By Miriam Raftery

Menorah photo cc by SA via Bing

December 15, 2025 (San Diego) –  “Let the world see that when darkness tries to intimidate us, we answer with light,”  Rabbi Rafi Andruiser from Chabad of East County said today following a mass shooting in Sydney, Australia at a Hanukkah celebration. Rabbi Andrusier urged local community members to join in a local Menorah lighting at 3:30 today in San Carlos.

At least 12 people were killed and 29 injured when a gunman opened fire on a crowd celebrating the first day of Hanukkah today at Bondi Beach in Sydney, Australia.  The shooter was disarrmed by a Muslim man who risked his life to  tackle the shooter from behind.

Authorities have called the mass shooting a terrorist attack on the Jewish community on this first night of Hanukkah, an eight-day Jewish holiday commemorating the rededication of a temple in Jerusalem where a small amount of oil lasted eight days in the temple’s Menorah, an action deemed a miracle.