BY EMMANUEL OGBONNA
Leading Jewish organizations across the United States are urging synagogues and community groups to significantly tighten security at public events in the wake of a deadly mass shooting that targeted a Hanukkah celebration on a crowded beach in Sydney, Australia. The call reflects growing concern over antisemitic violence worldwide and a renewed reckoning over how Jewish communities can remain open and visible while protecting worshippers and families.
In a joint advisory issued this week, several national Jewish groups — including organizations that specialize in security and threat assessment — recommended immediate changes to how public Jewish events are organized. They urged communities to limit attendance to individuals who preregister and undergo screening, warning against open-access gatherings in the current climate.
The advisory advised organizers to share details such as locations and event times only after registration is confirmed and to establish strict access controls at venues, including monitored entrances and clear procedures to ensure only approved attendees are allowed inside. The guidance comes amid heightened anxiety following the killing of at least 15 people at the Hanukkah event in Australia, an attack that authorities there have described as terrorism motivated by extremist ideology.
Even as security warnings circulated, many rabbis and Jewish leaders across the United States said they would continue with planned Hanukkah celebrations, arguing that maintaining public Jewish life is itself a form of resilience. For many, the moment has underscored a painful but familiar reality: that Jewish religious practice has long required vigilance and security considerations.
“This week, let us choose Jewish joy, communal strength, and courageous hope,” Temple Beth Sholom, one of the largest synagogues in the Miami area, said in a message to its congregation. “We invite every member of our family to join us as we celebrate Hanukkah together, share the warmth of the candles, and reaffirm our unbreakable connection.”
Similar sentiments were echoed by Rabbi Jeffrey Myers of Pittsburgh’s Tree of Life Congregation, who survived the 2018 antisemitic attack that killed 11 worshippers at his synagogue. Myers said Hanukkah’s message of resilience resonates powerfully during moments of fear and grief.
“Hanukkah is meant to be a time of light,” Myers said. “In the face of hatred and violence, we cannot allow fear to define us. We lean into our identity, into our tradition, and into our responsibility to live openly as Jews.”
The shooting in Sydney has intensified scrutiny of how governments respond to antisemitism and protect minority communities. Australian leaders have faced criticism over whether enough was done to safeguard the Hanukkah gathering, even as they promised to strengthen already strict gun laws following the attack.
Among those killed was Eli Schlanger, an assistant rabbi at Chabad of Bondi and one of the organizers of the event. The global Chabad movement said Schlanger had spoken openly in recent years about the need for Jews not to retreat in the face of rising hostility. In remarks cited by the organization, he had urged fellow Jews to “be more Jewish, act more Jewish and appear more Jewish” despite growing threats.
Chabad said it would proceed with thousands of planned public menorah lightings and Hanukkah celebrations around the world, while increasing security precautions. The organization said it believes responding to hate with greater visibility and communal connection honors those who were killed.
The resolve was evident in St. Louis, where Chabad of Greater St. Louis held its scheduled outdoor menorah lighting near the Gateway Arch under heightened police presence. Rabbi Chaim Landa said the gathering drew nearly 300 people, even as temperatures dipped below freezing.
“There are two things we’re trying to balance,” Landa said. “Making sure events are safe, and making sure people feel safe. People wanted to come together, to be united, and it’s important that they know they can still do that.”
In Boulder, Colorado, the Jewish community prepared to light a newly constructed menorah at the site of an earlier antisemitic attack, where a man threw Molotov cocktails at demonstrators supporting Israeli hostages in Gaza. That June assault killed an 82-year-old woman and injured a dozen others. The Hanukkah ceremony, themed “flames of love,” was designed as a statement of endurance and solidarity.
Rabbi and artist Yitzchok Moully, who created the 7-foot-tall stainless steel menorah, said the symbolism was deliberate. “We are here, we’re standing strong, and we’re not retreating into the darkness,” said Moully, who is originally from Melbourne, Australia.
Reflecting on the moment, Rabbi Rick Jacobs, president of the Union for Reform Judaism, spoke of the tension many Jews now feel between safety and visibility. He said communities are being forced to confront questions that echo the experiences of earlier generations.
“We are thinking about how to live openly and safely as Jews,” Jacobs said. “We must be smart and serious about security — whether inside synagogues or walking down the street wearing a kippah — but the spirit of Hanukkah is also about defiance and pride.”
Jacobs noted that Jewish tradition encourages placing the Hanukkah menorah in a window for public view, a symbol of sharing light with the wider world. Yet he acknowledged that for many families today, that act can feel risky.
“We’ve been living in a time of growing danger,” he said. “For too many Jews, something as simple as putting a menorah in the window now feels unsafe.”
Still, some scholars argue that withdrawing from public life is precisely what extremists hope to achieve. Alon Shalev, a research fellow at the Shalom Hartman Institute in Jerusalem, said the response to violence should be greater civic presence, not retreat.
“When Jews are attacked for being visibly Jewish, the instinct to hide is understandable,” Shalev said. “But safety in democratic societies comes from shared public affirmation, from standing openly in the civic space with the support of leaders and neighbors. Normalizing Jewish presence is not just an expression of identity — it is a form of defense.”
As Hanukkah continues, Jewish communities across the United States are navigating grief, fear and determination, lighting candles under tighter security while insisting that public celebration, connection and faith will not be extinguished.
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