As Jewish people mourn worldwide, Triangle community gathers in remembrance

When news of the deadly attack on Jewish people celebrating Hanukkah in Sydney arrived, it hit especially close to home for some Jewish residents of Chapel Hill and Durham.

Mushka Bluming, the program director for Chabad of Durham-Chapel Hill, spent this summer with Rabbi Eli Schlanger, who was killed in Sunday’s attack, she told The News & Observer.

Schlanger, 41, served as assistant rabbi at Chabad-Lubavitch at Bondi, according to the organization’s website. He and 14 others were slain in an attack by two gunmen on a Chabad Hanukkah event at Bondi Beach.

Chabad is a movement of Judaism based in Crown Heights, New York, that sends missionaries, or “emissaries,” around the world to foster Jewish pride and community, according to its website. The Durham-Chapel Hill chapter began in 2002 “with the goal to create a place where all Jews can feel at home,” including students and faculty at UNC and Duke, its webpage states.

Bluming counseled Schlanger’s children over the summer, she said.

“I spent Shabbat in their house,” she said.

Bluming and about 30 others gathered at The Streets at Southpoint on Thursday evening with two goals in mind: celebrating Hanukkah, which began Sunday, and recognizing the impact of the Sydney attack.

“In addition to celebrating the holiday, the community will be standing together with Jewish communities abroad, particularly in Sydney, Australia, emphasizing the enduring Chanukah message of spreading light, strength, and hope even across great distances,” Chabad of Durham-Chapel Hill wrote in a news release.

The event featured a menorah lighting, latkes, donuts, music, prizes and raffles, according to the release, though families with children were especially encouraged to attend. At least 30 people came to the gathering inside Skin Analytics, a facial spa at Southpoint.

“Now is the moment, more than ever, to instill in ourselves and in our children … to bring the pride that they have for their identity with them wherever they go,” Bluming said.

The local Chabad chapter “immediately” began planning Thursday’s event after learning of the Sydney attack, Bluming said.

“We felt an absolute resolve to take action,” she said.

That’s been a common theme for the Jewish community throughout years of persecution, according to Bluming.

“It’s at moments like these that we show up more proud [and] appear more Jewish,” she said. “There’s never been a better time to show our strength and our pride for who we are.”

It’s a mentality that Schlanger, the slain rabbi, also instilled in his community, Bluming recalled.

“He shared with me, as he shared with so many others … his quote that we should ‘be more Jewish, act more Jewish and appear more Jewish,’” she said. “I think that message that he left us with is a message that is so true today, more than ever before.”

This story was originally published December 18, 2025 at 7:45 PM.