LONDON — Thousands of British Jews gathered in north London on Tuesday to mark the Lag B’Omer festival, a celebratory event in the Jewish calendar, after weeks of heightened tension and fear following a string of antisemitic attacks.
Community leader Levi Shapiro said the event was slightly different this year, referencing the recent antisemitic incidents across the area.
“Tonight’s Lag B’Omer celebration is slightly different to the degree that there will be some prayers recited by the senior rabbis in the community given the reflection of what’s been happening over the last couple of weeks and months here in the UK, given the rise in antisemitic attacks on the Jewish community,” Shapiro said.
At one event of many in the area, men in ultra-Orthodox Jewish dress packed out a school playground to dance and pray together around bonfires as hundreds of women and children watched from nearby streets, with some even crowding onto the balconies of residential buildings.
The annual festival is traditionally celebrated as a joyful pause in a solemn period of the Jewish calendar.
Police and security in bright yellow high-visibility vests stood out in sharp contrast to the traditional black coats and hats of those taking part.
Tuesday’s festival came days after two Jewish men were stabbed in the street — the most violent incident in a string of attacks that have put the security of Britain’s 290,000 Jews into the spotlight.
Sources: Reuters
