{"id":450034,"date":"2025-12-16T03:06:14","date_gmt":"2025-12-16T03:06:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/450034\/"},"modified":"2025-12-16T03:06:14","modified_gmt":"2025-12-16T03:06:14","slug":"australia-shooting-chicago-jewish-community-holds-menorah-car-parade-for-hanukkah-2025-in-wake-of-mass-shooting-at-bondi-beach","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/450034\/","title":{"rendered":"Australia shooting: Chicago Jewish community holds menorah car parade for Hanukkah 2025 in wake of mass shooting at Bondi Beach"},"content":{"rendered":"

CHICAGO (WLS) — Chicago’s Jewish community held a menorah car parade on Monday night with the attack in Australia fresh in their minds.<\/p>\n

More than 100 cars left from Chicago’s Bernard Horwich JCC on Touhy around 6:30 p.m., parading through several neighborhoods on their route to Niles.<\/p>\n

ABC7 Chicago is now streaming 24\/7. Click here to watch<\/a><\/p>\n

“This is the time to come out and show our pride, and bring light into a dark world, and not let anything stop us,” said paradegoer Hershey Sufrin.<\/p>\n

The parade is a tradition that dates back more than 50 years, meant as a public display of Jewish pride.<\/p>\n

Organizers say it is more important than ever after 15 people were killed and more than 40 others were wounded in Sunday’s mass shooting<\/a> targeting a Hanukkah event at Sydney’s Bondi Beach.<\/p>\n

“We’re proud, and we want to show everybody how we’re so happy to celebrate,” said paradegoer Chana Shusterman.<\/p>\n

The group was busy assembling additional menorahs for the parade on Monday afternoon. A number of community members have reached out, wanting to join their parade, making it the largest group they have had for this event.<\/p>\n

The additional interest was sparked from the tragic mass shooting in Sydney, Australia over the weekend. They are determined not to run and hide.<\/p>\n

“It hurts. It really hurts. But the same hurt, with the same determination, we know we have to double down more. Because we’ll never let evil win,” said Lubavitch Chabad Rabbi Yosef Moscowitz.<\/p>\n

READ MORE |<\/strong> What we know about the victims of the Bondi Beach, Australia shooting<\/a><\/p>\n

It is very personal for Moscowitz. One of his son’s close friends was critically injured in Sunday’s shooting.<\/p>\n

“It’s a moving method of light and hope. When we get it hard, we hit back double,” Moscowitz said.<\/p>\n

For all the celebrations, there is also a community in pain, including many with connections to those killed or injured in the attack.<\/p>\n

“One of my dearest friends was out there, and he’s currently in the hospital, and for me, my job is to spread the light and show people the importance of Hanukkah,” said paradegoer Ozzy Belson.<\/p>\n

Organized by Lubavitch Chabad of Illinois, the car parade took place under the watchful eye of the Cook County Sheriff’s Department, which provided an escort for participants.<\/p>\n

Security has been increased not just there, but across the entire state for all of the Chabad’s Hanukkah celebrations. The Hassidic movement is the same that was behind the festival at Bondi Beach.<\/p>\n

JUF officials said they have provided the Lubavitch Chabad of Illinois with emergency funding to help cover additional safety costs.<\/p>\n

SEE ALSO | <\/strong>CPD elevates presence at Hanukkah celebrations after Australia shooting targeting Jewish community<\/a><\/p>\n

“The threat environment we are in right now is incredibly complex, incredibly dynamic,” said Michael Masters with the Secure Community Network. “We are working every day as a team of intelligence, law enforcement and security professionals to protect the Jewish community.”<\/p>\n

The Secure Community Network works with law enforcement to help with safety in the Jewish community. They say this is a dangerous time in history, but they are determined to overcome.<\/p>\n

“We are going to continue celebrating our holiday and our faith even in the face of individuals and organizations that would try to undermine and attack us,” Masters said.<\/p>\n

The Illinois Holocaust Center issued a statement, saying, in part, “Violence against any group anywhere is an assault on humanity everywhere.”‘<\/p>\n

“The best way to deal with the pain and evil in the world is not to hide in your basement, but to come out publicly and proudly,” Moscowitz said.<\/p>\n

After the parade, organizers attended a Hanukkah party. They say they are determined to celebrate and not allow terrorists filled with hate to steal their joy.<\/p>\n

Mayor Brandon Johnson said he is in communication with CPD as police continue to monitor for any potential threats here at home. Hanukkah continues through Dec. 22.<\/p>\n

Copyright \u00a9 2025 WLS-TV. All Rights Reserved.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"CHICAGO (WLS) — Chicago’s Jewish community held a menorah car parade on Monday night with the attack in…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":450035,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5124],"tags":[206844,206840,206841,206126,206843,74793,960,205913,5462,206122,206123,5386,1818,29229,206842,147407],"class_list":{"0":"post-450034","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-chicago","8":"tag-206844","9":"tag-australia-beach","10":"tag-australia-mass-shooting","11":"tag-australia-shooting","12":"tag-beach-shooting","13":"tag-bondi-beach","14":"tag-chicago","15":"tag-chicago-events","16":"tag-chicago-news","17":"tag-hanukkah-2025","18":"tag-happy-hanukkah","19":"tag-il","20":"tag-illinois","21":"tag-mass-shooting","22":"tag-shooting-in-australia","23":"tag-sydney-shooting"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/115727039986193238","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/450034","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=450034"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/450034\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/450035"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=450034"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=450034"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=450034"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}