Heaton Park, Manchester, UK | From 9 Av to 7 October: Season 3

[00:00:00]Adore [music and singing] [music] [singing] [music] you. [music] [singing] [music] Ooh. [singing] [music] Oh, [music] >> I am Rabbi Daniel Walker. I'm the rabbi here of the Hiten Park Shaw. I have been here for 18 years um almost. So, we're part of the Hit Park Shaw is part of the um broader Manchester community. We have a lot of uh a lot of shores in Manchester, particularly in the area where we are in the Manchester sulfur press area of North Manchester. Um we're one of the bigger shores. Um in terms of community size, one of the biggest in terms of physical size, possibly the biggest um and we've been here for a long time and we're very much part of the fabric of the of the community.

[00:01:11]So the events of the day happened very early on. So almost the very beginning of davening it was already clear that something wasn't quite right. Um that being said for the first few moments at least when I was in Shaw it felt like a normal um yum kipa morning we were getting ready there was we just actually just started davening and there was very nice atmosphere. The group of people who were already here at that time were all very close with each other know each other very well. Um I had a chance to speak to the ballet filler briefly. It was a very pleasant um Yam Kipper morning and we were really frankly looking forward to it. I look forward to Yam Kipper. It's a very beautiful and and and um and uplifting and special day of course and it felt um it felt like it was going to be a good a good young kippa. Essentially our attacker came um in repeatedly. So just after 9:00 uh the very beginning of Davening or just before 9:00 a little bit before I arrived he had already been interacting with our security our paid and our volunteer security at the gate already behaving in a very suspicious way in a very negative way. So there was already a sense from the very beginning when I first arrived I arrived to a sense of um constonnation at the gate.

[00:02:33]People were disturbed, should we say. I wouldn't say worried. Um, I don't think anyone had any idea it would develop into what it would do. Well, I know no one had any idea it would develop into what it would do, but it wasn't right.

[00:02:45]There was something off. Uh, definitely.

[00:02:48]So moment I realized that something was seriously wrong. Uh I was in here in the sh space and we heard a very loud bang which we think was his um our attacker's vehicle crashing into the side of the gates um at the entrance to our short time after that. I think we thought that was probably something from the main road outside the sh is on a busy road.

[00:03:17]I think we thought it was possibly a car accident or something. Um but very quickly after hearing that bang, one of the leaders of the community, one of the lady leaders of the community um ran into this into the shore shouting to close the doors. So the shaws at the back, the doors, excuse me, at the back of the shaw were open. Um at least one of them was. And so he had been outside when our attacker attacked. He had seen what happened. and with very great his name is Allan and with very great um um just almost the perfect reaction if you will um Allan um ran into the shaw to lock the doors to keep our attacker out.

[00:04:02]Um, so I first became aware of it when he then ran into the main shore shouting for us to close and secure the back of the shaw, the back entrances, the emergency entrances to the stroll at the back um to the back as well.

[00:04:16]Um so what had already happened is that like I say our attacker had been had gone and they had come back in his car and drove his car into the into our security guard um standing in the in the entrance way ran over our security guard Bernard and um and really badly injured him. He's um he's recovering but he's still badly injured.

[00:04:41]um had driven his car into him and then as we now know later he had as we as I found out later as we now know he then got out of his car and um Melvin a very dear and and special man a member of our community. Melvin was coming into Shaw. Melvin Kravitz was coming into Shaw and he attacked him and he um and he murdered him there in the entrance where Melvin died. Alish Hashem trying to get into Shaw.

[00:05:17]So also outside of that time were two volunteers from the shaw volunteer security and that was um Alan and um and Andrew and Andrew went to um help Bernard um and to stop the attacker getting in and Allan quickly ran to close the front doors of the shore which were open at that point to close them and lock them and keep him outside. The the attacker attacked Andrew and wounded him very very badly.

[00:05:44]Again he's also very badly injured. is again recovering but he hasn't fully recovered.

[00:05:49]So of course all of this I wasn't aware of. I was only aware when Alan having done all of this ran into the shul and um and told us to close the back doors on Adrien who later was to um also um die um shot by um by the police who were um neutralizing our attacker. He was in short at that point and he leapt up and closed the rear doors and thereby made sure that we were secure as well and saved the lives of everyone inside as well because we know our attacker was trying to find different ways of getting into the building.

[00:06:26]So, one of the astonishing thing is how quickly and how um correctly um Adrian's response was. And to be totally honest, I think I froze. Um Adrien because like I say, you have to process why what's going on? why Adrian moved very very quickly and um and and slammed the doors straight away and and we we we were secure. I definitely took a few more seconds to process what was going on.

[00:06:50]And then I went out into the foyer with where another number of men already were and more came out at the same time or were just after me [snorts] to see what was going on. And so when we went outside, the first thing I became aware of was that Andrew was extremely badly wounded. Um he was he was in the foyer extremely badly wounded horrifically badly wounded.

[00:07:12]Um say thank God he's he is recovering but the the injuries were quite terrible.

[00:07:20]Um so that was my first response was to try and give some um first aid um to him and then and then and then happily other people who were better at first aid than me came and and gave him first aid. And then we became aware that there was someone outside with a big knife and a um what looked like a bomb belt um who was trying to smash his way in through the doors. The doors had been locked.

[00:07:43]Allan had locked the doors. Um but he was still trying to smash his way in, throwing his weight against the doors. Um throwing things at the doors.

[00:07:55]So um a number of men um were holding the doors, bracing the doors to make sure he couldn't he couldn't uh he couldn't get in. So I guess the first response was was really Andrew the first thing that I saw and then quite quickly afterwards you realize that there's how what has happened someone is there I didn't know um about Melvin until much later much later in the afternoon because where he was nifa was outside the gate and not visible from where I was inside and even when we even after that we were rushed out of the building so we didn't really get a chance to see what was around the building so I could just say what we were doing really so we we were holding the doors.

[00:08:35]Um obviously the main worry was that um we could get the help we needed um for Andrew. Like I say, we didn't I certainly wasn't really aware of what had happened outside.

[00:08:49]I couldn't even really properly see the car from where I was. Um but inside we had Andrew who was very badly injured.

[00:08:56]And so our first I think our first worry was was Andrew that somehow we shall get him the medical care that he needs but which we couldn't get because there was someone outside trying to get in. So that was the that was the dominant if you will fear. Less was the fear that he was going to get in cuz I don't think we thought he was going to get in cuz we were bracing the doors.

[00:09:17]Um what felt like at least half an hour went by. We now know that it was just minutes. It was I think seven minutes is what they say. It definitely felt a lot longer than that. But within literally a few minutes the police had already arrived. Armed police and most most British policemen are not armed. Um but um armed police were dispatched very very quickly. They were on site. I think it's 7 or 8 minutes. they were already here after the first um 999 call, the first call to the police, which happened straight after um he he had he began his attack. So, it really wasn't a long time at all, although it felt it was um they um the the police um neutralized our our attacker. They they they shot him. Um as they were doing so, however, a bullet came through the door that we were standing by. Um the dominant memory, however, is that everyone was doing um the best things they could possibly do.

[00:10:25]Um I remain um in awe of of everyone's of everyone's actions. So yes, there was almost like this um this this division of labor, if you will. So, there were some people giving first aid um to Andrew, there was other people holding the doors, there was others um calling the police. Um there was others trying to keep some of the children who were here calm. And everyone was really doing really doing their their their part. It was I don't remember there being any panic. Um I just remember people people doing acting very very courageously and very um just doing the right thing. It was very quite quite inspiring to be honest. So once the police arrived the I heard the sound of shots and then one of the men who was in the foyer with us, man called Yanni um he was a bullet came through the door and he was hit um by by a bullet.

[00:11:21]The same bullet, it would appear, also hit another man, Adrian, who I mentioned earlier, who after doing what he did the beginning, closing the back doors, then ran into the front to help in the in at the front of the drum. Um, he was hit also by the same bullet. Um, Yanni was again very badly injured, [snorts] had to undergo a lot of surgery. Thank God.

[00:11:46]He's doing much better. You should also have a speedy and complete recovery.

[00:11:51]Adrien Zaha um was killed when he was when he was hit by the bullets.

[00:12:00]>> That was right in front of your eyes.

[00:12:02]>> That was next to me. Yeah. Yeah. Um Yeah. Okay.

[00:12:11]So, like I say, the the the calm, the courage, and the ability to do what needed to be done. Um, which undoubtedly well, which I know for absolute fact, um, saved many, many lives. Well, yes, Adrian closing the back door. Um, Andrew's um, literally fighting with our attacker at the cost of horrendous injuries to himself. Alan's very quick thinking to run and to close the doors. All the people that tended to Andrew and did first aid and the people that held the doors, the people that tended to Yanni and to Adrian, um all of their actions will always be very very um very very clear in my mind because they they they literally saved lives.

[00:13:05]So the immediate aftermath was managed by the police and the and the um the police security services and also the um the ambulance services. So the immediate aftermath involved us all being herded into a rear part of the site. Um and we were all kept together which was um which was a blessing.

[00:13:29]Um because so we were we were first of all taken to the back of the sh and I remember thinking then I don't think we we we had fully realized that this young kipper wasn't going to go back to being a normal young kipper. Of course, it already wasn't a normal young gibber, but everything happened extremely quickly and it just it it everything took a while to to to to um to soak in properly. But quite quickly after we were herded into the back of the shore, we were then taken out of the shaw as well because they realized I think it's because they realized they had a bomb belt and there was or may have had a bomb belt and so there was then a bomb threat. So we everyone had to be evacuated and so we were slowly moved down the road outside but still kept together and I don't have an exact timeline but not a terribly long time afterwards we found ourselves um waiting essentially waiting for the police to tell us what to do on a side street just down the road and many of the this is a Jewish area so many many um people had come out to help us to give um blankets kits and and and cuz everyone was just taken out in the clothes they were standing in and even though it wasn't a cold day, people were in shock. So, people were bringing out blankets and coats and chairs for people to sit on, particularly some of the older people.

[00:14:50]Um, and we realized that we're not getting back in anytime soon.

[00:14:56]And so then the question was, so what will be with Kipper?

[00:15:02]and we decided that what we'll do with Yam Kipper is that we came to Davin and we're going to Davin. Um he in my in my in my perspective he was um attacking um he was attacking Ashaw he was attacking Yiddish he was attacking Yam Kippa um and I wasn't going to allow him to be successful in that attack allow him to to um to take away and keep her from us.

[00:15:33]And so we began to daven um in the streets. Um one of the most of us hadn't been able to grab our max because the police moved us very quickly out. Um one person had the presence of mind to have a maka with them. They had hold held on to their maka. We had one makah and we had a few more maka were bought out to us from the from the houses nearby and we continued we were in the middle of suki zra and we consider we continue and then after a short period of time we then moved to a different site by the police under heavy guard because we needed to give um um emergency um briefings on what had happened so the police could do their their counterterrorism and make sure what they needed to make know of there was no further threats. Whatever the police needed to do involved asking us to give a first interview, if you will. And so we were all moved again together to a to a um to a police facility.

[00:16:33]And everyone went in one by one to be interviewed. And that meant that most of us were able were together because it was very slow process. And so we were able to daven and the police went to a shaw nearby their facility um and asked to borrow um cidurim and that shaw I don't think they had any idea why um they were being asked by police officers for sudora um but they gave them a pile of cidurim they weren't murim which meant that we could only den the main parts we didn't have a lot of the extra parts of Russian in we had we had the main parts of the vidi and [snorts] so we were able to um continue ding. So we we dav Shakris Musf um in the somewhat abbreviated like I say but we were able to daven um Shakris and Musaf in the um in the police um in the police facility was it was a police college. Um and then one of the things which should always stick in my mind is that most of the people had finished most of our most of our members had finished being interviewed and at the end of the interview the police said we could go home and of course by this point families um the police had notified families that people were okay but still people hadn't seen their families all day. It was late in the day. It was Mena time already and there was every reason why people would want to leave as quickly as possible.

[00:17:58]Absolutely understandably.

[00:18:00]And people chose to stay so that we could have a mena. Um so there was no laning, there was no ma, we'd have a we didn't have Yeah. But we were able to dam um in that facility and and that really I think set the tone for all of our reaction to this thing.

[00:18:19]He attacked he attacked Hashem. all your enemies, Hashem. He attacked Hashem and we weren't allowing that to um he weren't going to allow him to win. He he hurt us very very grievously.

[00:18:34]As we found out in the course of that day, it killed two very very wonderful wonderful men and like I say injured three other very good men. But he wasn't going to win in his attempt to destroy um Yim Kippa and Yiddish and to break us. And I think that framed our reaction from then on. Um we were able to reconvene for Nila at least some of us.

[00:19:01]Not everyone was able to because it was hard to move around the streets was very heavy police presence but we reconvened in a different in a different place a communal building for Nila and we dila and we didn't miss um a single daving hasn't been missed chakra stay in my house in kipa didn't finish.

[00:19:19]Davlining didn't finish. Um, Sukus, we we we we continued and we and we and we did what we came to do that day. We davened. [snorts] I really I I tried to take um inspiration from what I know of what happens in Israel. [snorts] Um I lived in Israel for many years. I've seen unfortunately I haven't been in involved in Pukuim in terrorist attacks, but I've been been on on the periphery and aware of them. And I know that um that's often um typically the the Israeli way is to try to get back to um to normality as quick as humanly possible. And that that's what we try to emulate here.

[00:19:59]Just to add a tiny bit more to the aftermath because the aftermath is um is exceptionally relevant to to the answer.

[00:20:07]So we weren't immediately able to return to Shaw. Shul was essentially a crime scene for a few more days. There was a Shabas immediately in Cape was a Thursday. And there was immediately shabas and there was sukus.

[00:20:19]We didn't actually come fully back into the shul building until schminet terrace morning.

[00:20:25]So in between um yam kipa and shinet terrace shabus yams etc. Shabas kamoid we were using different borrowed um facilities which were lent to us by very very very very kind members of the community who really really supported us in every possible way.

[00:20:43]Um and those davings, those fillers were were just um amongst the most uplifting davenings I've ever had. I was afraid of fear. So my fear was that people will be quite justifiably um afraid and would disconnect, would run away, would not want to come. And that was that that was what was keeping me that's what was worrying me. would keep me awake at night that that he would win, that he would terrorize us, and that people would be afraid to come and be um part of the killer, part of the community. And my my fears were were completely unfounded. That's not what happened at all. Uh on the contrary, we probably had more people. We certainly didn't have any less.

[00:21:30]People came and we davened and we danced and we rejoiced.

[00:21:36]um already on the first Friday night we don't normally dance but we dance that that we dance straight afterwards because um terrace we came in in the morning we had a yizka then it's suster by night we had a full sustera we didn't cail it that was back here yeah in this space yeah we didn't cail sustera in any way um the we didn't cail at all the the sim of sima in any And then immediately following Yongf um by that point um so much else had happened um I can't even begin to describe um but by then by straight after sukus after after some um I don't I didn't I was totally worn out myself and some friends of mine rabbis local rabbis got in touch and said they wanted to do something special for Friday night of Shabasius And I know my response was I just I'm just half and they said don't worry we'll we'll sort it. All we have to know is that you're not going to use the smaller dabing space at the back of the shore but we're going to use the main davening space.

[00:22:50]So that Friday night when I came out my house to come to shore, there were streams of people walking past my house and I was like I remember looking at my wife and wondering where are the so many people going and when I came here [snorts] um there was hundreds and hundreds of people here and that was just um the beginning of the stream. By the time David dabing started, there was more than a thousand people in this space.

[00:23:19]Every inch of this room was packed. We long ran out of sedorim. We didn't have anywhere near that many sedorim. We were we were pulling old cedarim from from from um cupboards we didn't know we still had. And there were still four people to each sitter.

[00:23:36]And we had the most beautiful uplifting and fire night davening with dancing and with singing and a great togetherness of um of every [snorts] every strand of the kaha from all over the man killer. The kasha community they came every type and every um every every sector of the community was here and that for me is the most important message. Um, we can't allow anti-semitism to actually terrorize us into um, desisting or or or even and doing anything less in our open proud service of Hashem and our practice of Yiddish. We cannot allow. That's what our enemies want. They're not just coming after our bodies. They're also coming after our souls. They want to destroy our faith, our beliefs and our practices. And we can't allow that. But also, we can't just um survive it. It's not enough to do. We have to do it with joy as well. One of the things that I am most grateful to Hashem for is that we were able to find it within us while at the same time to be carrying terrible tragedy and terrible pain. to be able to rejoice at the same time to be able to dance on that Shabas on silkus on some on that shabas moracious we were able to continue not just kite but kkite which is lived with with joy and with um and with vitality because without the joy and vitality nothing nothing lasts you can only be defiant for so long the joy of the joy of of being Jewish has to also be there um as well and all of that can only be predicated on on on a very strong level of ammon um on faith in Hashem. We have to see things as being part of the stream of Jewish history. Um we have many we have had many enemies over all of our very long exile and saved us from all of them. He was saved from these enemies as well. And our job as Jews is to continue being open and proud, proud, observant and um and joyful um and joyful Jews.

[00:25:57]>> As we gather on Tishaba and recite the keynote, we confront a question that accompanies this day every year. Why do we continue to mourn tragedies that occurred centuries and millennia ago?

[00:26:10]The destruction of the first Beta Mikdash took place more than 2500 years ago. The second Beethmic Dash was destroyed nearly 2,000 years ago. The Crusades occurred almost a millennia ago. The expulsions from England and Spain belonged to distant centuries.

[00:26:28]Yet every year we sit on the floor, remove our shoes, lower our voices, and return to these ancient laments. Why?

[00:26:37]Because tishab is not simply a commemoration of past tragedies. It's the annual encounter with a reality that has accompanied the Jewish people ever since the destruction of the first beta mikdash. A world that is not yet redeemed.

[00:26:54]A world in which Hashem's presence is not yet fully revealed.

[00:26:58]A world in which hatred still exists. A world in which Jews are still sometimes targeted simply because they're Jews.

[00:27:07]And therefore, every generation discovers that taba is not merely about history. It's about us.

[00:27:15]It's about our world. It's about our unfinished story. And this past year, that reality became painfully clear. On Yom Kipur, the holiest day of the Jewish calendar, Jews gathered at Heaton Park Shaw in northern Manchester. Like Jews throughout the world, they had come to stand before Hashem, men, women, children for boi, to confess to Davin, to seek forgiveness, to renew their relationship with the reono shalam. And then terror arrived at the synagogue gates. An attacker rammed into the shaw, attacked and killed those who tried to enter and stop him as he attempted to enter the shul. Two beloved members of the community lost their lives. Others were injured and suddenly a scene that seemed drawn from another century unfolded in modern Britain. A shul under attack, doors immediately locked. Jews targeted simply because they were Jews.

[00:28:13]The prime minister of Britain later stated that the victims were attacked because they're Jews. And that simple statement is chilling because it reminds us that anti-semitism remains one of the oldest and most persistent realities of Jewish history.

[00:28:30]And yet perhaps the most important story that emerged from Manchester was not the attack itself. It was the response.

[00:28:39]Rabbi Daniel Walker later reflected that the attacker was not merely attacking people. He was attacking Yiddish kite.

[00:28:47]He was attempting to disrupt Jewish prayer and Jewish religious life. And Rabbi Walker insisted, "We cannot allow terrorism to impede our practice of Yiddish kite." Syam Kipper continued.

[00:29:00]Shakarid continued on the street and Mina in police headquarters. People returned for Nila. The attacker failed.

[00:29:11]The tilot continued dancing on some thousands flocking on chabatre with joy and pride. And in that moment, Manchester became a tishabove story because tishab is ultimately the story of enemies who try to sever the relationship between Hashem and his people and fail. Throughout the keynote, one phrase echoes repeatedly from migila reashemita.

[00:29:40]We scream tako see hashem and behold this phrase appears as a light word again and again not because hashem does not know but because every generation must bring its pain before him. Yeryahu cried it. Kohanima like raid sadok stood at top of the misbeh and cried it. The martyrs of the crusade cried it. The victims of pros cried it. The survivors of the shaah of the holocaust cried it.

[00:30:07]And today we cry it as well. Hashem, look, Hashem, look at your people. Look at our suffering.

[00:30:18]And at the same time, Hashem, look at our faith. Look at our perseverance. And perhaps most importantly, look at our refusal to surrender.

[00:30:31]The very first kina, the very beginning of what we call Hakino begins with a single word.

[00:30:40]How a cry of abandonment. How could you once so populated become desolate? How could security become vulnerability? How could glory become destruction?

[00:30:53]This word is not a question sinking information. It's a cry of bewilderment.

[00:30:59]The same cry echoes throughout Jewish history. How could mines become a slaughterhouse? How could Spain expel its Jews? How could Germany produce an Awitz? How could a shul in Manchester become the site of terrorism on Yumhakipurim?

[00:31:16]How could Jews standing in prayer become targets?

[00:31:21]The details change, the centuries change, but the cry remains.

[00:31:29]How can this still be happening? And perhaps the answer is that tshaba reminds us that as long as redemption remains incomplete, the forces that oppose kaduca continue to exist and host countries which once seem so friendly may turn into passive passers by and even hostile enemies. The oave may become the oave.

[00:31:56]We continue with the last kina of safer hakote hashem at the very end of we cry hashem remember us remember what happened to us after we don't always respond correctly we turn to hashem because Judaism is a religion of memory the nations of the world often move on but the Jewish people remember we remember yushalay not only on tab but on every happy occasion as well. We remember Betar, we remember Mines, we remember Spain, we remember Kishov, we remember the massacres in we remember Awitz.

[00:32:37]And now we remember Manchester not because we wish to remain trapped in tragedy, but because every Jewish life matters, every Jewish community matters.

[00:32:50]Every attack becomes part of the collective story of Ami Israel and memory itself becomes an act of faith.

[00:33:00]One of the most poignant keynotes is that of Ra Mayor of Rottenberg Koulse the burning of the Talmud in Paris and the famous kina in most editions it appears as 21.

[00:33:15]At first glance, the burning of books seems very different from modern anti-semitism.

[00:33:20]Yet, Rabbi Mayor understood something profound. That the true target was never parchment. The true target was Torah.

[00:33:29]The goal was not merely to burn books.

[00:33:32]It was to sever Jews from their covenants, from their brit. And that's a precisely what Rabbi Walker recognized after the Manchester attack. The attacker was not targeting random individuals. He was targeting Jews gathered in prayer. He was targeting Yiddishkite itself. But then something remarkable happened. The Kila continued to pray. And when they could no longer pray in the shul because the police had told them that it's an investigative site, then they ded outside on the street. When they were relocated, they continued the tilos in the police station. The attacker failed because artilos continued. How extraordinary that on Yumkipper while Jews were literally driven from their sh they responded exactly as generations of Jews have always responded through by dabbing. And as Rabbi Walker said, they knew that it wasn't the same yam kipper. And yet they still davened because that's how we survive by praying, by learning, by continuing.

[00:34:42]The words of this kina suddenly become even more contemporary. The Torah may be burned, but it cannot be extinguished.

[00:34:50]The shul may be attacked, but our prayers can never be silenced.

[00:34:57]We continue with another kina kina arabanon.

[00:35:02]The kina recounts the martyrdom of harug malut the 10 martyrs during the time of Roman persecutions and its message is deeply painful because we don't just think about the stories. We think of the philosophical existential questions. The righteous sometimes suffer not because of what they've done but because of who they are. Rabiaka was tortured because he embodied Torah and couldn't survive without teaching Torah. The victims of Manchester were targeted because they embodied Jewish continuity.

[00:35:35]One victim was standing at the synagogue entrance helping protect his fellow worshippers. Others were simply on their way to come and pray on Yam Kipur. The target again was not just these individuals. The target was Jewish identity itself.

[00:35:53]And yet, as we know, Rome disappeared.

[00:35:56]Rabi's teachings remain and have perpetuated Sarashpe even after his 24,000 students died because the covenant of Torah remains. And that has always been the Jewish story.

[00:36:11]And then we proceed with the keynote to Shali. A series of keynote composed by Ravi Halevi who writes of his yearning for Tion for Yushalay from Galut from exile. He speaks to Tion across continents across oceans across centuries. And what's remarkable is as we recite these keynotes, we feel how contemporary his words feel because Jews today live in Yusha, in London, in Manchester, in New York, in Paris and Melbourne and Sydney and Johannesburg and LA and Toronto. And yet when a synagogue in Manchester is attacked, Jews in Jerusalem feel the pain. When a Jew is threatened in Europe, Jews across the world respond because we remain one people. We may be scattered geographically but we are united spiritually.

[00:37:08]That unity is one of the greatest answer answers to exile.

[00:37:14]Kina lammed alf. The crusade kynote a collection of kinote that describe communities that believed that their existence was so secure. They were respected citizens. They were successful merchants neighbors. And then something changed. The tragedy was not only the violence. The tragedy was the collapse of certainty. The realization that acceptance can disappear overnight. The Jews of Manchester surely never imagine that yum kiper morning would become a scene of terror. Yet the crusade kino teach us that anti-semitism often emerges precisely when Jews feel most secure. The martyrs of minds cry also re hashem bahhabita and we echo them. Look, Hashem, see how hatred still seeks us out. See how Jews require protection merely to pray.

[00:38:09]And these keynote continue, the exile, these later keynote that focus on something even deeper than persecution and death. They focus on fear. They focus on uncertainty, the fear of vulnerability, the fear of being visibly Jewish. And this is the deeper meaning of galut because exile is not merely geographical. Exile is existential. It's a stripping of our basic identity. And the beta miktdash represented a world in which Hashem's presence was openly revealed and our identity was as well. Its destruction ushered in a world of concealment of Hester Kanim for Hakadosh Baru but also for us. A world in which now synagogues require security guards. A world in which Jewish schools require barriers and protection. A world in which Jews sometimes hesitate before displaying their identity publicly.

[00:39:09]Manchester reminds us that redemption remains incomplete.

[00:39:14]And therefore we continue to cry re Hashem.

[00:39:20]Please Hashem see our vulnerability.

[00:39:23]See our longing. see our yearning for that redeemed world when we may walk around as proud Jews once again.

[00:39:36]42 echoing the cry of who can provide me with a fountain literally a fountain of tears because Jewish tears are not those just they're never isolated the tears of yushalay flow into the tears of betari the bara revolt and the tears of betar flow into the tears Tears of minds and the tears of minds flew into the tears of Spain and the tears of Spain flew into the tears of Awitz and the tears of Awitz. Well, they flew into the tears of Karaza, of Nova, of Nal O. And those tears flow into the tears of Bandai Beach in the tears of Manchester.

[00:40:29]When Jews hear of an anti-Semitic attack, we never hear only the present.

[00:40:34]We hear the echoes. We hear generations speaking through a single moment. Which is why Rabbek said, "All the tragedies of the past are commemorated."

[00:40:44]Specifically on Aba, when those echoes are so strong, when they resonate with those tears, with those cries of the past and another stream though ultimately flows through Jewish history as well. It's a stream of amuna, of faith, of Torah, of hope, of our brit, our covenant. Because the same people who carry their tears across centuries carry their faith as well.

[00:41:13]Perhaps the most profound lesson emerging from Manchester comes from Rabbi Walker's response. He said that diaspora jewelry must learn from Israel.

[00:41:22]Israelis have learned that the answer to terror is not merely survival. It's renewed life and renewed faith and renewed commitment and renewed joy that we're going to dance again. And this is also a message of the keynote. The keynote are not merely a catalog of Jewish suffering. They're in fact a catalog of Jewish resilience.

[00:41:48]Bavl thought that they had defeated us.

[00:41:50]Rome thought that they had defeated us.

[00:41:52]The crusaders thought that they had defeated us. The Nazis thought that they had defeated us. Every one of them has vanished. Yet today, we're reciting the very keynote written by those who suffered at their hands. The keynote themselves are evidence of victory.

[00:42:12]We're still here and they are not. As Rabbi Walker said, our task is not simply to survive. Our task is to thrive. To remain proud, observant, faithful, joyful.

[00:42:27]To respond to hatred with deeper commitment. To answer darkness with light. To answer terror with Torah.

[00:42:35]Perhaps the image that remains most powerful is not the attacker standing outside the shul, but rather the scene inside the miraffesh.

[00:42:47]The congregation insisting on continuing to pray, taking children and calming them down. The attacker's goal may have been to stop Yum Kipur, but Yum Kipur continued. The attacker's goal was to create fear, and instead faith emerged.

[00:43:05]The attacker's goal was to silence Jewish voices, but instead those voices became stronger. And this is the story of Tishaba.

[00:43:15]The beta mikdash was destroyed and yet Torah flourished. Communities were massacred. Yet Jewish life continued.

[00:43:24]The Holocaust devastated world jewelry.

[00:43:27]Yet Jewish children today fill schools, Bate Midrash, Midrash and Shouls throughout the world.

[00:43:37]The synagogue in Manchester was attacked. And yet continued in the street in police headquarters continued on and somehat with joy with a song with dance with unity. The enemies of the Jewish people repeatedly learn the same lesson. You can attack Jews, but you cannot and will never destroy Judaism.

[00:44:03]You can attack a synagogue, but you cannot extinguish prayer. You can threaten our brides, our covenants, but you can never break it because our relationship with never severs and Hashem never forgets.

[00:44:22]And that's why we conclude the keynote not only with tears, not only with Hashem, Hashem, look behold our suffering, but also Hashem because Hashem will always remember. And therefore, Hashem, bring us back to you. Please, Hashem, help us transform our fear into faith.

[00:44:56]Transform our mourning into renewal.

[00:44:58]Transform our exile into redemption.

[00:45:00]Because the final chapter of Jewish history does not belong to Bavl and it does not belong to Rome and it does not belong to the crusaders and it does not belong to Iran or to Kamas or tobah to any terror. The final chapter belongs to Ribono Shalom. And therefore, the final word is in fact not destruction. The final word is not hatred. The final word is not this past Yamipur in Manchester.

[00:45:33]The final word is one of Ami. The final word is chuva, return.

[00:45:42]The final word is our anticipation of you Shalaya.

[00:45:49]May we merit to witness that day.

[00:45:54]Amen.

[00:45:57][singing] [music] [singing] Whom is [music] SP?

[00:46:10][singing] [music]