It’s nearly 6.45pm in Chaucer Street, Yokine. The Chanukiah–the nine-branched Jewish candelabrum–is about to be lit to celebrate Hanukkah as dusk beckons.
For those outside the Jewish community, Hanukkah’s broken down into “Jewish Christmas”.
Just weeks after the Pittsburgh synagogue massacre, the Jewish community in Perth says Hanukkah takes on an even stronger meaning of “standing up in the light” against anti-Semitism.
Security has heightened across Perth’s synagogues, and some voice concern that anti-semitic sentiment is again on the rise around the world.
“I celebrate and teach kids the meaning behind festivals like Hanukkah so the six million people that died in the Holocaust didn’t die in vain,” Helen Bryant, a Holocaust child survivor, said.
Seventeen-year old Gila Cherny says celebrating the eight-day holiday makes her aware of the hostility Jews still experience globally.
“It does hit home when you celebrate Hanukkah that some people hate us for being a part of this religion … I worry that it will get to a point where someone who doesn’t know me decides they hate me because I’m Jewish,” Gila, who plans to study in Israel for five months in 2019, said.
“Especially in today’s context, yesterday I read this piece about anti-Semitism with people my age facing it. Hanukkah is a necessary reminder that ‘we’ve done it before, we’ll do it again, we’ll always come back from that’.”
With the weight of anti-Semitism pervading the air, five Jewish families (orthodox and modern) invited WAtoday into their homes to show the holiday’s true significance of “freedom”.
Read the article by Dakshayani Shankar in WAtoday.