'We are reclaiming the joy and light and shining it out'

IT SHOULD have been a celebration - but there was a sombre note in the air as Heaton Park Synagogue marked the start of Hanukkah last night.

- By GRETA SIMPSON

Under the Manchester drizzle, friends and family exchanged hugs in greeting as Chief Rabbi Daniel Walker prepared to take to the stage and light the menorah, a central ritual of the Jewish festival of light which began yesterday.

Groups of children wearing light-up headbands watched with interest as an entertainer span a fluorescent dreidel, which left a mesmerising circle of neon in the dark night air.

Across the world, less than 48 hours previously, a group of people had gathered for an almost identical celebration. But theirs ended in horror, when 16 innocent people's lives were ripped from them in a shocking terrorist attack.

Two gunmen, a father and son, opened fire on a Hanukkah celebration at a park next to Bondi Beach in Sydney on Sunday (December 14), on the first day of the Jewish festival.

It was a despicable attack, but one that will have been all too grimly familiar for this congregation, less than 10 weeks on from the day that terror stalked their doorstep.