Hanukkah Hanukkah, light the menorah.
A large group of people packed the events room at the Jewish Federation of Greater Santa Barbara on Wednesday for a solidarity Hanukkah lighting.
While on the fourth day of Hanukkah, the candle lighting also served to honor the lives of the 15 people killed in a mass shooting at a Hanukkah event in Bondi Beach, Sydney.
About 80 people gathered at 524 Chapala St. to pray and sing songs, with some attendees overcome with emotion as they listened to local rabbis.
“How do we know Bondi Beach today isn’t Butterfly Beach tomorrow?” Josh Levine, executive director of Santa Barbara Hillel, asked the crowd.
The turnout to the event, which was organized in just 24 hours, according to Levine, was “remarkable, especially around the holiday season.”
Gershon Klein, executive director and rabbi of Chabad at UC Santa Barbara, shared with the crowd that he and his family had personal ties with some of the victims.
“As a rabbi, you know I am supposed to be inspiring and uplifting, but at that moment, there was nothing to say,” he said.
The event included three security guards from Triumph Protection Group patrolling the building’s parking lot.
The energy was similar in Montecito, where on Tuesday night a large group of community members gathered at the Upper Village green for Chabad of Montecito’s annual menorah lighting ceremony.
A tall menorah basked the lawn in a bright white light as people mingled together, enjoying free doughnuts and latkes as traditional songs filled the air.
Isla Vista resident Tova Morrison said she raced down to Montecito after work, hoping to surround herself with her community.
“I am just out here supporting, and it’s the time to be public about your Judaism,” she said.
Chaim Loschak, rabbi of the Chabad of Montecito, began the lighting ceremony by speaking about the attack.
“When I heard the news, I felt broken, and I still feel broken. There are no words to respond to something like that, and yet here we are, celebrating Hanukkah together,” he said to the crowd.
Like Klein, he, too, knew some of the victims of the attack.
“Among the victims was a colleague of mine, a Chabad Rabbi Eli Schlanger — a husband, a father and leader in his community doing exactly what we are doing here right now,” Loschak said
Deputies from the Santa Barbara County Sheriff’s Office and firefighters from the Montecito Fire Protection District were stationed near the entrances to the lawn.
Before the celebration, the event flyer noted there would be increased security.
Law enforcement officials were present to join the celebrations, but also to make sure people were safe, Lt. Rich Brittingham said, referencing the mass shooting.
Loschak said that while the attack was meant to instill fear in the Jewish community, the menorah lighting is meant to show “we are still here, we are together and light is stronger than fear.”
He ended the ceremony by lighting the third candle on the giant menorah and leading the crowd in traditional songs.
A similar menorah will light up the night on Thursday in Carpinteria, for the first time ever. The public menorah lighting is set for 5:30 p.m. at 865 Linden Ave. with free latkes, doughnuts, kids crafts, and music.