Usually, Scott Yonover opts to light the candles of the menorah at his Streeterville home.
But this Hanukkah, after yet another fatal attack on the Jewish community, the 59-year-old found himself seeking company.
On Tuesday night, two days after an antisemitic assault killed 15 people at one of Australia’s most popular beaches, Yonover and about 90 others packed into a corner of Daley Plaza to watch the public lighting of a towering menorah on the third night of Hanukkah.
“I’m not going to be intimidated,” Yonover said. “I’m gonna be there for the lighting of our holiday.”
The violence on Sunday broke out as thousands flocked to Sydney’s Bondi Beach, including hundreds who gathered for a Chanukah by the Sea event celebrating the start of the eight-day Hanukkah festival.
As festivities got underway, two shooters — who were father and son — opened fire. Among those killed is a child. At a news conference on Tuesday, Australia’s federal police commissioner called the attack “a terrorist attack inspired by Islamic State,” The Associated Press reported.
Mary Ann Barrett, who attended the downtown menorah lighting while visiting from Indiana, said discussing this most recent tragedy was difficult. “I hate talking about it,” the 63-year-old said as she and her husband waited for the lighting to begin. “It’s just heartbreaking.”
Speakers, ranging from local Jewish leaders to elected officials, encouraged enduring hope and prayed for the victims of the Sydney massacre.
Messages from organizations and officials across Illinois have poured in since the shooting.
In a message to social media, the Illinois Holocaust Museum & Education Center stated, “violence against any group anywhere is an assault on humanity everywhere.”
Mayor Brandon Johnson, in a Sunday post to X, called the mass shooting a “heinous act of violence.”
My statement on the horrific antisemitic attack in Sydney: pic.twitter.com/l3Qdzzn9Ip
— Mayor Brandon Johnson (@ChicagosMayor) December 14, 2025
“What should have been a joyous celebration turned into a tragic reminder of how far we still have to go to eradicate antisemitism in our world,” he stated.
Meanwhile, at a menorah lighting at the Governor’s Mansion on Monday, Gov. JB Pritzker, who is Jewish, said this has been a particularly heavy year — and a particularly heavy start to Hanukkah.
“I am saddened beyond belief that innocent people are under attack in this way,” he said, “and I’m angry at those who stoke the embers of a fire that seems to continue to burn in the hearts of bigots everywhere.”
Rabbi Meir Moscowitz, regional director of Lubavitch Chabad of Illinois said that news of the weekend attack sent him into a state of shock.
“We are friends with some of the victims that were murdered, and friends with some of those that are injured,” Moscowitz told the Tribune in a call Tuesday afternoon. Among those friends was Rabbi Eli Schlanger, assistant rabbi at Chabad of Bondi and an organizer of Sunday’s event, identified as one of the dead.
Schlanger, 41, was a father of five, including a 2-month-old baby, Moscowitz said. “This hits particularly close to home,” he said.
But as he grieves, Moscowitz said he’s also resolved to keep spreading kindness. On Monday night, participants turned out in droves to take part in the city’s annual menorah car parade, which stretched from the Jewish Community Center in West Ridge through Rogers Park, Lincolnwood and Niles.
“The feeling was that everyone wants to be part of this celebration,” Moscowitz said.
As Hanukkah events continue through the week, Moscowitz said Lubavitch Chabad of Illinois is upgrading safety precautions and is in contact with law enforcement.
Chicago police stated that it was monitoring the situation in Sydney and that while “there was no actionable intelligence at this time, there is special attention on places of worship and faith-based community centers.”
For Tuesday’s lighting, police had additional patrols, according to organizers, who noted they also procured private security to monitor the event.
Just before the electric menorah was lit for the night, Rabbi Mordechai Gershon of Chabad South Loop stood bundled up with his wife and three young children. For his family, the attack on Bondi Beach struck them in more ways than one — his wife, he said, is from Sydney.
But there’s an energy in coming together, he said.
“We know that the only answer to darkness,” he said, “is … light.”
https://www.chicagotribune.com/2025/12/17/hanukkah-bondi-beach-attack-chicago-menorah-lighting/
