Thought for the week

On a personal level I’ve done a lot of thinking, lately.

In these difficult times, no doubt the same goes for many of you. From my perspective, the personal has linked with the public quite closely, because last month we celebrated a grandson’s Bar Mitzvah, whilst in many European cities Jewish people have had to batten down the hatches.

So many Jewish people and establishments have been and are being targeted by terrorists, in the recent atrocities, that all celebrations or community activities (including that of Purim, a fun festival) have been cancelled. Yet our celebration in London went ahead, to a great extent unhindered, other than the guards outside the synagogue which are now de rigueur.

So what? You might ask.

Well, last week we took this particular Bar Mitzvah boy to Venice, as a treat for all of us. We did the usual things there, much to the delight of the youngster and ourselves and included in our experiences a visit to and tour of the Jewish district, the oldest ghetto in Europe. It’s currently celebrating its 500th Anniversary, though there is nothing too wonderful about the historical concept of a ghetto. But I am not going into that now.

The connection between this and the start of this piece becomes clear. We three already knew the history of synagogues and the Jewish community but went, anyway. What was wonderful was that the tours were packed with people who were not Jewish who wanted to be there – despite the very clear presence of guards soldiers and police patrolling the area outside. Were they aware of the threats to Jewish places? They must have been – but came, anyway.

Their attendance itself cheered us much more than the sights of gilded buildings; they were ‘with us’ and that mattered. To both us and our young Bar Mitzvah boy.

Charlotte Gringras