Jersey City officials and the community gathered on Thursday to mark the first night of Hanukkah, while also honoring the victims of an attack at a Kosher deli in the city one year ago.

The city held various ceremonies all throughout the day to remember and mourn the victims of the attack. The emotional recovery from that day continues for those of the Jewish faith in Jersey City.

“The best way to fight darkness, the best way to fight hate is with love,” said Rabbi Moshe Schapiro, of Chabad of Jersey City/Hoboken.

Spreading love was the overriding message of Thursday night’s ceremony. Shapiro, along with Jersey City Mayor Steve Fulop, lit the menorah that sits along MLK Drive.

“We light the menorah as a symbol of all the good that’s here in Jersey City,” Fulop said.

The menorah is only a short walk from the Jewish grocery store where the shooting took place. Authorities say that the two gunmen were driven by a hatred for members of the Jewish community and law enforcement.

On Dec. 10, 2019, the gunmen got into a shootout with Detective Joseph Seals at Bayview Cemetery when he tried to confront them. Seals was shot and killed.

Those gunmen then made their way to the small Jewish grocery store about a mile away and opened fire, killing three people inside. The community outside was terrorized for hours as those suspects engaged in a shootout with police officers who responded to the shooting. The gunmen were eventually killed.

Rabbi Schapiro says that the recovery from that day continues.

“Let’s let the world know light will always win. Goodness will always win, and it’s up to each of us. Spread the love and with God’s help, we will only have happy days ahead,” he said.

The grocery store where the shooting took place has been boarded up. The owner has reopened a few doors down from the previous location.