I woke up on Dec. 14 to little squeals from downstairs.
“It’s Hanukkah tonight!” yelled my 4-year-old.
“It’s finally here!” my 6-year-old followed.
I felt elated. For Jews, it’s that Christmas morning feeling of having little ones so excited for a holiday. We had a big Hanukkah celebration planned for sundown and all day to prepare for it.
And then I opened my phone.
Immediately, it was flooded with news of Bondi Beach. An event for Jews celebrating the first night of Hanukkah ended in death. Jews were, once again, targeted and killed simply for being themselves.
And I knew right away that this was not just a crazy person who woke up that morning and decided to shoot his gun at this Australian beach. It was a planned attack on the Jewish community, meant to shake up Jews all around the world and prevent them from celebrating Hanukkah freely and openly.
And it almost worked.
My phone began to ring. “Talk me off a ledge,” said a friend who is a preschool director and had a big Hanukkah event planned for later that day.
Another text came in. “I was going to go to the Delray menorah lighting with the kids, but now I don’t know if I feel safe.”
My heart continued to drop with each message.
I wholeheartedly understood their feelings. Why would we bring our kids to an open, public Jewish celebration when a 10-year-old was murdered doing just that?
As I discussed adding more police presence with the school director and assured my friend that everything would be OK I didn’t fully believe the words I was saying.
As more details began to emerge, things just felt more and more grim. The lovely rebbetzin of my daughters’ preschool Chabad had a cousin murdered at Bondi. He was a rabbi who had recently posted a video displaying a menorah on his car to amplify Jewish pride.
It was then that the tears began to fall. I didn’t want to take away my children’s excitement for Hanukkah, but when my 6-year-old asked what was wrong, I told her the truth.
“Jews were celebrating Hanukkah in Australia and someone hurt them,” I told her.
She didn’t cry. She wasn’t even shocked. Just last week, as we prepared to attend a Hanukkah party with Holocaust survivors, my husband and I made the decision to explain what the Holocaust was. We knew she may not have another chance to meet a survivor and we wanted her to understand how important that was.
So, she didn’t cry. Instead, she said, “This happens, Mommy, but we will still be proud Jews.”
This is the reality for Jews today.
While holiday celebrations occur around the world, we are left explaining to our young children that we are not offered the same luxury of safety as others. That we are not able to simply celebrate a holiday without fear, without sadness, without hate.
But, just as the Maccabees found their light — so do we.
That night, the first night of Hanukkah and just hours after news broke of the horrific attack in Bondi, Jews showed up.
“Eight hundred people came,” said the preschool director. “It was amazing.”
Celebrations all around South Florida and the country were filled with Jews, proving to everyone that no matter what, our light will not be dimmed.
We lit our menorahs and said a silent extra prayer for those we lost. And for the rest of Hanukkah, we will do the same.
May our lights never dim. Chag Sameach.
