12/14/2025
🚨 On this first day of Hanukkah 2025, the Festival of Lights that reminds us of the Jewish people's resilience in the face of oppression and historical hatred, I reflect with a heavy heart on a painful truth that repeats itself time and again.
WE MOURN
Rabbi Eli Schlanger, 40, a husband, a father, and a Chabad rabbi in Bondi, Sydney, Austalia, was murdered by monster terrorists today.
Rabbi Schlanger was one of the organizers of the Hanukah candle lighting event on Bondi Beach that brought thousands of Jews together for a holiday celebration.
He loved Israel and visited after October 7 to show solidarity, with a focus on lifting the spirits of IDF soldiers
We mourn for Rabbi Schlanger and the at least 11 others who were murdered by the terrorists.
May their families be comforted among the mourners of Zion and Jerusalem.
**It was never about empathy for the Palestinians, but about an overwhelming hatred against the Jews.**
What we see in the global rise of antisemitism — attacks on synagogues, vandalism, speeches that demonize Jews wherever they live, celebrations over acts of violence against innocents — does not stem from genuine concern for justice or the suffering of any people. It is the same ancient poison, now disguised as political activism, that seeks to justify irrational hatred toward a minority that has survived millennia of persecution.
True empathy defends the human rights of all: Palestinians, Israelis, Jews in the diaspora. But when "activism" remains silent in the face of terror, celebrates the death of Jews, or denies their right to exist in peace, it reveals its true face: pure and unmasked antisemitism.
Today, as we light the first candle, let us remember that light always overcomes darkness. Let us reject hatred in all its forms. Antisemitism is not an opinion; it is a poison that poisons entire societies.
Am Israel Chai. May the light of Hanukkah illuminate a more just and humane world. 🕯️