Menorahs across the US are vandalized. . . amid a spike in antisemitism

— In Oakland, California, an 11-foot tall Hanukkah menorah was broken and thrown into a lake. In New Haven, Connecticut, a Palestinian flag was planted in a publicly displayed menorah. In Juno Beach, Florida, a menorah made of sand was destroyed.

As Jewish communities around the United States celebrated Hanukkah over the past week, numerous stories of vandalism and destruction circulated online as public menorahs — many of them sponsored by local outposts of the Chabad-Lubavitch movement — were targeted. Some of the incidents are being investigated as hate crimes.

The acts of vandalism come at a time when Jewish communities are on high alert as watchdogs say antisemitism has spiked around the globe since Oct. 7, when the Israel-Hamas war began. Many communities had planned gatherings explicitly drawing connections between the war and the Hanukkah holiday, which began Dec. 7 and concludes on Friday. In response to the uptick in antisemitism and fear, one Jewish father launched an online campaign encouraging non-Jews to display menorahs in their windows out of solidarity.

For decades, public menorah lightings have been commonplace in many cities around the United States, especially in ceremonies led by local Chabad rabbis. The Hasidic movement organized an estimated 15,000 lightings annually in recent years, and this Hanukkah it puts the number at more than 10% higher — an increase Chabad spokesman Rabbi Motti Seligson attributed in part to the war in Israel and Gaza.

https://www.jta.org/2023/12/14/united-states/menorahs-across-the-us-are-vandalized-as-jewish-communities-celebrate-hanukkah-amid-a-spike-in-antisemitism?utm_source=JTA_Maropost&utm_campaign=JTA_DB&utm_medium=email&mpweb=1161-66074-20856


Echos of Germany, 1938. For those who know some history.