BOULDER, Colo. — A new menorah is standing tall on Boulder’s Pearl Street Mall, six months after it was the site of an unthinkable attack on Jewish demonstrators on June 1.
That firebombing attack involving Molotov cocktails killed one and injured more than a dozen demonstrators from the group ‘Run For Their Lives,’ who were calling for the release of Israeli hostages being held in Gaza.
The man accused of carrying out the attack has pleaded not guilty to federal hate crime charges and more than 100 state charges.
“When I heard what happened here in Boulder, the terrorist attack here in Boulder, I told myself, ‘We have to find a way to get this beautiful, powerful menorah here in Boulder to spread light,’” said Rabbi Yitzchok Moully, an artist from New Jersey who built the new menorah he calls ‘Tradition With a Twist.’ He flew to Colorado to help deliver the menorah to Boulder on Monday, and says it will stay at the Chabad Center in Boulder.
Moully knows there’s a lot of darkness in the world right now. Two terrorists opened fire at a Hanukkah celebration in Sydney, Australia on Sunday, killing at least 15 people.
“I’m from Australia, and this attack in Sydney struck way too close to home,” he explained. “And my son was supposed to be in yeshiva there. My son would have been on the beach there with everyone… We’re shell shocked, you know, we're frozen. But we know we have one mission, and that mission is to spread light.”
Moully says that is the meaning behind Hanukkah, which began Sunday night. He joined hundreds of Coloradans celebrating the second night of Hanukkah on Pearl Street Monday, an annual tradition that holds a deeper meaning after this year’s attacks.
Alan Kaplan, who lives nearby, called Monday’s turnout “amazing,” with “more powerful and beautiful people than I've ever seen at this event.”
Kaplan says he has family members in Australia, who knew people killed in the attack.
“I have not absorbed that, I can't even take it in yet,” he said.
Leto Quarles says she’s lived in Boulder for about 18 years and has come to the menorah lighting “pretty much every year.”
“This year has been really important to me, after everything we've been through as a Jewish community, as a Boulder community,” she said. “After the attacks last summer, here in Boulder, I kind of came up with this ‘Proud to be a Jew, Especially when it's Complicated,’ and that's sort of been my theme.
“Our traditions and our faith give us the tools to walk through these very difficult times and be a light leading to the future, and that's what Hanukkah is about to me.”
Boulder Police had a noticeable presence, with several officers surrounding the crowd in front of the Boulder County Historic Courthouse, where the menorah lighting took place.
“We had to decide [after the Australia attack], could we still do this event here? Could we, you know, are we protected enough? Are we secure enough?” said Chany Scheiner, co-director of the Boulder Center for Judaism. “We had another plan to move this somewhere [else], but it's not a good idea to cow to hate.”
Scheiner says the menorah lighting is significant because it sends a message of positivity.
“I think it's really important taht each and every one of us that we try to do what we could, whatever we can do, to stop hate for anybody,” she said.
“Important for everybody to come out and show solidarity and show that, you know, we're Jewish and we're proud, and we're not afraid,” said Harry Horowitz, who says he has been coming to the Pearl Street menorah lighting for more than a decade. “Everybody's really happy to be out, and nobody's scared or sad. And I think that's the best, you know, that's the best defense against what's gone on.
“We want to worship in peace the way anybody else does, you know, the way everybody else in the world does.”
Yael Baror and Itamar Baror were both enjoying their second time celebrating the menorah lighting on Pearl Street.
“For me, it means eating a lot of sufganiyot and lighting candles and just being together and celebrating,” said Yael. “Last year, I just joined all the Hora with everyone. It was really fun. And my Grandma's here right now, so it's just really special to have that with her.”
