‘Nothing will ever feel the same again’published at 20:30 BST 2 October
20:30 BST 2 October
Lucy Manning
Special correspondent
The Jewish festival of Yom Kippur has finished.
As British Jews across the UK attended synagogue this morning for the holiest day in the Jewish calendar, many found out that there had been an attack outside a synagogue in Manchester.
The horror filtered across the synagogue in whispers.
It is a day of fasting, reflection and prayer, when Jewish people believe it is the day that sets how their year will go.
The words used in one of the most significant prayers on this day: “on Yom Kippur it is sealed… who will live and who will die”.
Today, terror came to British Jews at their synagogue, and many absolutely fear for their safety. Security is already mandatory for synagogues, Jewish schools and community centres, but it is unable to fully keep out the hate.
Jewish people greet each other on Yom Kippur with a phrase in Hebrew “G’mar Chatima Tovah”. It’s interpreted as “may you have a good and final sealing in the book of life”.
Two Jewish people in Britain lost their lives today and for the community here, some who over generations fled persecution to these shores, who always viewed Britain as a safe haven, but have been rocked by an increase in antisemitism, nothing will ever feel the same again.