‘Light is stronger than darkness’: Oregon Jewish leaders up security at Hanukkah events after Australia attack

Oregon Jewish groups added security to their Hanukkah celebrations on Sunday, but the largest events in the state still planned to go ahead.

About 500 people gathered in Portland’s Pioneer Square to light a large black Hanukkah menorah and eat the traditional latkes, or potato pancakes, to begin the eight-day Jewish holiday.

Organizers introduced last-minute additional security protocols after gunmen killed at least 15 people early Sunday morning at a Hanukkah event at Australia’s Bondi Beach, in what the Australian prime minister called an act of antisemitic terrorism.

Rabbi Motti Wilhelm said many people affiliated with Chabad of Oregon knew those at the Sydney event.

“It’s a very small and connected community,” he said. “We had good friends there, and the rabbi who was murdered is a friend of one of the rabbis here. Also, a friend of ours who has a child is fighting for their life now.”

Motti Wilhelm is the director of Chabad of Southwest Portland, which organizes the grand menorah lighting event in Portland’s Pioneer Square.

“The message of the menorah is always that a little light dispels a lot of darkness,” he said. “Our goal tonight is to share that message, strong, with more resolve than ever — that light is stronger than darkness, and that the light of the menorah will never, ever, ever go out.”

Wilhelm said organizers have “more resolve” to host the celebrations with enhanced security protocols. “We revised and tightened the security plan significantly,” he said.

In Bend, organizers from Chabad-Lubavitch of Central Oregon held an annual menorah lighting in the Old Mill District Sunday evening.

“Terror is meant to plant fear and make us hide,” Rabbi Yitzchok Feldman of Chabad-Lubavitch of Central Oregon said in a statement Sunday. “But we cannot and will not give in to fear — we will stand together and celebrate Chanukah with more light than ever before.”

Chanukah, also spelled Hanukkah, commemorates the military victory of the Maccabees, a priestly group of Jews who led a rebellion in the second century against Hellenistic ruler Antiochus IV Epiphanes.

The holiday is meant to symbolize resilience and faith during a historical period of adversity. Traditional celebrations involve lighting a Hannakiah, a special nine-branch menorah, and eating food fried in oil.

There were other grand menorah lightings scheduled around the state in Ashland, Grants Pass, Gresham, Troutdale, Medford and Eugene.

This year, Hanukkah began on Dec. 14 and continues through Dec. 22.