"#Jewish life persists, even 4000 feet above sea level. Before I embarked on a three month #backpacking trip across #SouthAmerica, I was unsure how I’d be able to adapt my #kosher and #Shabbat lifestyle to destinations without any Jewish infrastructure. Conversely, I discovered that in the moments when I was most geographically isolated from a Jewish community, my identity was its strongest.

I spent the first night of #Chanukah in #Peru, staying with an indigenous family on an island on #LakeTiticaca: the highest navigable lake in the world. With my travel-#chanukiah in hand, I asked my host if I could light some candles for a Jewish celebration.

Bemused by the request, and unsure what a #Jew even was, she kindly obliged..."

https://www.jewishnews.co.uk/postcards-from-south-america-jewish-identity-cant-be-contained-it-travels-with-us/

"#HarperCollins #Australia will #publish Conversations with My #Rabbi: Timeless Teachings for a Fractured World, based on conversations between Rabbi #EliSchlanger and #author #NikkiGoldstein recorded before #Schlanger was killed in the #BondiBeach #terrorattack.

The book will be published simultaneously on May 26 in the #US, #UK and Australia.

Schlanger, assistant rabbi at #Chabad of #Bondi for 18 years, was killed on December 14, 2025 along with 14 others as terrorists attacked the annual #Chanukah by the Sea celebration at Bondi Beach.

#Goldstein first met Schlanger in September 2022 when she was gravely ill with pneumonia in a #Sydney ICU. Her daughter spotted Schlanger in the hallway and asked him to come pray for her.

“Standing beside her bed, he blew the #shofar and whispered ancient prayers over Nikki’s comatose body,” the publisher said. “One day later, Nikki began recovering from the life-threatening infection. The doctors called it a miracle.”

https://www.australianjewishnews.com/forthcoming-book-features-conversations-with-rabbi-eli-schlanger/

"A 47-year-old man has been arrested and charged in connection with the #firebombing of a #rabbi’s vehicle in #Melbourne’s #StKildaEast, after the car, marked with a “Happy #Chanukah” sign, was torched in a driveway in the early hours of #Christmas morning. No one was in the vehicle, but a woman and three children inside the home were evacuated as a precaution.

Investigators say the vehicle had a roof-mounted mobile billboard celebrating #Hanukkah, and police initially described the incident as a targeted #arson attack while stressing there was no indication, at that stage—of a broader threat to the wider #Jewish community."

https://jewishbreakingnews.com/rabbis-car-firebombed-in-melbourne-suspect-arrested-as-police-probe-possible-antisemitic-motive/

"#Jews around the world were already reeling after nearly two years of #war and death in #Gaza and the grim confirmation that many #hostages hadn’t survived the #Oct7, 2023, attacks or two years of captivity. Then came news of the shootings in #Sydney, #Australia, where 15 people were gunned down during a #Chanukah celebration on #BondiBeach.

Despite its grief, the #Jewish world also took time to celebrate the lives lived by a constellation of figures who made lasting contributions to #film, #architecture, #politics and Jewish #scholarship and letters.

In chronological order, here are #obituaries of 18 notable Jews who died in 2025."

https://jhvonline.com/notable-jews-we-lost-in-p35783-98.htm

RE: https://turtleisland.social/@Tzipporah/115747179442237156

December 19 2025 good times - Who looks the least acclimated to a Chicago winter, @Tzipporah or >>---> @Yocheved? Ha!

I really need to scrounge up a down coat for Yo's next winter visit. 🥶
#Native #Indigenous #UptownChicago #Winter #Chanukah

Saw a surprising Feditralia post on this letter, implying something nefarious in Jews having "pre-knowledge" and also blaming Jews for holding the event "knowing" the attack would happen. Surprising because I only saw one. 

"A #Jewish #security group in #Australia reportedly warned the country’s authorities last month about the increased threat of Islamist extremism towards the Jewish community, specifically citing the forthcoming #Chanukah event at #Bondibeach as high risk.

According to the #Australian Broadcasting Corporation, the Community Security Group #NSW (#CSGNSW) produced a document in late November titled “Jewish Festival Calendar Notification”, which specifically discussed Chanukah, warning that the increased visibility of #Jews celebrating in public meant a raised risk level for violent extremism. The #NewSouthWales police have neither confirmed nor denied receiving the document, citing the ongoing criminal investigation."

https://www.jewishnews.co.uk/jewish-security-group-warned-australian-police-of-terror-risk-to-bondi-chanukah-event/

#Chanukah ended on Tuesday. I don't ever really celebrate it much due to it's lacking importance.
#Christmas is today, for most Christians.

The Jewish #NewYear's, which is #RoshHashanah was months ago (September 23th) & it with Yom Kippur & Sukkote (before it) are really the end of what I consider my "Holiday season", with #Passover really their beginning. I rarely celebrate the ACE calendar #NewYear's much if at all because similar to Christmas I don't see it as "my holiday" at all.

Maybe it's autistic rigidity of concepts & definitions, possibly traumas of the past, likely some of both mixed with a lack of resources to celebrate every holiday of every sizable group of people.

For those who are celebrating something today though, enjoy!

Most secular Israelis who are Jews, as well as many religious Israelis, will tell you that #Chabad is an abusive, arrogant, and imposing organization with a missionary agenda that aims to kidnap Jewish identity. Chabad does not represent the Jewish people more than the state of Israel does, and car driving with a happy #Chanukah sign through the streets is not a Jewish tradition, it’s a Chabad missionary tradition. International outlets should really stop conflating Chabad and Judaism.

https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2025/dec/25/car-with-happy-chanukah-sign-firebombed-in-suspected-antisemitic-attack-in-melbourne

Jews: Shit, you firebombed my car!
Australia: Antisemitism isn't real.

"A vehicle displaying a #Chanukah mobile billboard was set alight in the driveway of a #Jewish family home in St Kilda East in the early hours of #Christmas Day, forcing the evacuation of young children.

#Victoria Police were called to the Balaclava Road property at approximately 2.50am on Thursday, 25 December, after a car was engulfed in flames.

No one was inside the vehicle at the time, but the occupants of the house, including young children, were evacuated as a precaution."

https://www.australianjewishnews.com/jewish-family-home-targeted-in-car-firebombing/