Members of the Jewish community in Colorado refuse to let hate win, light unique Hanukkah menorah
On Monday night, Hanukkah celebrations across the world are turning into vigils for the 15 people killed in a deadly attack in Australia. Twenty seven more people were hurt. All of those innocent victims targeted while attending a celebration on the first night of Hanukkah.
In Boulder, Colorado, at the spot earlier this year where a man hurled fiery Molotov cocktails at people demonstrating in support of Israeli hostages in Gaza, members of the Jewish community were set to light a unique new menorah. The theme of the ceremony is "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 community in Boulder following the firebombing.
"When I heard the new of the terrible terrorist attack here in Boulder, I knew I wanted to work with the community in Boulder to create a new menorah. A bigger, brighter, more powerful, more proud menorah," said Moully, who is originally from Melbourne, Australia. "We need each other, we need each other's light."
"We are here and we're standing strong and we're not cowering in the darkness," said Moully.
"It's horrific. But it's not surprising unfortunately," he said of the attack at Bondi Beach near Sydney. "The Australia that I left is not the same place that it is now. Just so much anti-semitism and so much anti-semitism that really goes unchecked by the government."
In a speech delivered after the Australia attack, the president of the largest branch of Judaism in North America elaborated on the mix of dismay and determination being experienced through the Jewish community.
"We are thinking about security 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 need to ask these hard questions. We need to be smart about security and protecting ourselves and our fellow Jews - whether within the synagogue walls, or when we walk down the street wearing a kippah," he added. "But the spirit of the defiant Maccabees is also part of the Hanukkah story. Our Jewish community will not go into hiding. We are proud Jews and will remain so even as we make the security of our Jewish community a primary obligation."
Jacobs referred to 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 a time of danger, we do not do that," Jacobs said. "We have been living in a time of growing danger for several years now. And for too many Jews, putting a menorah in the window is too dangerous."
Alon Shalev, a research fellow at the Shalom Hartman Institute in Jerusalem, argued that Jews -- following the attack -- should be bolder in boosting their public profile.
"When Jews are attacked for being visibly Jewish, the instinct to retreat is understandable - but it is precisely the wrong response," he told The Associated Press via email.
"Jewish safety in democratic societies depends on open, shared civic affirmation, supported by political and community leaders and by fellow citizens, not on retreat behind closed doors," he added. "Stepping into the public square and normalizing Jewish presence is how we defend ourselves."
"In a lot of ways, it's more important than ever," said Sarah Miller who attended the event. "To carry that sense of community and love forward and hope."
Parents Alexis and Noah Herreid of Erie brought their 15-month-old son.
"There's always a feeling of sort of losing some hope in the world," said Noah. "You look for the light. You look for the light and you raise the future in hopes that it will be a better future for them."