One day after antisemitic graffiti was found outside Whitman, hundreds of community members gathered at the school on Sunday night to light a menorah and celebrate the first night of Hanukkah. The Chabad of Bethesda and the Glen Echo Fire Department coordinated the event, which brought students, parents, elected officials and Bethesda residents together to symbolically reclaim the site of the Dec. 17 vandalism. 

At 8:00 p.m., the crowd congregated around a six-foot tall menorah located beside Whitman’s sign on Whittier Blvd. Elected officials, religious leaders and community members shared messages of solidarity and compassion with families in the crowd. 

“[Tonight] we are sending a signal and message that we will not stand for hate,” Montgomery County Councilmember Andrew Friedson said at the event. “We will not allow these symbols of hate to speak for who we are.”

After hearing about the incident, community member Leigh Marcus helped organize the event with the fire department and Chabad.

“There is an empathy sign one block away from here,” Marcus told community members. “Whoever did this: shame on them.”

County Executive Marc Elrich, MCPS Superintendent Monifa McKnight and Police Chief Marcus Jones were among the local politicians in attendance. Elrich said that he planned to work with the community to create “new programs” to combat antisemitism in the future. Religious leaders from the Washington Hebrew, Temple Sinai, Beth El and Temple Micah congregations were also present. 

In his speech, Principal Robert Dodd revealed that players on Whitman’s girls basketball team were the first to discover and report the graffiti on Saturday morning. A school staff member helped Dodd cover the graffiti with paper as they waited for police to arrive. Montgomery County Police are currently investigating the vandalism and working to identify possible suspects, MCPD Chief Marcus Jones told community members at the gathering on Sunday night.

Senior Natalie Lowy attended the menorah lighting and said she was taken aback by reports of the hateful vandalism. However, she believes that the act was directly connected to Wednesday’s OneWhitman session on the topic of antisemitism, in which student leaders disproved harmful stereotypes and shared their personal experiences with antisemitism in school.

“As much as I don’t want to believe that someone from our school could have committed such an act, it seems too coincidental,” Lowy said.

At one point during the ceremony, fire trucks from the Glen Echo Fire Department barreled down Whittier Boulevard in a convoy, made with sirens blaring and lights flashing. A menorah and blue lights sat atop the top of the truck, which stopped at Whitman as a part of the annual menorah parade around Bethesda. After Marcus invited the Department to the ceremony, parade organizers opted to include Whitman as a new destination on the route. 

A Fire Department crew member lit the first candle on the menorah as Chabad Rabbi Sender Geisinsky led the crowd in Hanukkah blessings. 

After the lighting, the Whitman community danced to lively holiday music, while members of the Chabad handed out potato latkes, sufganiyot — jelly donuts — and other traditional Hanukkah treats. 

“The menorah lighting was a beautiful way to bring the Jewish community and non-Jewish allies together,” Lowy said. “The fact that so many people showed up is already a great sign that our community is willing to fight for a safe space for Jews.”