Dozens of Pennsylvanians gathered at the Capitol in Harrisburg Monday for a ceremonial menorah lighting to mark the second night of Hanukkah.
The event was held less than two days after an antisemitic attack in Sydney, Australia. Shooters targeting a Hanukkah celebration killed 16 people and injured dozens.
Gov. Josh Shapiro, the highest ranking Jewish official in Pennsylvania, spoke at the event. He urged Pennsylvania’s Jews to take solace in tradition and remember the joyful message of the holiday.
“Tonight, as we light this Chanukiah, we do so hoping that the candles will illuminate a bit brighter, that it will bring more light into our lives given the darkness that we have experienced,” Shapiro said. “The answer to that darkness is more light, the answer to that darkness is to express more pride in our faith.”
Shapiro also nodded to the attack on his family at the Governor’s Residence in April.
A Dauphin County man, Cody Balmer, set off multiple molotov cocktails in the Governor’s Residence on the first night of Passover while Shapiro and his family slept inside. He told police that he would “not take part in [Shapiro’s] plans for what he wants to do to the Palestinian people” and would have killed Shapiro with a hammer had he come across him.
But in spite of the recent violence, speakers at the menorah lighting, including Shapiro, encouraged Jewish Pennsylvanians to celebrate proudly.
“Even in our grief, we gather here in the Pennsylvania state Capitol to kindle the menorah to recall the miracle from 2,100 years ago when the Maccabees were victorious,” said Rabbi Shmuel Pewzner, who presided over the ceremony. “We know that in the darkest night, our light will leave no space for darkness to remain. That is precisely why we place the menorah in public. Not to hide, not to hesitate, but to declare we are here. We always will be here.”
The event was also attended by a handful of lawmakers, Rep. Jill Cooper (R-Westmoreland), Rep. Justin Fleming (D-Dauphin), Sen. Patty Kim (D-Dauphin) and Rep. Jared Solomon (D-Philadelphia).
“When I found out about your lighting ceremony, I came down to let you know that we’re standing with you,” said Rep. Cooper. “Westmoreland County is 30 miles east of Pittsburgh, and I just want you to know we love you, and we support you, and we’re here standing with you today.”
Pittsburgh’s Jewish community experienced the deadliest antisemitic attack in American History in 2018, when a gunman opened fire at a synagogue in the Squirrel Hill neighborhood, killing 11 people and injuring seven others.
Rep. Solomon said his grandparents came to America to flee antisemitic pogroms in Europe, settling in Philadelphia.
“When they came, Northeast Philadelphia was not necessarily very accepting of Jews, but they were always very present and prideful,” Solomon said. “I saw him pridefully walk to shul with his yarmulke … He was so proud of being Jewish, and this is the moment that that pride is so important.”
Fleming noted that his children attended a Dauphin County Jewish Community Center (JCC).
“Part of the reason why I stand here each and every year is because my kids, in spite of being Christian, got the wonderful teaching of how to become a really good person [at the JCC],” Fleming said. “They learned how to be better people, better neighbors, better friends.”
A choir of students from the Harrisburg Silver Academy, a Jewish school, sang as the menorah was lit.
In his speech, Shapiro also noted Pennsylvania’s origins, founded by William Penn under the principle of religious freedom.
“Think about where we are today,” Shapiro said. “We are here in the state capitol, in the place that Penn founded called Pennsylvania, about to light a Chanukiah openly, and freely and proudly for all to see. That’s extraordinary progress that we’ve made in our country, and I believe Pennsylvania remains a light to the nations — an example to the nation — as Penn had hoped.”
