Communal Chanukah party will go ahead in Melbourne
A COMMUNAL Chanukah celebration is due to be held at Caulfield Racecourse to replace Chanukah in the Park, which was cancelled last week “because of the security situation” despite advice from the Community Security Group (CSG) that the function “could have taken place, safely, with appropriate security measures in place”.
A COMMUNAL Chanukah celebration is due to be held at Caulfield Racecourse to replace Chanukah in the Park, which was cancelled last week “because of the security situation” despite advice from the Community Security Group (CSG) that the function “could have taken place, safely, with appropriate security measures in place”.
At the time of going to print the final agreement between the racecourse and organisers hadn’t been signed, but Rabbi Mendel Haller, from L’Chaim Chabad, said that the celebration will go ahead.
“We decided after a lot of discussion that we needed to have a large communal celebration for Chanukah and we will on Thursday, December 10,” Rabbi Haller told The AJN.
“For the last 23 years we have been privileged to have an event in the park, but this year it has been cancelled so we decided that the best place to have it would be the racecourse because it is very versatile, there is onside parking and it can be secured by police and CSG.
“We will have a menorah lighting, fantastic rides and hopefully fireworks. It will be a great celebration.”
The announcement from Rabbi Haller came just days after Chabad House of Caulfield’s Rabbi Joseph Gutnick announced that Chanukah in the Park wouldn’t go ahead, “because of the security situation and that Chabad directive”, referring to an email from Chabad headquarters in New York last week that urged people to avoid participating in events with large crowds of people.
“Chabad made its statement about open large events and CSG said that because the park doesn’t have a fence and there will be fireworks that it would be impossible to protect it.”
Denying that the decision had anything to do with the cost, following headlines about the state of his finances last week, Rabbi Gutnick added, “People are putting pressure on me to have the event because they think it’s about money.
“We’ve even had sponsors offer to pay for the whole event, but this is about security and I won’t take the risk because in Australia the question isn’t if there will be a terrorist attack, but when.”
CSG Victoria’s head Ricky Pearl told The AJN he is disappointed the event was cancelled for security reasons because his organisation said it would be able to secure the event.
“No doubt, the current security climate is concerning and a large, open event such as Chanukah in the Park carries a particular threat profile.
“However, CSG Victoria wants to reassure the community that it did not advise organisers to cancel the event and CSG Victoria is of the view that the event could have taken place, safely, with appropriate security measure in place.”
Other events across Australia are expected to proceed with the assistance of CSG and police in each state.
To help Chanukah at Caulfield Racecourse email chanukahmelbourne@gmail.com.
JOSHUA LEVI
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