JUNO BEACH, Fla. — It was an important evening for Jewish Community Synagogue on Wednesday when the congregation members and others showed their strength and relit the menorah made out of sand after someone vandalized it in Juno Beach.
Juno Beach
Giant sand-sculpted menorah in Juno Beach defaced with swastika
"It's today that we see hope of our community," Jewish Community Center Rabbi Leib Ezagui said on the seventh day of Hanukkah.
The original was destroyed and left with a swastika. It was discovered that way Tuesday morning.
“We come here all the time, this is way too close to home," Melanie Stanton, a member of the congregation in North Palm Beach, said. "Something like that. It's so blatant and it’s so obvious. It's so full of hate.”
During a time of war and darkness in Israel, they rekindled the light.
They cheered when it happened.
“This symbol in particular has enormous meaning and it’s about resilience and it’s about survival and it’s about bringing light to the world so they’re not going to destroy us," Joseph Gon, executive director of the Jewish Federation of Palm Beach County, said.
The original artist wasn't available but John May, another artist, stepped in.
Six hours later, the menorah stood again.
“To be able to come out here, have a few people stop by and give me some encouragement for fixing it and nice to know that the rabbi and the synagogue are not just caving in to some meaningless vandalism," May said.
And even in windy and rainy circumstances, the Jewish community is grateful and proud to express their faith.
“I just felt like I needed to be here to see it rebuilt, to see the community come together," Stanton said. "Like seeing it lit makes me want to cry all over again because it’s just so beautiful, that like this is what it should be, this positivity in this community.”