{"id":450626,"date":"2025-12-16T09:26:18","date_gmt":"2025-12-16T09:26:18","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/450626\/"},"modified":"2025-12-16T09:26:18","modified_gmt":"2025-12-16T09:26:18","slug":"jewish-community-in-jacksonville-celebrates-hanukkah-amid-heightened-security-after-australia-shooting","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/450626\/","title":{"rendered":"Jewish community in Jacksonville celebrates Hanukkah amid heightened security after Australia shooting"},"content":{"rendered":"

JACKSONVILLE, Fla.<\/strong> \u2013 Jacksonville\u2019s Jewish Community Alliance (JCA) gathered Monday night to celebrate the second night of Hanukkah, known as the Festival of Lights. The event took on added significance following a deadly shooting at a Hanukkah celebration on Bondi Beach<\/a> near Sydney, Australia.<\/p>\n

At least 15 people were killed, and dozens were injured in the attack, which has prompted increased security measures at Hanukkah events worldwide.<\/p>\n

The large menorah, called a Chanukkiah, was lit as part of the JCA\u2019s Hanukkah extravaganza. The shooting in Australia led to a stronger law enforcement presence at the Jacksonville event, but hundreds still came out to celebrate.<\/p>\n

For Marjie Rogozinski, attending the JCA\u2019s celebration with her family was especially important. <\/p>\n

\u201cThe Jewish people will always, always stand up to adversity and we are a shining light,\u201d she said. \u201cIn darkness we will always be bright, especially with everything that\u2019s happened.\u201d<\/p>\n

Adam Chaskin, CEO of the JCA, said the Jacksonville Sheriff\u2019s Office was already involved in security planning but quickly increased measures after the news of the shooting. He shared Hanukkah is a time to confront bigotry and hate.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe certainly are grieving for the people who passed away in Australia and also other tragic events that have happened, both locally and internationally, involving Jew hatred and other forms of hatred,\u201d Chaskin said. \u201cAll forms of hate need to stop. As we know, when one form of hatred and one group of people are targeted, other groups wind up being targeted similarly.\u201d<\/p>\n

Nicole Brown, board chair of the Jewish Community Alliance, also took part in the festivities.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt means a lot to see everybody come together to celebrate the miracles that is Hanukkah and to spend time with their friends, family,\u201d Brown said. \u201cIt\u2019s nice to see so many of our friends from the community, not just Jewish friends, but the entire community.\u201d<\/p>\n

Rogozinski shared that celebrating the holiday was a way to show her grandchildren that the Jewish community endures. <\/p>\n

\u201cWe always go through bad times, but you know what, with what we teach our values, and not only to the Jewish people, but to others, we set an example to always face adversity and be positive,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

For Brown, continuing to celebrate Hanukkah despite the attack in Australia meant standing up to hatred.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s important for us to stand together and to be more proud of our Jewishness and to really let that shine through and not let hate win,\u201d Brown said. \u201cOur love and our religion will be stronger than any hate could ever be.\u201d<\/p>\n

The JCA will continue lighting the Chanukkiah for the next six nights at around 5:45 p.m.<\/p>\n

Chabad of Jacksonville<\/a> will mark the third night of Hanukkah on Dec. 16 at 6 p.m. at the St. Johns Town Center.<\/p>\n

Copyright 2025 by WJXT News4JAX – All rights reserved.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"JACKSONVILLE, Fla. \u2013 Jacksonville\u2019s Jewish Community Alliance (JCA) gathered Monday night to celebrate the second night of Hanukkah,…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":450627,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5136],"tags":[5229,74793,3188,723,182109,7310,73182,207062,67,586,132,5230,68,2969],"class_list":{"0":"post-450626","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-jacksonville","8":"tag-america","9":"tag-bondi-beach","10":"tag-fl","11":"tag-florida","12":"tag-hanukkah","13":"tag-jacksonville","14":"tag-jewish-community-alliance","15":"tag-menorah","16":"tag-united-states","17":"tag-united-states-of-america","18":"tag-unitedstates","19":"tag-unitedstatesofamerica","20":"tag-us","21":"tag-usa"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/115728534184659765","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/450626","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=450626"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/450626\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/450627"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=450626"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=450626"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=450626"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}