For several years, a menorah has stood alongside the Christmas tree inside the county courthouse in Missoula, Mont. This year, a local rabbi asked officials to erect a Hanukkah display on the courthouse lawn, too, to show support for the community’s small Jewish population.
The request sparked a passionate public debate — one that has played out in a handful of other places across the country, as the Israel-Hamas war has inflamed tensions and raised concerns among some Jews about visible displays of their religion at a time of discord and rising antisemitism.
“In this specific historic moment,” said Josh Slotnick, a county commissioner in Missoula who is Jewish, a large outdoor menorah could “erroneously be seen as a political symbol, not a religious symbol.”
Across the country, most public celebrations of Hanukkah, the eight-night Jewish holiday that begins Thursday at sundown, appear to be going ahead without disruption, according to the Jewish Federations of North America, which works with Jewish event organizers across the United States.
In Detroit, “we have more R.S.V.P.s this year than we have had in previous years,” said Benji Rosenzweig, a producer of an annual menorah lighting ceremony. Police agencies in the city have said they plan to keep a close eye on potential threats.
Security Community Network, a nonprofit organization that advises Jewish institutions, responded to questions about the safety of Hanukkah celebrations with a video briefing on Tuesday that encouraged people to go ahead, but also to prepare for possible demonstrations, and to stay in touch with local law enforcement.
“We take security very seriously,” said Eric Fingerhut, the president of the Jewish Federations, which organized the security network after 9/11 and has seen it expand rapidly since the 2018 murder of 11 Jewish worshipers in Pittsburgh. “But the goal of the security is to enable us to continue to participate in Jewish life actively.”
A small number of Hanukkah-related events have drawn extra attention or controversy this year, including in Williamsburg, Va., where organizers of a community festival decided not to include a menorah lighting, drawing condemnation from the state’s Republican governor, Glenn Youngkin.
“Singling out the Jewish community by canceling this Hanukkah celebration is absurd and antisemitic,” he posted on social media.
A festival organizer did not respond to requests for comment, but told other news outlets that the festival had always welcomed Jewish participants and that it had never hosted a menorah lighting before.
Rabbi Mendy Heber of Chabad Williamsburg, who had requested the ceremony, described the decision as “a kick in the gut.” But he noted that a lighting would still take place at William & Mary, a university in Williamsburg.
“We’re going to make this Hanukkah bigger and brighter than ever,” he said. “That is how we respond to darkness.”
In some homes, however, concerns about safety and disagreements over the war have led Jews to ask if they feel comfortable with a public display of their religion.