In statement about Bondi Beach attack, local rabbi says Dec. 21 menorah lighting in Lynnwood will proceed

In a statement regarding the Dec. 14 mass shooting at Australia’s Bondi Beach targeting a Hanukkah celebration, Rabbi Berel Paltiel said that a Dec. 21 public menorah lighting in Lynnwood will proceed as planned.

“Police have been an active presence at our menorah lightings every year, and this year we are in close contact with local and regional agencies regarding security and safety measures,” said Paltiel, who leads the Lynnwood-based Chabad of Snohomish County. “We will continue collaborating and fine-tuning those measures in the days ahead, as the safety and security of all attendees is our absolute top priority.

“If we retreat, if we hide, we allow fear to define our reality,” he said. “But fear is not the truth of our world, and it is not the truth of our community. The vast majority of people choose decency over hate and light over darkness.”

According to updated news reports, the Bondi Beach attack killed at least 15 people. Paltiel remembered one of those who died in the attack, Rabbi Eli Schlanger, as “my colleague, a fellow Chabad rabbi, and someone I remember from yeshiva.”

“This loss is painfully personal,” Paltiel said.

Here is Paltiel’s full statement:

“We are devastated and absolutely heartbroken.

Rabbi Eli Schlanger was my colleague, a fellow Chabad rabbi, and someone I remember from yeshiva. This loss is painfully personal. Eli was a light, as were the eleven precious, innocent people who were brutally murdered in an act of pure evil.

Rabbi Eli represented life; the terrorists represented death. He represented love; they represented hate. He represented the spark of G-dliness within every human being; they represented the most vile and destructive evil that exists in our world. Rabbi Eli lived what he taught. He was a rabbi, a chaplain, a husband, a father, and a builder of community. He stood for dignity, warmth, and unwavering faith in the goodness of humanity.

I know that many people are afraid, and that fear is both real and understandable. But even in moments of deep pain, perspective matters, and I want to explain why we are not canceling our planned public menorah lighting here in Lynnwood next week.

Antisemitism is real and deeply troubling, but it does not define our society or our community. The overwhelming majority of people are good, kind, and compassionate, and we are blessed to live in a country, and in a county, where leadership, institutions and neighbors stand firmly on the side of freedom, dignity, and light. That reality matters. It gives us both strength and responsibility.

And it is precisely because of this that we are not cancelling our public menorah lighting.

Next Sunday, December 21 at 4 p.m. we will gather as planned at the Lynnwood Light Rail Station. We will do so openly, joyously and with pride. Police have been an active presence at our menorah lightings every year, and this year we are in close contact with local and regional agencies regarding security and safety measures. We will continue collaborating and fine-tuning those measures in the days ahead, as the safety and security of all attendees is our absolute top priority.

If we retreat, if we hide, we allow fear to define our reality. But fear is not the truth of our world, and it is not the truth of our community. The vast majority of people choose decency over hate and light over darkness.

I walk openly and proudly as a Jew throughout Lynnwood and Snohomish County, and I have encountered not hatred, but warmth, solidarity and genuine care.

So today, I call on my Jewish brothers and sisters, and on the wider Snohomish County community, to join us. Come stand tall. Come spread light. Come show, together, that darkness never has the final word.

Our hearts are with the good people of Sydney. We will stand tall to honor the memory and the legacy of the pure victims, to shine their light, and to pray for the recovery of the injured.

May the memory of Rabbi Eli Schlanger and all the innocent victims be a blessing, and may their light continue to illuminate our world.”