‘We Are A People Blessed With Hope’: Garber Addresses Affiliates During Annual Chabad Menorah Lighting

Harvard President Alan M. Garber ’76 stressed the importance of maintaining hope through crisis and believing in a “better future” amid a week marked by gun violence during a Monday night Hanukkah celebration organized by Harvard Chabad.

The celebration — part of Chabad’s annual weeklong lighting festivities during the Jewish holiday — drew more than 100 affliates and several administrators to the steps of Widener Library, including Dean of Students Thomas G. Dunne and Dean of Admissions William R. Fitzsimmons ’67.

Garber — speaking just minutes after Harvard Corporation Senior Fellow Penny S. Pritzker ’81 announced his term as Harvard president would be extended indefinitely — thanked Harvard Chabad for its unrelenting courage and stewardship of Jewish faith on campus during a planned address to the crowd.

“As we were reminded so tragically just a few days ago, being in Chabad can actually carry a lot of direct risk and the recent tragedy is not the first one,” Garber said, referencing a shooting that took place during a Hanukkah celebration in Sydney, Australia early Sunday morning.

“I just want to express my gratitude — and I hope the gratitude of all of us — for what you have done to build community and the sacrifices you have made,” he added.

Garber then referenced the story of Hanukkah — the revolt of Jewish Maccabees to reclaim Jerusalem from the ruling Seleucid Empire — telling attendees to persevere even when modern tragedies feel inescapable.

“When you think about the Maccabees battling against the Seleucids, they were not optimists,” he said. “They knew that they were battling against a far more powerful force and that their prospects of success in that battle were quite remote, but they did have hope, and that is why they committed to defending the Jewish way of life.”

“We are a people blessed with hope,” Garber added.

During the ceremony, Harvard Chabad President Rabbi Hirschy Zarchi said that Jewish affiliates were still mourning the Bondi Beach shooting, which underscored global concerns over rising antisemitic violence. Australian officials have described the shooting — which killed at least 15 people and hospitalized dozens more — as a terrorist act motivated by “Islamic State ideology.”

“Truth is, it’s very difficult to speak,” Zarchi said, noting that one Harvard Chabad rabbi who grew up minutes from Bondi Beach and two other Harvard College students from Australia decided not to speak at the event due to ongoing grief.

He went on to contextualize the shooting with chants of “globalize the intifada,” a phrase used often by some pro-Palestine activists to call for expanded resistance against Israel.

Referencing pro-Palestine protesters on Harvard’s campus — who have used the phrase in chants during some on-campus demonstrations — Zarchi condemned its use and linked it to the recent violence.

“Even in our own midst, we heard chants over the last few years to ‘globalize the intifada,’” he said. “What happened in Sydney, Australia to men, women, and children — just being Jewish and celebrating Hanukkah — was a manifestation of globalizing the intifada.”

Zarchi also congratulated Garber for being extended as Harvard’s president, eliciting cheers and whistles from the crowd.

After the ceremony, several attendees said they were encouraged by the cohesion and unity on display from affiliates in the wake of the tragedy.

“We know that the way to combat antisemitism is to keep being Jewish and be more proud, which is exactly what everyone’s doing here by continuing to celebrate out in the open and be together,” Rose N. Friedman ’28 said.

Erica S. Ho ’27 and Josh A. Kaplan ’26 — the co-presidents of Harvard Chabad’s student board — said they were proud to continue Chabad’s 25-year long tradition of holding public menorah lightings during Hanukkhah in an interview after the event.

“It’s unique because we’re in public, we’re not inside, we’re not in a private space,” Ho said. “It’s really demonstrating that Harvard is proud of the Jewish identity and the Jewish community that is fostered.”

Kaplan, for his part, said the turnout demonstrated a collective resolve to support one another despite fear and uncertainty.

“People are definitely scared,” he said. “But we’re so happy. It’s an honor to be here. It’s an honor to be able to spread a light in these dark times.”