The Jewish Federation of Greater Pittsburgh stands in solidarity with the Australian Jewish community and in mourning for the horrific attack in Bondi. This is the deadliest attack of Jews in the diaspora since October 27, 2018 at the Tree of Life building in Pittsburgh.

This shooting was a deliberate act of terrorism targeting the Jewish community in Sydney as they celebrated the first night of Chanukah, and it must be loudly and clearly called out as antisemitism.

For the broader community, Chanukah represents one of the most visible and recognizable celebrations for Jews worldwide. The story of Chanukah is one of Jewish strength and resistance, led by the Maccabees against their oppressors, and serves as an annual celebration of the enduring Jewish spirit. Targeting the Jewish community on this sacred occasion is nothing short of horrific.

The Federation’s Gefsky Scholar, Rabbi Danny Schiff shares his thoughts as an Australian and Pittsburgher on the Chanukah shooting in Bondi.

How fervently we prayed that Pittsburgh’s mass murder of Jews who were engaged in bringing light to the world would be the last.

It was not to be.

Time and time again, around the world, Jews continue to be targeted.

And now Bondi.

As horrendous scenes of Jewish death and destruction flood in, we must again absorb the unbearable: that another terrible blood-soaked day of fatalities, injuries, grief, and shattered families has been added to the historic pain shared by Jews everywhere.

To my family, colleagues, and friends in the terrorized Sydney Jewish community: we wrap you in our tender embrace at this hour of deepest darkness for us all.

To everyone else:

Know this: there is no society that is freer than Australia. Australia is far less troubled by polarization and extremism than almost anywhere else. If it can happen there, it can happen anywhere. The enemies of the Jewish people have clearly been greatly emboldened, and the struggle against them will not soon be over.

And know this as well:

In Pittsburgh, they came to desecrate the Shabbat with heartless cruelty. In Israel, they came to violate Simchat Torah in the most appalling and gruesome way imaginable. In Manchester, they came with deadly violence to despoil the holiness of Yom Kippur. And in Sydney, they came to defile Chanukah on a vicious evening of slaughter. We have been mercilessly attacked on our most solemn days, pitilessly brutalized in our houses of worship, and unsparingly savaged in our own homeland…

But we shall never stop being Jews committed to our Judaism.

And the Maccabean spirit that ensured that those devoted to the good fight would prevail – that spirit will remain our guiding light.

~Rabbi Dr. Danny Schiff, Gefsky Community Scholar