12/14/2025
Many of you have heard about the horrific attack at the Chanukah celebration in Sydney last night. Eleven people were murdered, including Rabbi Eli Schlanger, and many more were wounded.
The Jewish community there is in deep pain today, and Jewish communities everywhere are feeling it.
A tragedy like this makes you stop. It makes you think. And for many people, one of the first questions that comes up is a very practical one:
Is it safe to come to our own Chanukah events?
So let’s begin there.
Our local police have been notified and are coordinating with us closely. We take this seriously, and we want you to feel safe and comfortable.
At the same time, something like this reaches deeper. For many people, it brings up two very different feelings at the same time:
One voice says, “Maybe I should keep a lower profile right now.”
Another says, “This is exactly when we need to show up.”
Both feelings come from understandable places.
And this struggle isn’t new. Chanukah itself is rooted in this tension.
The Jewish people faced pressure to pull back from Jewish life—and they faced the threat of capital punishment for teaching Torah, observing Shabbat, holidays, and other observances.
They wanted us to stop living our Judaism. The Maccabees, with the help of Hashem, pushed forward anyway.
That battle repeats itself in many forms and across generations: from the outside through antisemitism - “when they rise up to destroy us”, and on the inside when that hesitation shows up in us.
So that’s the tension…that’s the battle…dim or brighten your light?
I remember a security consultant once advising me to blend in — to walk around without my hat or yarmulke.
He meant well. But I knew that for me, that wasn’t the answer. If we lose the ability to live our Jewish identity openly and with purpose, something important goes missing long before any attack.
Rabbi Schlanger lived that message. Last year, he was asked how Jews should respond to antisemitism. His answer was straightforward. He walked outside dancing, placed a menorah on his car, and encouraged others to bring light into the world with confidence and joy.
That is how he lived. That is how he died. May Hashem avenge his blood.
Tonight is the first night of Chanukah.
And today, it’s completely natural to feel hesitation.
But this is also exactly when the world needs light, and when we need each other.
We are in a difficult moment — emotionally, spiritually, and as a community.
But this moment connects directly to what Chanukah asks of us: to bring light even when it feels hardest to do so.
So here is what I want to invite you to do tonight:
Increase the light. - If you weren’t planning on lighting the menorah, please light one. If you need a menorah, we have extras.
Invite someone to light with you.
Come to the public lighting if you’re able.
This is how we strengthen each other, and this is how we keep the message of Chanukah moving forward.
May the wounded have a complete recovery, and may the light we bring tonight give strength to all of us.
Rabbi Shaul and Esther Goldman
