| First of all I do want once again to express my deepest gratitude to our amazing staff and volunteers who worked so hard to create our Yom Kippur services, which we hope were meaningful for everyone. Thank you to all our leaders who brought so much, Rav Jacob, Rabbi Sarah Bracha, Janice Rubin, Rabbi Charna Rosenholtz, Ben Stuhl, Ben Kahn and all of our Torah and Haftarah readers. I want to offer appreciation to Mags Leech who, along with Nate, Shauna and April, worked so hard over Yom Kippur on all the logistics, and today is Mags' last day with us at Bonai Shalom. We wish her well in her next phase and thank her for all her amazing work on our communications and so much more!
Tragically, news was trickling in as our services began yesterday about the terrorist attack at a synagogue in Manchester in the UK. It is so horrific, heartbreaking and terrifying that fellow Jews praying on the holiest day of the year were targeted like this, just for being Jews. The Jewish community in the UK has expressed horror, but not surprise as the climate of anti-Jewish and anti-Israel hatred has been steadily growing. Obviously, this has impacted me personally as it was a direct hit on my native country and it was hard to absorb the news while leading services for us all. Ironically, my Yom Kippur sermon was all about circles of trauma based on Yehuda Amichai's poem The Diameter of the Bomb. And here we are again. Although most of my family is in London, which is quite far from the Northern city of Manchester, I do have cousins and friends there; Manchester has the second largest Jewish population after London. Of course, the impact has rippled through the whole Jewish community in the UK, as Jews feel pretty vulnerable there. This hideous crime and its circles of impact is the latest attack on Jews globally, joining in the pain of June 1st in Boulder and May 21st in Washington, DC. We are all shaken and thinking of the victims Adrian Daulby and Melvin Cravitz and their families. Tragically, it does now seem that one of the victims was accidentally shot by the police who was targeting one of the perpetrators. Blessings on their memories and strength and comfort to all the mourners. I am attaching the message from my rabbi, Rabbi Jonathan Wittenberg, below.
As many of us start our preparations for the festival of Sukkot, which is known as Zman Simchateynu, the season of our joy, our joy will be very much tempered by this frightening attack. Sukkot is also about acknowledging our fragility and vulnerability, which is so evident, and we know that our Jewish way to continue our celebrations with pride and resilience, rather than to cave in to the forces of hate. I deeply hope that many of us will be able to spend time in a Sukkah in that sublime shade of faith, however shaky our faith and sense of safety may be.
Wishing us all strength and resilience in the hope that we are all sealed in the book of life!
Blessings for a Shabbat Shalom
Rabbi Marc
Heaton Park Synagogue - Rabbi Jonathan Wittenberg's Message
It was as we were praying to God to remove the sword, disaster and trouble from our communities and the world that we learnt with horror of the despicable terror attack on the community of Heaton Park Synagogue. This terrorist outrage fills us with especially deep sorrow as it was deliberately targeted for the holiest day in our year, when we come before God in unity with all our fellow Jews and all humanity.
Our hearts go out to the families of Adrian Daulby and Melvin Cravitz who were murdered. We feel for their families in their shock and grief. HaMakom Yenachem: May the All-Present God be with them to strengthen and comfort them.
We pray for the swift and complete recovery, refuat henefesh urefu’at haguf, healing in spirit and in body, of everyone wounded. We stand in solidarity with the whole community of Heaton Park in their trauma.
We admire the courage of the congregation and the rabbi, as well as the swift response of the Community Security Trust and the police, in preventing even worse carnage.
This is a time to stress our deep gratitude to the CST and community volunteers, who bravely stand, week in, week out and in all weathers, in front of our own synagogue and along the street to protect us. We are grateful, too, to the local police and to this country’s security services.
Now is a time for solidarity across the Jewish world, between all faiths, and across the whole of civil society. We must stand together against all forms and expressions of antisemitism and all race hatred.
Alongside other Jewish leaders I have received many messages expressing outrage, sorrow and support. These are some from around the Jewish world:
From Rabbi Jacob Blumenthal, CEO of the Rabbinical Assembly: Please know that all of our colleagues around the world are thinking of you, standing in solidarity, and sending much support.
From Zohar, CEO of Kibbtz Re’im: Please send all our love, support and condolences to our extended family at NNLS.
Here are messages from Muslim leaders, signatories to the Drumlanrig Accords:
In the name of God, the Most Compassionate, the Most Merciful.
The tragic events at a synagogue in Manchester, on the holiest day in the Jewish calendar and within a house of worship, have profoundly shaken our communities.
The Qur’an teaches: “Whoever kills one soul, it is as if he has slain all of humanity”. Violence and hatred have no place in our society.
The Drumlanrig Accords are a covenant – a moral contract – between Muslim and Jewish religious leaders in Britain to reject violence, uphold peace, and protect civilians of all backgrounds.
And from the Bishop of Edmonton, North London
The Church of England and the wider Christian community across the UK stand united in condemning such acts, making it unequivocally clear: there is no place for antisemitism and religiously motivated violence in our society and places of worship.
We also appreciate the immediate responses of King Charles and the Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer. The government’s further support in combatting growing antisemitism and racism, and in protecting our, and all, faith communities is essential.
This terrible attack has come at a time when so many in our community already feel vulnerable. But we take strength in the deep resilience of Judaism, the companionship of our community, and the discipline and beauty of Jewish life as structured by the mitzvot, which teach us how to put one foot in front of the other even in the most challenging times. We affirm our belief in the value and sanctity of all life and God’s sacred presence in all existence. We will not be deflected from our faith and values, and will continue to pray to be written, together with all Israel and all people, in God’s book of life.
Rabbi Jonathan Wittenberg |
