“There is a particular horror in violent attacks on holy days and in holy places. This is terror in its purest form, rendering a people not only fearful to express their faith, but also to forever associate those sacred days with loss and sorrow.

The holiday of Simchat Torah, the Jewish celebration of the joyful embrace of Torah, will be permanently tied to images of death and destruction after the attacks of Oct. 7, 2023. And now, just over two years later, another Jewish holiday has been linked with terror: Hanukkah, the miracle of the persistence of light in dark times, as Jews gathering to celebrate on a beach in Sydney, Australia, a crowd of children, parents and elders, were gunned down without mercy…”

Read the full piece in the New York Times