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Tag: darkness

  • Rabbi who knew Bondi Beach victim emphasizes importance of celebrating Hanukkah amid tragedy

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    HANUKKAH CELEBRATIONS ARE WELL UNDERWAY. AND TONIGHT A LOCAL CONGREGATION IS MAKING SURE THEY STAND TOGETHER IN THE WAKE OF A DEADLY MASS SHOOTING IN SYDNEY, AUSTRALIA, TARGETING A HANUKKAH EVENT. ORGANIZERS AT THE MONROEVILLE LIGHT OF NIGHT CELEBRATION SAY THEY COORDINATED WITH LAW ENFORCEMENT AHEAD OF THE EVENT, COVERING ALLEGHENY COUNTY IN MONROEVILLE, PITTSBURGH’S ACTION NEWS FOUR REPORTER JORDAN CIOPPA HEARD WHY IT WAS IMPORTANT FOR THE JEWISH COMMUNITY TO KEEP THE TRADITION GOING THIS YEAR, DESPITE THE ANTI-SEMITISM OVERSEAS. IT’S THE SECOND NIGHT OF HANUKKAH, AND TONIGHT, THE JEWISH COMMUNITY IN MONROEVILLE WENT ALL OUT WITH A MENORAH MADE OF ICE. PEOPLE. THE CELEBRATION EMPHASIZING THE IMPORTANCE OF SPREADING LIGHT IN A TIME OF DARKNESS. LET US DEDICATE THE LIGHTS OF THESE CANDLES IN THEIR MEMORY, SO THAT WE CAN ONLY INCREASE IN THE LIGHT. THE CONGREGANTS OF CHABAD JEWISH CENTER OF MONROEVILLE CELEBRATED NIGHT TWO OF HANUKKAH WITH THEIR JEWISH BROTHERS AND SISTERS IN AUSTRALIA. ON THEIR MINDS, JUST REALLY HEARTBROKEN. RABBI MENDY SHAPIRO SAYS HE WAS CLASSMATES WITH RABBI ELI SCHLANGER, ONE OF THE 15 PEOPLE KILLED IN AN ATTACK ON HANUKKAH CELEBRATION ON SYDNEY’S BONDI BEACH. SHAPIRO SAYS HE GREW UP WITH SCHLANGER IN NEW YORK AND HAD RECENTLY CONNECTED WITH HIM AT AN EVENT THERE. HE’S JUST A SPECIAL PERSON AND HIS MESSAGE, I KNOW THAT HE HE WAS THERE AT THIS EVENT, SPREADING LIGHT IN THE FACE OF ALL THE DARKNESS THAT’S GOING ON IN THE WORLD, AND THAT THAT’S SOMETHING THAT I KNOW HE’S BEEN TEACHING. SHAPIRO MADE SURE TO DO THE SAME MONDAY NIGHT. BUNDLED UP IN HEAVY COATS, HATS AND GLOVES, THE CROWD DIDN’T LET THE FRIGID TEMPS HINDER THEM FROM CARRYING ON BELOVED HANUKKAH TRADITIONS. WELL, FOR SURE, OF COURSE, WE’RE LETTING THE MENORAH EVERY NIGHT. WE ALWAYS HAVE THE BATTLE IN OUR FAMILY, WHICH IS WHICH WE LIKE BETTER. THE THE LATKES OR THE JELLY DONUTS. SO WE COMPROMISE AND DO BOTH. AND IT TURNS OUT THE COLD WEATHER MADE THE PERFECT ENVIRONMENT FOR THE MENORAH ICE SCULPTURE, WITH THE WEATHER BEING LIKE IT IS RIGHT NOW AND THE AMOUNT OF PEOPLE THAT SHOWED UP, IT’S JUST IT JUST SHOWS THE IDEA OF COMMUNITY AND IT’S JUST A GREAT TIME. TO. THE CELEBRATION WRAPPED UP WITH CHOCOLATE COINS RAINING DOWN ON THE CHILDREN IN WHAT’S CALLED THE GUILT DROP THROUGH SMILES, LAUGHTER AND LIGHT. THE JEWISH COMMUNITY OF MONROEVILLE SPREADING A POWERFUL MESSAGE THIS HOLIDAY, AND A WAY TO PUSH AWAY DARKNESS IS NOT TO FIGHT. IT IS TO BRING MORE LIGHT. AND WHEN YOU LIGHT SOME MORE LIGHT, YOU PUSH AWAY THE DARKNESS. ORGANIZERS SAY THEY’RE TAKING PRECAUTIONS FOR HANUKKAH DINNER ON THURSDAY AS WELL, COVERING ALLEGHEN

    Rabbi who knew Bondi Beach victim emphasizes importance of celebrating Hanukkah amid tragedy

    Updated: 2:43 AM PST Dec 16, 2025

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    Members of the Chabad Jewish Center of Monroeville near Pittsburgh celebrated night two of Hanukkah with their Jewish brothers and sisters in Australia on their minds. “Let us dedicate the lights of these candles in their memory so that we can only increase in the light,” Rabbi Mendy Schapiro told the crowd at Monroeville’s 10th annual Light up the Night event on Monday. Schapiro told sister station WTAE that he was classmates with Rabbi Eli Schlanger, one of the 15 people killed in an attack on a Hanukkah event on Sydney’s Bondi Beach. The rabbi said he grew up with Schlanger in New York and had recently connected with him at an event there. “He’s such a special person and his message, I know that he was there at this event spreading light in the face of all of the darkness that’s going on in the world,” Schapiro said. “That’s something that I know that he’s been teaching.”Video above: Sacramento rabbi mourns family friend killed at Bondi BeachSchapiro made sure to do the same on Monday night. Bundled up in heavy coats, hats, and gloves, the crowd didn’t let the frigid temps hinder them from carrying on beloved Hanukkah traditions. “Of course, we’re lighting the menorah every night. We always have the battle in our family, which do we like better, the latkes or the jelly doughnuts? So we compromise and do both,” Michael Edelstein said. It turns out the cold weather made the perfect environment for the event’s menorah ice sculpture. “With the weather being like it is right now and the amount of people that showed up, it just shows the idea of community, and it’s a great time,” said Turtle Creek Mayor Adam Forgie. The celebration wrapped up with chocolate coins raining down on the children in what’s called the “gelt drop.”Through smiles, laughter, and light, the Jewish community of Monroeville spread a powerful message this holiday. “The way to push away darkness is not to fight it; it’s to bring more light. And when you light more light, you push away the darkness,” Schapiro said. Organizers said they coordinated with local law enforcement ahead of Monday’s event and an upcoming Hanukkah dinner on Thursday in the name of safety.

    Members of the Chabad Jewish Center of Monroeville near Pittsburgh celebrated night two of Hanukkah with their Jewish brothers and sisters in Australia on their minds.

    “Let us dedicate the lights of these candles in their memory so that we can only increase in the light,” Rabbi Mendy Schapiro told the crowd at Monroeville’s 10th annual Light up the Night event on Monday.

    Schapiro told sister station WTAE that he was classmates with Rabbi Eli Schlanger, one of the 15 people killed in an attack on a Hanukkah event on Sydney’s Bondi Beach.

    The rabbi said he grew up with Schlanger in New York and had recently connected with him at an event there.

    “He’s such a special person and his message, I know that he was there at this event spreading light in the face of all of the darkness that’s going on in the world,” Schapiro said. “That’s something that I know that he’s been teaching.”

    Video above: Sacramento rabbi mourns family friend killed at Bondi Beach

    Schapiro made sure to do the same on Monday night. Bundled up in heavy coats, hats, and gloves, the crowd didn’t let the frigid temps hinder them from carrying on beloved Hanukkah traditions.

    “Of course, we’re lighting the menorah every night. We always have the battle in our family, which do we like better, the latkes or the jelly doughnuts? So we compromise and do both,” Michael Edelstein said.

    It turns out the cold weather made the perfect environment for the event’s menorah ice sculpture.

    “With the weather being like it is right now and the amount of people that showed up, it just shows the idea of community, and it’s a great time,” said Turtle Creek Mayor Adam Forgie.

    The celebration wrapped up with chocolate coins raining down on the children in what’s called the “gelt drop.”

    Through smiles, laughter, and light, the Jewish community of Monroeville spread a powerful message this holiday.

    “The way to push away darkness is not to fight it; it’s to bring more light. And when you light more light, you push away the darkness,” Schapiro said.

    Organizers said they coordinated with local law enforcement ahead of Monday’s event and an upcoming Hanukkah dinner on Thursday in the name of safety.

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  • Copper wire thieves plunge L.A. neighborhood into darkness

    Copper wire thieves plunge L.A. neighborhood into darkness

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    Once the sun sets in the Pico-Union area, workers and residents approach the streets with trepidation. Here, and in other parts of Los Angeles, copper-wire thieves have stripped them of their sense of safety.

    “I had a guy pull a gun on me one night,” said Albert Robles, owner of Robles Carburetors, at Hoover and West 18th streets. Emboldened, he believes, by the cover of darkness, the man was breaking into a car and didn’t want any interference from Robles.

    At the Domino’s across the street, Luis Rojas has worked for three years delivering pizzas. Nowadays, he says, fellow pizza delivery drivers are often scared to leave their cars to go knocking on doors along the gloomy corridor of South Union Avenue between Washington and Venice boulevards.

    “I used to walk to work,” said Rojas, who lives a brisk 10-minute walk from his employment. Now, it’s frightening. “People can follow you.”

    This new layer of fear has become a fact of daily life in Pico-Union, said lifelong resident Aurora Corona. According to locals, entire blocks go dark at night in this L.A. neighborhood that lies west of downtown. One of L.A.’s most densely populated neighborhoods, it is home to about 40,000 people within 1.67 square miles.

    The lack of lighting is an issue Corona cares about and part of the reason the retiree joined the Pico-Union Neighborhood Council; she’s secretary and chair of a committee on quality of life and safety.

    Pico-Union and the Westlake neighborhood have both been greatly affected by the outages, she said, but noted, “It’s a citywide problem.”

    An NBC4 investigation found that of the 223,000 streetlights throughout Los Angeles, 25,000 — or more than 1 in 10 lights — are broken. Vandalism is a problem. Unhoused people sometimes divert power from streetlights to encampments.

    “I understand their situation,” said Corona. On Venice Boulevard, she’s seen people living on the streets struggling to stay warm when temperatures drop at night. But rerouting power has caused streetlights to blow out, she said, or even burst into flames.

    But the problem of copper-wire theft has skyrocketed. Thieves steal the copper to resell as scrap metal. The Bureau of Street Lighting said theft of copper wire from streetlights rose 800% from 2017 to 2023, NBC reported.

    Los Angeles City Council members have been struggling to address copper-wire theft for months, debating whether to levy heavier consequences to deter crime. Thieves absconded with seven miles of copper wire — about $11,000 worth — from the newly rebuilt 6th Street Bridge, plunging the so-called ribbon of light into pitch black last month.

    Meanwhile, in the Pico-Union area, Rojas said he’d seen someone — amid the shadows — attempting to break into a car. And he’s noticed that families no longer walk their kids to the nearby Toberman Park and Pico-Union Vest-Pocket Park after the sun goes down.

    The Olympic Community Police Station did not respond to The Times’ request for comment on whether crime had increased in the area as the lack of working streetlights plunged streets into darkness. Studies have shown, however, that properly lighted streets can reduce criminal activity.

    Yet local residents and business owners have had to wait months on repairs, according to L.A. City Councilmember Eunisses Hernandez, whose district includes Pico-Union. There have been “delays of over six months for broken streetlights,” she said in a statement.

    According to Corona, the city already has spent millions on repairing the damage done to Los Angeles streetlights. But Hernandez says more needs to be spent to “better fund neighborhood services so that our constituents are not left waiting for months for safely lit streets.”

    The Bureau of Street Lighting has already attempted different methods of discouraging thefts — camouflaging or better securing electrical boxes. There’s also the option of transitioning to solar power. But those changes “will take at least five years,” Corona said. And in a year where the city is undergoing a budget deficit and cutting city programs, there are many squeaky wheels officials are trying to grease.

    “I commend the city for attempting to solve the problem,” said Corona.

    Meanwhile, the residents of Pico-Union who are in the dark continue to wait.

    “Right now,” said Rojas, “it’s a little scary.”

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    Jireh Deng

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