The community gathered on the snow-covered shores of Lake Gleneida in Carmel Hamlet to celebrate the start of Chanukah with the town’s annual menorah-lighting ceremony, which included music, food, activities and more. Chabad of Putnam Rabbi Avi Korer was joined by Supervisor Mike Cazzari, County Executive Kevin Byrne and other local officials, along with families from around the area.
The ceremony came with heightened security after the antisemitic mass shooting at a menorah lighting in Sydney, Australia. The tragic terrorist attack was especially painful for Rabbi Korer, who spent time in that community and knew some of the victims personally.
“Like so many of you, I woke up this morning to the devastating news from Sydney—a horrific terror attack at a Chanukah celebration,” he wrote in a community message before the menorah-lighting ceremony. “Our hearts and prayers are with those who were murdered, including a colleague and fellow Chabad Shliach, Rabbi Eli Shlanger, HY”D. We also pray for those who were injured and stand in solidarity with the entire Australian Jewish community.”
“This tragedy is especially personal for me,” he continued. “I spent a year in Sydney, and I was at that very menorah lighting at Bondi Beach in 1999. Rabbi Shlanger, originally from the UK, was also a neighbor of mine growing up.”
Korer said the community would “respond the way we always have, by showing up, by adding more light, more pride, more strength, more Jewishness and more goodness.”
“Someone tried to extinguish a Chanukah flame,” he wrote. “Our answer is to light more.”
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