Phoenix's Jewish community boosts security for holidays: 'Levels we haven't seen in years'

Corrections & Clarifications: In a previous version of this article, Jewish Community Relations Council Executive Director Paul Rockower's name was incorrect.

As Hanukkah festivities are set to begin, law enforcement agencies and Jewish Community Relations Council officials say they will increase security and safety precautions to ensure the protection of all those who celebrate.

The Festival of Lights, as Hanukkah is also called, begins on Thursday, Dec. 7 at sundown and runs for eight days until concluding at sundown on Dec. 15. Traditionally, families will light menorahs and feast on latkes and sweet treats, including jelly-filled doughnuts, recalling the episode in history when Judah Maccabeus and his small army retook a temple during the Maccabean Revolt in 165 B.C.

This year, however, will have a bit more than celebration attached to it as it will be exactly two months since Hamas militants attacked a music festival in Israel on Oct. 7, killing around 1,200 civilians and taking 240 people hostage, according to the Associated Press.

As a result, Israel's current retaliation campaign has killed over 16,000 people in Gaza, mostly women and children, and wounding more than 42,000, according to the Gaza Health Ministry as reported by both the Associated Press and Reuters.

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The effects of the war has trickled into the U.S. ecosystem as well, with the FBI stating that threats against Jewish, Muslim and Arab communities and institutions are rising nationwide.

"I think there's too much feigning ignorance, pretending like it's not happening or not actively dealing with it," Raees Mohamed, an Arizona civil harassment and defamation lawyer, said in late October.

In the case of antisemitism, the Anti-Defamation League has reported a drastic spike here in the United States, with preliminary data showing around 1,402 incidents happening throughout the country from Oct. 7 through Nov. 20.

So in order to ensure their safety with Hanukkah festivities right around the corner, the executive director of the Jewish Community Relations Council told The Arizona Republic that balance will be the key.

"The Jewish community of Greater Phoenix is excited to celebrate the Hanukkah holiday. We will continue to celebrate Hanukkah publicly and joyously across the Valley," Paul Rockower said.

"The Jewish community will balance security concerns and a slight uptick in safety precautions with the spirit of the Hanukkah holiday to ensure that all can celebrate this joyous time. We are grateful for our partners in law enforcement across the Valley for their support to help enable us to safely celebrate the Hanukkah holiday."

Some of these partners include the Maricopa County Sheriff's Office and Phoenix and Scottsdale police departments to name a few. While each department would not share their overall security plans, each stressed the importance of ensuring community safety as their top priority.

"The police departments have been amazing, just reaching out, making sure we know that they are literally monitoring not just throughout the state but throughout the country, so that's really one thing that we've been really blessed," Rabbi Levi Levertov of Chabad AZ told The Republic.

Levertov added that while some events will have layers of security they haven't had in years, at the recommendation of authorities and some within the community, the events will keep rolling.

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"We don't want to stop doing events because that's definitely the wrong message," Levertov said. "The most important message of Hanukkah and in general is that light will always overcome darkness and doing more positive things is what's going to make this world a better place, a more peaceful place. It's about who we are and what we stand for, and unfortunately it requires additional measures, but it's the necessary things that we need to do."

This article originally appeared on Arizona Republic: Hanukkah events to have extra security this year in Arizona