{"id":85138,"date":"2025-12-16T11:27:10","date_gmt":"2025-12-16T11:27:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/85138\/"},"modified":"2025-12-16T11:27:10","modified_gmt":"2025-12-16T11:27:10","slug":"jacksonvilles-jewish-community-to-pay-tribute-to-victims-of-hanukkah-attack-in-australia","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/85138\/","title":{"rendered":"Jacksonville\u2019s Jewish community to pay tribute to victims of Hanukkah attack in Australia"},"content":{"rendered":"

JACKSONVILLE, Fla. \u2013 Jacksonville\u2019s Jewish community will pay tribute Tuesday to the victims of what investigators call an antisemitic terror attack overseas.<\/a><\/p>\n

Chanukah\u2014the Festival of Lights\u2014symbolizes hope and resilience. After the tragedy in Australia over the weekend, local Jewish leaders said that message matters now more than ever.<\/p>\n

Rabbi Shmuli Novack of the Finker-Frenkel Chabad Center said he doesn\u2019t want people living in fear.<\/p>\n

Instead, he hopes the entire community will come together and stand strong.<\/p>\n

\u201cSo some people are like, are we still gonna go on with these celebrations? And then what\u2019s incredible is so many people reaching out and say, rabbi, I wasn\u2019t gonna come, but we\u2019re gonna be there, \u2018cause I think that\u2019s the natural response, especially on Hanukkah, when the message is the power of light dispelling darkness. That when we face this darkness, when we encounter this evil, we can\u2019t sit idly by, we can\u2019t go back into our shells and distance ourselves. We have to be more front and center. And that\u2019s why this Hanukkah celebration takes on a new meaning,\u201d Novack said.<\/p>\n

RELATED | US Jewish groups urge heightened security at public events after Hanukkah attack in Australia<\/a><\/p>\n

On Sunday evening in Sydney, thousands gathered for \u201cChanukah by the Sea\u201d\u2014a beloved tradition for the Jewish community there.<\/p>\n

Families went to light the menorah and celebrate Chanukah. Then, gunfire erupted.<\/p>\n

Police say two gunmen stormed the event, firing into the crowd. Fifteen people were killed\u2014including a rabbi\u2014and many others were injured.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s one of the deadliest mass shootings in Australia in almost 30 years.<\/p>\n

MORE | Mass shooting at Jewish event on Bondi Beach follows rising antisemitism in Australia<\/a><\/p>\n

There will be a moment of silence for those victims during Tuesday night\u2019s menorah lighting.<\/p>\n

It starts at 6 p.m. at St. Johns Town Center Park Green near Maggiano\u2019s.<\/p>\n

It is open to everyone, not just the Jewish community. Organizers are asking people to RSVP before they attend.<\/p>\n

Copyright 2025 by WJXT News4JAX – All rights reserved.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"JACKSONVILLE, Fla. \u2013 Jacksonville\u2019s Jewish community will pay tribute Tuesday to the victims of what investigators call an…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":85139,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[12388,46754,41482,116,118,117],"class_list":{"0":"post-85138","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-jacksonville","8":"tag-australia","9":"tag-australia-shooting","10":"tag-hanukkah","11":"tag-jacksonville","12":"tag-jacksonville-headlines","13":"tag-jacksonville-news"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/85138","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=85138"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/85138\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/85139"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=85138"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=85138"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=85138"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}