point."
Former Virgin Australia executive David Baxby petitioned for the government to hold a royal commission, and expressed his frustration to the ABC at having to lobby for it.
Secretary of the Lebanese Muslim Association Ghamal Keir told SBS News he thinks Australians were hoping a wider net would have been cast for a royal commission.
"I think a lot of the royal commission pressure has been pressured by certain communities to look into just one form of racism. And I think it's a very dangerous precedent and it doesn't really resolve what it hopes to achieve," he said.
He said by having a focus on antisemitism and social cohesion, the royal commission "may not resolve what it sets out to achieve".
"I think that there needs to be a look into what has caused the rise of extremism and the far right .... what has created this sort of popular ground where we're moving from the centre right way into the far right and the intolerance of the other that doesn't assimilate."
This story was produced in collaboration with SBS Russian.
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