Manchester, UK
–
Chime Leob lives in the busy corner of Manchester, England, so sirens are not something he normally is of particular concern. But Thursday morning was a different story. Police cars kept coming one after another. Ambulances and fire trucks have been speeding up in the past. A helicopter was hovering overhead.
On other days, he turned on the news and checked local community groups on social media. But it’s not Thursday. Thursday was Yom Kipur, the sacred day of the Jewish calendar. As a Jew in Observant Orthodox, Leob was not permitted to use technology.
He and most of his community are located in the surrounding areas of Crampsole and northern Manchester – we had no idea what was going on. They didn’t know they were under attack.
The emergency service that Loeb had heard headed to the nearby Heaton Park Hebrew Congregation Synagogue. There, the attackers stabbed several members of the community to kill two before plunging their cars into people.
The Manchester police were urging people to avoid the area, but their message had not reached the community in prayer on this holiest day.
Attending the Heaton Park Synagogue, Livka H., the mother of four who lives a few minutes away, listened to police sirens throughout the morning. She was worried, but like Leob, the Attorney General, who asked not to publish her full name, was unable to use her phone for the Holy Day.
“There were so many police around the synagogue, so many sirens that made me feel sick. And I knocked on the door of my neighbor and she said two were dead.
Livka was in a hurry through the neighborhood and was trying to get in touch with her two older daughters and her ex-husband, so she was talking to CNN.
“Hopefully I can catch my girl and tell them I’m safe. My brother came to check on me because he knows I’m going to that synagogue,” she said.
When Rivka comes across a friend or relative, she is trying to piece together what happened. She hears that the two have been killed, but she doesn’t know who they are. A friend told her he had heard it was two adult Jewish men.
At one point, a stranger stopped her and asked about her friend who attended the same synagogue as Rivka. The woman, tears flowing down her cheeks, explained that she couldn’t contact her friends all morning. Rivka had no information to share.
The two men killed in the attack were later identified by police as 53-year-old Adrian Doorby and 66-year-old Melvin Kravitz and members of the Jewish community in Crampsall.
Jews are a minority in the UK’s population, and the recent 2021 census identifies just under 300,000 people in the UK and Wales as Jews.
However, the community feels increasingly targeted as the number of anti-Semitism incidents has risen over the past decade and reached new record levels last year, according to the Community Security Trust, a charity that monitors and protects British Jews from terrorism and anti-Semitism.
While the majority of British Jews live in London, Manchester is home to the country’s second largest Jewish community, with around 30,000 people. Most live in the northern suburbs where the attack occurred on Thursday.
Crumpsall is a close-knit community, where local bakeries can trust people to come in a few hours and have whatever they need and leave their money behind. My friends and relatives aren’t too far away and are always happy to help.
But both Livka and Leob have come from families who have lived in the area for the majority of the past century, but said that people are hearing more and more talking about moving to Israel, as Manchester doesn’t feel safe anymore.
“I think this just brings it closer to the house. People always say that time is over here and everyone should live in Israel,” Leob said.
He blames the British government on a hostile environment, but he said he is particularly angry at the recent decision to recognize the Palestinian state.
“I think Israel needs as much diaspora as it needs Israel because without it, no one would support Israel from outside.
The Heaton Park Synagogue is a little further away from the heart of the Jewish community. Although only a few streets on the road are almost exclusively Orthodox Jews, they are mixed together with the close proximity of the synagogue, and Jews live next to Muslims and Christians.
The Palestinian flag is proudly displayed in street windows where many trees are decorated with yellow ribbons. It is a symbol of solidarity with the Israeli hostages that Hamas in Gaza still holds.
Ashfak Malik, a British Pakistani born in Manchester, lives around the corner from the synagogue. He has an Orthodox Jewish neighbor on one hand and a Muslim family on the other side.
“We had no issues. We spoke to each other and we know each other. My mosque actually put a safe message on our website this morning because Iman is always talking to Jewish rabbis here,” Muslim Malik told CNN.
One synagogue, heading down the road from the location of the attack, employs civilian security guards to make the outside locked gates human. On Thursday’s shift was Ahmad, a Muslim man from Manchester. No one thought it was unusual. Ahmad told CNN he never felt hostility from the community.
“Everyone who kills innocent people is a bad guy, whether it’s Muslim or someone,” he told CNN. He said the mornings are scary for anyone in the area. “I’ve never seen anything like this,” he said.
Even as the darkness approached, many in the neighborhood still didn’t know about the attack.
One day Yom Kippur felt compelled to attend synagogues and refrain from using technology, even those not particularly observant. Many people are fasting and praying, and the services of many synagogues in the area are held continuously throughout the day.
Several people in the neighborhood told CNN they had no idea what happened or had very limited information. Some people asked if the attacker was still large and were relieved when they told police that the suspect was dead.
Livka was particularly concerned about her mother, who was spending high holidays in Israel.
“Tonight, after the restrictions are lifted, I’ll get on my phone and call her. But it’s for me later, so there’s a few hours for it to come out for my mother in Israel, but not here. What can you do?” she said.
