Bay Area Jewish community mourns Australian terrorist attack coinciding with Hanukkah

"This is the story of Hanukkah, Rabbi Mendel Weinfeld of Chabad of Almaden in San Jose said. This is exactly what Hanukkah is about that over and over again, we have these stories, and we stood up and we were a resilient people, and that's what our community feels as well, that we're going to go back into the public square and we're going to light menorah again."

"This is something which we were all very shaken up with, Berkowitz said. Because of its time zone, Sydney is one of the first cities worldwide that gets to celebrate Hanukkah, Berkowitz added. In a sense, this was the onset of Hanukkah, he said."

A deadly attack at the Bondi Beach Hanukkah event in Sydney killed 15 people and injured more than 40. Two gunmen, identified as a father and son, carried out the attack, which Australian officials called antisemitic terrorism. Three cousins of Rabbi Dovber Berkowitz, working as rabbis and youth directors in Sydney, attended the event and escaped uninjured, with some witnessing the violence. Chabad of Bondi hosted the Chanukah by the Sea celebration. Bay Area Jewish communities proceeded with menorah lightings while shifting those celebrations into days of remembrance and increasing security in San Jose, Oakland and Walnut Creek.

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