{"id":346575,"date":"2025-12-15T11:01:09","date_gmt":"2025-12-15T11:01:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/346575\/"},"modified":"2025-12-15T11:01:09","modified_gmt":"2025-12-15T11:01:09","slug":"gta-jewish-community-celebrates-hanukkah-following-deadly-bondi-beach-attack","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/346575\/","title":{"rendered":"GTA Jewish community celebrates Hanukkah following deadly Bondi Beach attack"},"content":{"rendered":"

As the sun goes down and menorahs are lit signalling the start of Hanukkah, Jewish families across the Greater Toronto Area are standing up in the face of terror.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe shouldn\u2019t be scared. We should be stronger. We should get back up and be even stronger than before,\u201d Mimi Gansburg, who is 11, told CTV News Toronto on Sunday.<\/p>\n

\"\"Mimi Gansburg, 11 Mimi Gansburg, 11, speks with CTV News Toronto on Dec. 14 <\/p>\n

At Bayview and Millwood avenues in Leaside, public Hanukkah celebrations continued, with children exploring area businesses and taking in activities and treats, despite the anxiety many area are feeling around the mass murder of Jews practicing their faith in Sydney, Australia.<\/p>\n

Rabbi Levi Gansburg, the co-founder of Chabad on Bayview, says people have asked him if they\u2019re going to change their scheduled events in light of the tragedy.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis answer is yes. We\u2019re gonna up the game. We are not backing down,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe story of Hanukkah is about a small group standing up for what\u2019s moral, standing for what\u2019s right, tolerance over intolerance, light over darkness.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"\"Rabbi Levi Gansburg, the co-founder of Chabad on Bayview Rabbi Levi Gansburg, the co-founder of Chabad on Bayview, speks with CTV News Toronto on Dec. 14. <\/p>\n

Gansburg said he knows two of the Bondi Beach victims. One, he says, is a rabbi from the United Kingdom who died.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe moved to Australia with this wife to really help out the Jewish community there. He has five kids and just had a baby two months ago,\u201d Gansburg said, adding the second person he knows is his own brother-in-law\u2019s nephew, from Texas, who is wounded.<\/p>\n

\u201cThank God he is in stable condition, a 21-year-old boy, so we have a very deep connection to this story.\u201d<\/p>\n

Ontario Premier Doug Ford took to social media on Sunday, sharing his thoughts with the Jewish community in Australia, in Ontario, and around the world.<\/p>\n

\u201cAs we come together in support of our Jewish friends and neighbours to grieve this terrible attack, we must all stand with our Jewish community against hate and antisemitism wherever it is found,\u201d Ford said.<\/p>\n

Toronto Mayor Olivia Chow condemned antisemitism, writing that it must be confronted wherever it exists.<\/p>\n

\u201cTo Toronto\u2019s Jewish community: I know the fear you feel is real, while celebrating your faith, gathering with loved ones or simply being visible. You deserve to live freely, openly and safely in our city,\u201d she wrote in a post.<\/p>\n

\u201cToronto stands with you today, during Hanukkah, and always.\u201d<\/p>\n

Sara Lefton, chief development officer at the United Jewish Appeal (UJA) Federation, said members of the local Jewish community are both heartbroken and scared.<\/p>\n

The UJA Federation is calling for more to be done by governments and people of all backgrounds in their everyday lives to combat antisemitism and hate, pointing to security threats, repeated acts of vandalism on a local synagogue, and a girls\u2019 school shot at three times.<\/p>\n

\u201cSo when we see hateful words turn into hateful actions, like what we\u2019ve just seen in Sydney, Australia, the Jewish community knows we are not far behind and that\u2019s why we\u2019ve been asking over and over for people to stand up and to recognize what is happening in our city,\u201d Lefton said.<\/p>\n

Toronto police, meanwhile, say people can expect to see officers at public gatherings, places of worship, and schools. <\/p>\n

\u201cYou will see an increased presence in and around our Jewish communities over the coming hours and days as Hanukkah is here, a very important time of year on the Jewish calendar and for all of us to come together in solidarity,\u201d Chief Myron Demkiw said.<\/p>\n

\"\"Hanukkah in Leaside Dec. 14 Members of the Jewish community gather in Leaside on Dec. 14 for Hanukkah. <\/p>\n

Back on Bayview, families are enjoying the festival of lights, which is bringing joy to the neighbourhood.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe will not coward in the face of darkness. We will not coward in the face of evil,\u201d the local rabbi said. <\/p>\n

\u201cLight dispels darkness and we want to be the light in the face of darkness.\u201d <\/p>\n

Several events are planned over the eight nights of Hanukkah across the GTA, including a public menorah lighting on Monday evening at York Mills Road and Bayview Avenue.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"As the sun goes down and menorahs are lit signalling the start of Hanukkah, Jewish families across the…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":346576,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[712,43,44,41,39,42,40],"class_list":{"0":"post-346575","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-headlines","8":"tag-apple-news","9":"tag-headlines","10":"tag-news","11":"tag-top-news","12":"tag-top-stories","13":"tag-topnews","14":"tag-topstories"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/346575","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=346575"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/346575\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/346576"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=346575"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=346575"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=346575"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}