Emma Barnett Instagram – My shul. My people. My community.
I just had to write this. Some how there are some words. @thetimes
I write this knowing not who did it. There is a freedom in that. To be liberated from the blame game for as long as it lasts; from the narrative of speculation as to why a man in my home city of Manchester woke up this morning, armed himself and decided to go and kill a load of Jews on Yom Kippur, the holiest day of the Jewish calendar.
What I do know is this: he went to kill my people; my community; at my old Shul. No equivocation. No doubt. Jews were the target and this was planned for the day when as many of them as possible were packed inside Shul praying for their sins. But we will get to that.
And yeah I don’t feel much like calling it a synagogue right now. It’s a Shul. It’s a Jewish place of prayer, love and community. Heaton Park Shul. The first place I first heard the shofar blown on Rosh Hashanah -an incredible sound from a ram’s horn heralding a new year. The place I loved running around with my friends and collecting sweets strewn around the building by Reverend Olsberg on happy festival days. The place I loved listening to the murmur of prayer and chatter between families, friends, the rabbi and cantor – and the loud shushes when the conversational volume sometimes overtook the prayers. | Posted on 02/Oct/2025 22:45:41
