Jesse Kline: A painful Hanukkah and empty words for Jewish Canadians

Bondi Beach massacre casts a pall over Toronto Hanukkah celebrations

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Hanukkah is one of the most joyous holidays on the Jewish calendar, but a pall was cast over this year’s festivities on Sunday, when terrorists opened fire on a group of Jews celebrating the first night of the eight-day holiday on Bondi Beach in Australia.

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Nevertheless, safety concerns and sub-zero temperatures did not stop scores of people, including many with young children, from attending public ceremonies to celebrate the second night of Hanukkah in Toronto the next day.

On Monday evening, dozens of people gathered in the parking lot of a shopping centre in northern Toronto to watch Rabbi Levi Gansburg of Chabad on Bayview light a giant menorah, listen to live music and enjoy some tasty holiday treats.

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“It’s shocking. It’s painful for us to stand here in this great country and to have to be Jewish, and to learn about the devastation that took place yesterday in Australia, in the Commonwealth, where a Chabad rabbi chose to gather Jews together on the iconic Bondi Beach,” said Rabbi Gansburg.

“Tonight, on the one hand, we hold the candle of mourning. We remember Rabbi (Eli) Schlanger, we remember the 15 people that are dead. We hold the candle of mourning for them.

“But on the other hand, we hold the candle of the menorah, the candle that Jews have lit each and every generation when they face darkness. A candle of hope, a candle of strength, a candle of light, a candle of perseverance. Because we’re not going anywhere. Because the greatest response to tyranny and terror is courage.”

It was at a similar Chabad event in Sydney where two terrorists stormed onto the beach and indiscriminately began firing into a crowd of Jews participating in their own menorah-lighting ceremony, killing at least

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