Posted on December 14, 2025 by Rabbi Noah Diamondstein
Dear Temple Beth-El,
The sad truth is that, despite the fact that no Jew anywhere deserves anything other than joy and light this week, our jubilation as we enter Chanukah this year has yet again been dulled and diminished by violence.
A community Chanukah celebration on Bondi Beach in Sydney, Australia, where hundreds of Jews had gathered to celebrate the beginning of our Festival of Lights, was attacked by a domestic terrorist in Australia. The gunman killed 12 and wounded several others, and there was an explosive device found not far from the site. Among the victims were a holocaust survivor and an Israeli, and we will soon learn the identities of the rest of them–more names to add to the far too many innocent Jewish names we have had to learn in recent years. These twelve souls were not martyrs. They did not die for the sanctification of God’s name. They died because of hatred; they were victims of unchecked bigotry of a sort that has metastasized to the entire Western world.
I want to assure you all that we, at Temple Beth-El, are well protected. We have been in contact with local police and our wider networks of Jewish community security. The Hillsborough police will be conducting increased patrols this week, and we have arranged police coverage and a bomb dog sweep for Friday night’s Chanukah Family Shabbat service.
Chanukah is a holiday about miracles: a small army of Maccabee rebels ousting the powerful Seleucid Greeks from Israel, a single cruse of kosher oil lasting for eight nights. For me and many others, however, the unsung miracle of Chanukah was not that the oil lasted longer than anyone thought it could, but rather that they lit the menorah in the Temple at all. Our community had been decimated by war and reminded yet again that there are so many in the world who would just as soon delete us from it. That the Maccabees retained the courage to resume our traditions and bring light into the darkness is a true human miracle–a shining example of the resilience that has, for better or worse, become such an integral part of being Jewish.
The way we respond to this event is with more love and more light. We fill our sanctuary on Friday night with menorahs aglow with the lights of Chanukah. We sing our songs of miracles and thanksgiving. We find our Maccabean spirit, and live it out joyfully and proudly in our community. As the prophetic song goes, “Not by might, not by power, but by spirit alone shall we all live in peace.” Join us on Friday so that we can say a prayer on behalf of the victims as a community, and so we can celebrate the Shabbat of Chanukah the way they deserved to.
May the memories of the victims be a blessing, and Chag Urim sameach, Happy Chanukah.
B’shalom,
Rabbi Noah Diamondstein
