Free speech lives here. Enjoy journalism that’s proud to share your values. One year for £25. | | Members of the Jewish community comfort each other near the synagogue |  | Robert Mendick Chief Reporter, in Manchester | They refused to be browbeaten, refused to give in to terror. With Heaton Park Synagogue, also called a shul, now a horrifying crime scene, the survivors of yesterday’s attack found themselves under police protection in an emergency holding centre across the road.
Yards away, a terrorist had stabbed two innocent people to death. Four others were injured. The attacker, a 35-year-old British citizen of Syrian descent named Jihad Al-Shamie, had ploughed his car at high speed into the congregants on Middleton Road, before going on a rampage armed with a knife. | A bomb disposal technician inspects the suspect’s body | But the worshippers remained defiant and, on the most sacred day of the Jewish calendar, decided the Yom Kippur service should carry on regardless at the holding centre.
Rabbi Daniel Walker continued with the prayers, ringed by police. The blood from tending to survivors was still visible on his ceremonial robe, the kittel.
“We continued to do part of the service, because at the end of the day, of course, it’s awkward and it’s difficult and people have got a multitude of emotions going on, but we carried on,” said Rob Kanter, 45, who had been inside the synagogue and survived the attack unscathed.
“We did not do the whole service, but we did what we could in the circumstances.”
The attack came on Judaism’s most sacred day at 9.30am. Within half an hour, the doors of Manchester’s synagogues were shut and the worshippers ordered to go home.
Manchester’s Jewish community was in shock but also not surprised. “It’s a scary time to be a Jewish person in Manchester at the moment,” a 23-year-old Jewish man explained at the scene.
As police later confirmed two men in their 30s and a woman in her 60s had been arrested on suspicion of commission, preparation and instigation of acts of terrorism, Israel also accused Sir Keir Starmer of failing to curb a “toxic wave of anti-Semitism” in Britain.
Gideon Sa’ar, the Israeli foreign affairs minister, posted on X: “The truth must be told: blatant and rampant anti-Semitic and anti-Israeli incitement, as well as calls of support for terror, have recently become a widespread phenomenon in the streets of London, in cities across Britain, and on its campuses.
“The authorities in Britain have failed to take the necessary action to curb this toxic wave of anti-Semitism and have effectively allowed it to persist.”
Read Rob’s piece in full here ➤
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(In cinemas now) | To choc-a-lot or not? Every weekday, Orlando Bird, our loyal Reader Correspondent, shares an off-piste topic that has brought out the best of your opinions and stories. Orlando writes...
A question of etiquette, courtesy of Jeremy Cain: “You recently discussed the health benefits of dark chocolate, which prompts me to share how my wife and I eat the single square we each allow ourselves after dinner. She attacks the piece with gusto, the square taken whole. I’m more restrained, taking a single bite – inevitably resulting in two smaller pieces to be enjoyed a little while later. Which is better?”
The first thing that struck many Telegraph readers about this domestic vignette was the astonishing level of self-control displayed by both Jeremy and his wife. “Far be it from me to cast aspersions on lovely fellow readers”, wrote Jacqueline McCrindle, “but having dinner with the Cains doesn’t sound like a very fun experience.”
As it happens, I’m not a big chocolate fan, so wouldn’t have too much trouble stopping at one piece (don’t worry: I find plenty of other ways to get my calories). But on the question of scoffing versus savouring, Barbara Harrison favoured the former: “Every Christmas, my husband and I buy each other a Terry’s chocolate orange. By Boxing Day, mine is finished, whereas he enjoys a daily segment, meaning his lasts well into the New Year.”
Helen Webster, like Barbara’s husband, was firmly in the latter camp: “I chop 8-10g of 85 per cent chocolate into approximately eight tiny pieces, and relish each one.”
Iwan Price-Evans noted deeper philosophical connotations: “In school, my friend and I argued endlessly about whether prioritising ‘intensity’ or ‘longevity’ was the best approach, and the debate went beyond chocolate to encompass the meaning of life. Little did we know that we were making the cases for the immediacy of Jean-Paul Sartre’s existentialism and the prolonged pleasure of Epicureanism.”
But wait, interjected Dr John Doherty, there is a third way: “The melting point of cocoa butter is just below body temperature – so for optimum flavour, let the whole piece of chocolate melt slowly in your mouth.”
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The solution to yesterday’s clue was UNPACKING. Come back tomorrow for the answer to today’s puzzle. | | Thank you for reading. Have a fulfilling day and I hope to see you tomorrow.
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