On Wednesday, October 11, at sunset, for the second time in less than a week, the lights that line the Manhattan Beach pier glowed blue and white. Last Friday, October 6, the colors were in memory of Manhattan Beach Police Officer Chad Swanson, who died in a collision while riding his motorcycle to work.
On Wednesday, the blue and white lights were in observance of a similarly unfathomable tragedy, but this one was many times the magnitude.
Last Saturday, one day after Officer Swanson’s accident, Hamas invaded Israel. Saturday was the final day of Sukkot, which commemorates the 40 years the Jewish people wandered in the desert after fleeing slavery in Egypt.
The blue and white pier lights Wednesday evening were part of a show of solidarity with Israel, organized by local Jewish and Christian leaders, and attended by over 500 people.
Chabad of the Beach Cities’ Rabbi Yossi Mintz greeted the gathering at the pierhead by relating his response to being asked if he has brothers or sisters in Israel.
“I tell them, yes. Seven million.”
He thanked representatives of the different religious groups who helped organize the gathering, and warned against the dangers of divisiveness in both Israel and the U.S.
Rabbi Ye’ela Rosenfeld, of Temple Shalom in Hermosa Beach told the gathering that after she spoke on Sunday to family members in Israel the word that came to her mind was “Holocaust.”
Mia Langstein, a member of the Mira Costa High Jewish Cultural Club reflected on the fact that her cousins, who are her age, are being called up by the Israeli Defense Forces.
“I grew up hearing, ‘Never again.’ And here we are, again,” she said. She closed her remarks by saying, “Stand tall. Be a proud Jew. We will get through this.”
Rabbi Yitzi Megalick, of Congregation Ner Tamid, in Palos Verdes, recalled a day in 1984, when he was a teen in Crown Heights, Brooklyn, and attended temple services led by the widely revered Rabbi Menachem Mendel Schneerson.
“A distinguished-looking man entered, and began talking to the Rabbi. Years later, in 2009, I heard a speech to the United Nations by then-Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
“I realized he was the distinguished-looking man I saw in temple that day in 1984.”
In his UN talk, Netanyahu recalled Rabbi Menachem Mendel Schneerson telling him, “‘There is an assembly hall there that has eternal falsehood, utter darkness….Remember that in a hall of perfect darkness, totally dark, if you light one small candle, its light will be seen from afar. Its precious light will be seen by everyone. Your mission is to light a candle for truth and the Jewish people.'”
Rabbi Tzvi Graetz, told the Manhattan Pier gathering it is everyone’s responsibility to be that light.
Manhattan Beach Councilmember Amy Howorth reminded the gathering, “There is power in community,” and that the country’s political leaders, from the city council, to the President were united in support of Israel.
Assemblymember Al Muratsuchi held an Israeli flag when he expressed his support to the crowd.
Nichols Gonzales spoke on behalf of Congressional Representative Ted Lieu, who was in Washington D.C. He said Representative Lieu echoed President Joseph Biden’s condemnation of Hamas, in describing Hamas as “the meaning of evil.” And that there will be no peace until Hamas is dismantled
Rabbi Mintz expressed his gratitude for the political support, but also cautioned, “Never again will we leave our future in the hands of others.”
He then led the crowd in reciting the Prayer for the Israeli Defense Forces.
Donations to Israeli families may be made through the United for Israel Fund at JCCMB.com. ER
