“I’m not a regular shul-goer,” said one of the attendees almost sheepishly after Monday night’s evening of solidarity with Israel, “but I just had to come here this evening to daven.”
He was speaking to my colleague after the moving evening of prayer we held at Finchley United Synagogue in the presence of the Israeli ambassador and at which we heard powerful speeches from both the Chief Rabbi and the Prime Minister.
The attendee captured the mood of the room. The evening offered the community the chance to mourn, pray and reflect. As I said on the night, we were there both to show support and to draw support from one another.
We were honoured and very grateful that the Prime Minister was able to reorganise his schedule to join us. Hearing him recognise that when Jews are under attack in Israel, Jews in this country feel less safe, and that his first duty is to protect us, was very reassuring for our community.
I am proud that we could put together such a significant occasion so quickly and that so many people who joined us at Kinloss and online have told us how much it helped them, only a day after emerging from the chaggim. As someone else wrote to tell us, "this was the United Synagogue at its best".
Throughout the week, more than two dozen United Synagogue communities have held services to reflect on the tragic events, to mourn the innocent men, women, children and babies who have been murdered in cold blood and to pray for those taken hostage and the wounded.
Regular shul-goers or not, we have prayed in our tens of thousands this week. In the words of our Acheinu prayer, "may God have compassion and lead them from distress to relief, from darkness to light, and from oppression to freedom, now, swiftly and soon."
The crisis sadly looks set to continue for some time so this week's United email is dedicated to how we can each help the people of Israel.
