WASHINGTON —

President Joe Biden on Monday expressed alarm about growing antisemitism in the United States and around the globe and vowed to fight back against the scourge.

Speaking to guests gathered for a Hanukkah reception at the White House, Biden said “silence is complicity,” and added that it’s imperative that hate, violence and antisemitism are condemned by the nation.

“This year’s Hanukkah arrives in the midst of rising and emboldened antisemitism at home — and quite frankly, around the world,” Biden said. “I recognize your fear, your hurt, your worry that this vile and venom is becoming too normal.”

The president added: “I will not be silent. America will not be silent.”

The holiday celebration comes during a spate of antisemitic episodes. Former President Donald Trump hosted a Holocaust-denying white supremacist at his Mar-a-Lago club in Palm Beach, Florida. The rapper Ye expressed love for Adolf Hitler in an interview. Basketball star Kyrie Irving appeared to promote an antisemitic film on social media. Neo-Nazi trolls are clamoring to return to Twitter as new CEO Elon Musk grants “amnesty” to suspended accounts.

“Today, we must all say clearly and forcefully: Antisemitism and all forms of hate and violence in this country have no safe harbor in America,” Biden said.

The Anti-Defamation League, a Jewish civil rights group, tracked 2,717 antisemitic instances of assault, harassment and vandalism last year, a 34% increase over the previous year and the highest number since the New York City-based group began tracking them in 1979.

Doug Emhoff, the husband of Vice President Kamala Harris, recently hosted a White House discussion on antisemitism and combating hate with Jewish leaders representing the Reform, Conservative and Orthodox denominations of the faith. At the event, Emhoff, who is Jewish, said he was “in pain right now” over rising antisemitism.

Among those invited to Monday’s White House event were Holocaust survivor Bronia Brandman; Michele Taylor, who is U.S. ambassador to the U.N. Human Rights Council and the daughter of Holocaust survivors; and Avigael Heschel-Aronson, the granddaughter of Jewish theologian Rabbi Abraham Joshua Heschel.

Also present was a rabbi, Charlie Cytron-Walker, who managed to usher his congregants to safety during a synagogue hostage crisis earlier this year. He credited security training that his suburban Fort Worth, Texas, congregation had received over the years for getting him and the other three hostages through the traumatic, 11-hour ordeal.

At the White House celebration, he noted that antisemitism was a growing problem in America but expressed thanks that many Americans — including Biden — are speaking out.

“Antisemitism may be on the rise, but thank God that people are standing by our side,” said Cytron-Walker, who is now a rabbi at Temple Emanuel in Winston-Salem, North Carolina.

A menorah has been added to the White House holiday collection this year, lit nightly during the eight-day Jewish festival of Hanukkah. White House carpenters built the menorah out of sterling silver candle cups and wood that was saved from a Truman-era renovation.

While the White House has borrowed menorahs of special significance in the past, Biden said the addition was needed.

“This year we thought it was important to celebrate Hanukkah with another message of significance, permanence,” Biden said. “The very promise of America is that we all are created equal and deserve to be treated equally throughout our entire lives.”

The first and second families held a menorah lighting ceremony to celebrate Hanukkah at the White House on Wednesday evening, marking the first time the holiday has been celebrated at 1600 Pennsylvania Ave. with the Jewish spouse of a president or vice president."This is a White House tradition, but for the first time in history it is a family tradition," President Joe Biden said during the event in the East Room. He said the White House was honored to have second gentleman Doug Emhoff, who is Jewish, leading the lighting.During remarks at the ceremony, the president said, "The Hanukkah story provides a powerful lesson and nourishes the wellspring of hope. In darkness there's light. In cynicism there's hope, and optimism, and the unyielding belief that miracles are possible."He also recalled something the late Democratic Rep. Tom Lantos of California once said: "The veneer of civilization is paper thin. We are its guardians and we can never rest.""Well, it's paper thin and we are its guardians," Biden added, referencing recent anti-Semitic acts. "All it takes is an opening -- a silver, a crack, the briefest nod of acceptance or legitimacy -- for ancient evils that long plagued our society to come rushing in."During the event, Emhoff recalled a recent visit to his New Jersey childhood home, saying, "I actually got to peer into the house, and I saw the windowsill where our family menorah sat.""And then to think that today I'm here before you as the first Jewish spouse (of) an American president or vice president, celebrating Hanukkah in the people's house — it's humbling," Emhoff said. "And it's not lost before me that I stand before you all on behalf of all the Jewish families and communities out there across our country. I understand that and I really appreciate it."Emhoff underscored that "our history, our values as Jews, are an essential part of who we are as Americans. Jewish values are American values, and I believe this deeply."First Lady Jill Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris also spoke. Both emphasized the significance of the holiday's symbolic story of light amid darkness."Every year our family, like so many around the world, gather to reflect on the lessons of the Hanukkah story," Harris said. "The power of the people. The possibility of the future. That even in despair, there is hope. That even in darkness, there is light."According to the White House, the menorah used during the ceremony is the Liberty Bell menorah, on loan from the National Museum of American Jewish History in Philadelphia."The artist, Manfred Anson (1922-2012), was a Holocaust survivor and collector of Judaica, who designed this menorah in honor of Philadelphia's very own Liberty Bell," a White House description says. "The bells were cast from a souvenir tchotchke that Anson collected after immigrating to the U.S., and each is inscribed with the name of a Jewish American."A phrase inscribed on the Liberty Bell, "Proclaim Liberty Throughout All the Land Unto All the Inhabitants thereof," is also featured prominently on the menorah.Along with Emhoff, the menorah was lit by Dr. Rabbi Aaron Glatt, Jewish community leader Susan Stern and Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, a New York Democrat.