Days after the deadly Hanukkah shooting at Bondi Beach, Rabbi Mendy Litzman is telling his story to News 12 exclusively about responding to the scene as an emergency responder.

Litzman moved to Australia two decades ago but still visits Rockland every year. He started and leads Hatzolah Sydney, while also being a member of Rockland's Hatzolah.

He was at another event the day of the Bondi Beach incident, but received a distress call from one of the organization's members named "Yanky," who said he had been shot.

Exclusive video shows Litzman rushing to the beach to help his colleague, telling him to "calm down and try to stop the bleeding."

Litzman said bullets were still going off as he arrived.

"You take the nicest place in the world, the most calm, relaxing place, to hell on Earth, war," said Litzman. "It didn't feel like war - it was war."

Litzman went to find Yanky and ended up on the same bridge as when the shooters were stopped, turned around, and ultimately found Yanky.

He says he helped him and then went to help others as his training kicked in to do "the greatest amount of good, for the greatest amount of patients."

Litzman says he knew 10 of the 15 people killed that day, including Rabbi Eli Schlanger.

"They were screaming, 'Save him. Save him. He's not dead. He's not dead.' So it took me - less than a second - I put the pads on. The machine showed an asystole. I said 'Guys, it's an asystole. He's gone.' And walked away," said Litzman. "That was probably one of the hardest things I've had to do in my life. Walk away from a close friend, a father... I literally pronounce him dead and walk to the next patient. You have to save people. You have people bleeding out."

He has decided to share his message, "the phone calls start flooding in. The reporters start calling. You know you're not really interested in speaking to anyone, but you know you have to. It's important to get out there and let the world know that on such a dark day, there was so much positive."

Like the people who told him about Yanky.

"They say Yanky was shot, and he saved us. He told us what to do. He said, 'Do this, this.' 'Put pressure.' He never told me this, Yanky. He's a hero. He's a true hero, my responder. And everyone that was there," Litzman says.

Litzman shared an X-ray of Yanky, who has hundreds of fragments in his body, has undergone surgeries, and is expected to recover.

"My message is it's Hanukkah. It's the festival of light. A little bit of light could illuminate a lot of darkness, and we should all go out there and do acts of goodness and kindness. Help each other," said Litzman.

He has more than two decades of experience as a first responder.

When asked how he's doing, he tells News 12, "I always felt that taking another job, taking another call, that sort of heals me. Keep on helping people. I never want to stop."

Litzman also took time to thank Rep. Mike Lawler during his interview with News 12 because of the lawmaker's efforts to offer help and support.