Parents of slain journalist to honor son at Hanukkah event

The parents of Steven Sotloff, an American-Israeli journalist murdered by the Islamic State in September, will celebrate the first night of Hanukkah this week by lighting the Chabad center’s outdoor public menorah-lighting in Miami.

Arthur and Shirley Sotloff, both residents of South Florida, were invited to mark the occasion on Tuesday by Rabbi Yossi Harlig and his wife, Nechama, who are both co-directors of the Chabad center.

A post published by the Jewish organization stated that the two had a desire to reach out to Sotloff’s parents, whom they met during the shiva (mourning period) for Steven, and honor the memory of the former Florida native.

“He worked to keep Jewish traditions in dark places, and we felt that really symbolizes the eight-day holiday of Hanukkah, which celebrates freedom and light,” Harlig stated.

Sotloff was captured by jihadists in Aleppo, Syria in August 2013 while working as a freelance journalist covering the Syrian civil war. The 31-year-old spent a year in captivity and was later beheaded in a gruesome video released by the Islamic State in September 2014.

Following his abduction, a massive campaign to hide any public references to Sotloff’s Jewish identity and immigration to Israel was undertaken by his friends and family as a measure to keep the freelance reporter as safe as possible.

“Steve was a proud Jew who always enjoyed the holidays,” his father, Arthur Sotloff was quoted by Chabad as saying. “It was one of his defining characteristics.”

Sotloff attended the University of Central Florida and later the Interdisciplinary Center, Herzliya (IDC) in Israel. The grandson of Holocaust survivors, he “was always focused on revealing persecution wherever it occurred,” his father said, adding “his grandparents taught him about the price of remaining silent.”

While in the Arab world, Sotloff falsely maintained that he was a non-practicing Muslim of Chechen descent. When in captivity, Sotloff reportedly prayed in the direction of Jerusalem during Islamic prayers and refused to eat on Yom Kippur — the Jewish day of repentance that requires adherents to fast — by feigning ill.

“Hanukkah is a time we commemorate the vanquishing of our enemies who tried to deprive us of our right to live with Torah,” Sotloff’s father stated. “The Maccabees fought for Judaism, and Steve fought for the values they endowed us with.”