US Jewish groups urge heightened security at public events after Hanukkah attack in Australia

NEW YORK– Major Jewish groups in the United States are urging all Jewish organizations to increase security measures at public events – including access restrictions – following the deadly shooting that targeted a Hanukkah celebration at a popular Australian beach.

The groups – three of which specialize in security issues – said public Jewish events in the coming days should be open only to people who have been selected after pre-registering.

“Provide details about location, time, and other information only after registration is confirmed,” the groups’ notice reads. “Have access control (locks and entry procedures) to allow only known and verified registrants/participants to enter the facility/event. »

Coinciding with this urgent call for greater precautions, some rabbis said their synagogues would carry out large-scale celebrations, intended to demonstrate their resilience. The mass shooting is the latest reminder of the Jewish community’s long-standing reality of integrating safety into its religious practice.

“This week, let us choose Jewish joy, communal strength and courageous hope,” reads a message posted by Temple Beth Sholom, one of the largest synagogues in the Miami area. “We invite everyone in our family…to join us this week in celebrating Hanukkah. Let’s come together to share the warmth of candles and reaffirm our unbreakable bond.”

Similar sentiments were expressed by Rabbi Jeffrey Myers of Pittsburgh’s Tree of Life Congregation, a survivor of the 2018 attack by an anti-Semitic gunman who killed 11 worshipers in the synagogue.

“Hanukkah is meant to be a time of light, celebrating the resilience of our people,” Myers said. “In the face of anti-Semitism and violence, my prayer is that we do not let fear prevail, but instead lean on our Jewishness and proudly practice our tradition. »

At least 15 people died in Sunday’s attack, fueling criticism that Australian authorities were not doing enough to combat a surge in anti-Semitic crimes. Australian leaders on Monday promised to overhaul already strict gun control laws after the targeted attack on Sydney’s Bondi Beach.

Among those killed was Eli Schlanger, assistant rabbi of Chabad of Bondi and organizer of the Hanukkah event, according to Chabad, an Orthodox Jewish movement that conducts outreach around the world and is known for its public menorah lightings.

A year earlier, according to Chabad, Schlanger urged his fellow Jews not to be intimidated by rising anti-Semitism, expressing this message: “Be more Jewish, act more Jewish, and look more Jewish.”

Chabad.org said Chabad centers around the world are moving forward with thousands of public menorah lightings and community Hanukkah celebrations “while taking greater safety precautions – calling on the Jewish community to drown out hatred with more light and kindness while mourning the dead and injured in Sydney.”

The Sydney shootings reinforced the importance of these public celebrations, said Rabbi Chaim Landa of Chabad of Greater St. Louis. The organization went ahead with the menorah lighting planned for Sunday evening near Gateway Arch, but with a greater police presence. He thinks that’s what Schlanger would have wanted.

“There are several things to consider. You have to make sure the place is safe, and you also have to make sure people feel safe. And we want both,” said Landa, who estimates that nearly 300 people attended the outdoor event in subzero temperatures.

“People wanted to go out and they wanted to be together. So it’s very important that people feel like they can do that, and that’s what we want to ensure.”

On Monday evening, at the site where earlier this year a man threw flaming Molotov cocktails at people protesting in support of Israeli hostages in Gaza, members of the Jewish community in Boulder, Colorado, lit a spectacular new menorah.

The theme of the ceremony is “the flames of love”, in response to the June 1 attack that killed an 82-year-old woman and injured 12 others.

Yitzchok Moully, a rabbi and artist, said he was inspired to create a 7-foot-tall stainless steel menorah for the Boulder community following the firebombing.

“We are here and we are strong and we are not hiding in the darkness,” said Moully, a native of Melbourne, Australia.

In a speech after the attack in Australia, the president of the largest branch of Judaism in North America spoke of the mix of dismay and determination felt by the Jewish community.

“We are thinking about safety and how to live openly and safely as Jews – asking questions that are newer to us but would have been all too familiar to generations of our ancestors,” said Rabbi Rick Jacobs of the Union for Reform Judaism.

“We have to ask these tough questions. We have to be smart about security and protecting ourselves and our fellow Jews – whether inside the walls of the synagogue or when we walk down the street wearing a yarmulke,” he added. “But the spirit of the rebellious Maccabees is also part of the Hanukkah story. Our Jewish community will not hide. We are proud Jews and will remain so even as we make the safety of our Jewish community a paramount obligation.”

Jacobs referenced the Jewish tradition of placing the Hanukkah menorah in a window for others to see.

“But in the Babylonian Talmud, we are taught that in times of danger, we don’t do that,” Jacobs said. “We have been living in a time of increasing danger for several years. And for too many Jews, putting a menorah in the window is too dangerous.”

Alon Shalev, a researcher at the Shalom Hartman Institute in Jerusalem, argued that Jews – following the attack – should be more bold in raising their public profile.

“When Jews are attacked because they are visibly Jewish, the instinct to recoil is understandable — but that is precisely the wrong response,” he told The Associated Press by email.

“The safety of Jews in democratic societies depends on open and shared civic affirmation, supported by political and community leaders and fellow citizens, not on retreat behind closed doors,” he added. “Entering the public square and normalizing the Jewish presence is our way of defending ourselves.”

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AP Religion News Editor Holly Meyer in Nashville, Tenn., and AP reporter Colleen Slevin in Denver contributed.

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