Congregants at Temple Beth El who had gathered to celebrate the last night of Hanukkah were met by a group of neo-Nazi demonstrators who waved red-and-black swastika flags outside the Reform synagogue in Riverside, Calif., on Friday evening.

Rabbi Suzanne Singer said she suspects that the demonstration - the third such protest in recent months at the temple - was connected to a counter protest held by members of the synagogue in September, when neo-Nazis protested at a day laborer site.

"It's not that were unconcerned," she said in an interview Saturday. "We're just not going to allow them to dictate how we worship and how we live as Jews."

Ryan Lester-Wilson, 61, said he noticed the group of fewer than 12, but ignored them and went inside the temple. When asked Saturday morning why the temple was targeted, Lester-Wilson was at a loss. "It's a temple," he said. "They're Nazis."

Lester-Wilson said that at the last demonstration, local church members joined with congregants at Temple Beth El, attending services in a show of solidarity.