‘Deeply shocked’ Vegas Jewish community prepares for Hanukkah after Australia shooting

As members of Las Vegas’ Jewish community prepare to celebrate the first night of Hanukkah on Sunday, the Festival of Lights has been overshadowed by a shooting in Australia at a Hanukkah celebration.

Two gunmen killed at least 15 people on Sydney’s Bondi beach during a Hanukkah celebration, an act that Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese called an antisemitic act of terrorism, according to the Associated Press.

The attack halfway around the world was felt by those on Fremont Street celebrating its 30th annual menorah lighting at the intersection of Las Vegas Boulevard. Many Jewish community leaders, including Sen. Jacky Rosen, D-Nevada, and Las Vegas Mayor Shelley Berkley, referenced the Sydney shooting in their remarks to the audience of about 75 people.

“It was a horror,” Berkley told the Las Vegas Review-Journal. “I mean, here are Jews celebrating a religious holiday of joy and light and enjoyment with your family, and some lunatic decided to kill innocent people just celebrating their religion. And it is unacceptable if it is in Australia, if it’s in the United States, anywhere. Unacceptable.”

Five men dressed as blue dreidels spun around on a stage while Rabbi Levi Harlig sang Hanukkah songs. Berkley passed out dreidels to attendees as Rosen and the dreidel-dressed men paraded among the joyful crowd with a tiki torch used to light the towering menorah.

Outside the event’s gated perimeter, dozens of Metropolitan Police Department and Las Vegas Department of Public Safety officers surrounded the celebration, toting visible firearms and a bomb-sniffing black Labrador Retriever. Department of Public Safety Chief Jason Potts said law enforcement had a “significantly” increased presence at the menorah lighting to deter violence like what happened in Sydney.

Rabbi Shea Harlig, founder of the Jewish group Chabad of Southern Nevada, said the attack in Australia made some he knows hesitant to attend the menorah lighting. He encouraged them to come and celebrate despite their fears and not “give in to terrorism.”

“We come here to bring a little light into a dark world, especially now with the darkness that’s happening around the world with antisemitism,” Shea Harlig said. “We stand up, we just keep on doing what we do. Hopefully, then we’ll have God’s protection, and people — not only Jews — will stand up and say, ‘Enough of this evil.’”

Finding light in the darkness

The shooting down under also didn’t stop families at Zucker Jewish Academy of Las Vegas in Summerlin from gathering to ring in the start of the eight-day holiday. Kids in kippahs ran around the school’s playground to jump in bouncy castles, eat latkes and listen to a DJ play remixed Hanukkah songs.

Rabbi Moshe Semmel, head of Zucker Jewish Academy, said the Jewish families he knows were “deeply shocked” by the Australian shooting. The act of violence caused the academy to find additional armed security officers at the last minute to keep the event feeling safe, he said.

“It’s really a time where we strengthen our relationships with our brethren, our Jewish brethren, and come to celebrate together, to show how resilient we are as people, and to be able to continue together, strong and unified,” Semmel said.

The attack at Bondi beach gave Zucker Academy founder Moshe Orlowek a modern perspective on Hanukkah, a holiday rooted in a historic struggle.

“We try to shine within the dark, and this gives us the opportunity to really convey that,” Orlowek said.

For the private school’s elementary-aged students, Zucker Academy’s Rabbi Israel Yair-Halevi said they don’t teach them about antisemitism directly, but instead try to ensure they each develop a sense of Jewish pride.

“We are Jews. We are totally connected, we are totally patriots, but we have our own tradition and we want to help the country,” Yair-Halevi said. “Don’t just hate us because we are Jews. That’s what we want to educate those kids for.”

Local, national leaders react

Newly introduced Rabbi-Cantor Jessica Hutchings of Congregation Ner Tamid in Henderson said the Sydney shooting will not snuff out the spirit of Jews around the world celebrating Hanukkah.

“Jewish history has taught us, painfully and persistently, that hiding does not protect us. What sustains us instead is presence, community and the refusal to surrender our humanity,” Hutchings said. “As Hanukkah approaches, we will light our candles with steady hearts and open eyes. We will light them publicly, visibly, and with intention. Not because we are unafraid, but because our tradition teaches that light is most sacred when it is kindled in the dark.”

In a statement from the Senate Bipartisan Task Force for Combatting Antisemitism, Rosen and Oklahoma Senator James Lankford said their offices are working with the Australian embassy to prevent another attack from happening. The two senators said the shooting was “the result of rising antisemitism left unchecked.”

“We’re committed to continuing the fight against antisemitism wherever and whenever it rears its ugly head,” Rosen and Lankford wrote. “This is a fight that transcends politics or ideology, and we are united behind a shared goal: ensuring Jews in the United States and around the world can practice their faith openly without fear of violence.”