ANT KATZ with JTA

Now ordinary

people understand

200 people gathered at the famed Synagogue de la Victoire in Paris on Sunday evening under heavy guard to remember the victims of the terrorist attacks in the French capital on Friday night. Led by the Chief Rabbi of France, Haim Korsia, leaders of French Jewry and Israel’s ambassador to France, were among those who assembled there.

“Our people, which has been tested more than others, knows the healing power of solidarity and unity in the face of the pain of torn families, broken couples and orphaned children,” said Michel Gugenheim, the Chief Rabbi of Paris, of the 132 fatalities and more than 350 wounded in multiple attacks.

Korsia said that French Jews “feel with all intensity the pain of the families touched by the tragedy and the pain of the nation in general”. He added: “The act of gathering here is perhaps more significant than the speeches.”  French society, he said, “will rise up from its grief like American society rose up from the tragedy of 9/11 and like Israeli society, which never lay down for attacks”.

RIGHT: Paris’ famous Synagogue de la Victoire

Streets around the shul were cordoned off by police and army for the duration of the ceremony, where congregants underwent pat-downs and bag inspections.

 The ceremony was held as many other activities of Jewish institutions in France were suspended for security reasons and out of respect for the victims of the attacks that rocked Paris in what French President Francois Hollande said was an “act of war” by the Islamic State (ISIS) terror group. 

Now ordinary people understand…

“Now ordinary French people are beginning to understand how us Jews have been living in recent years, and the reality in Israel,” said Samuel Sandler at the gathering..

Sandler is the father of Jonathan Sandler, who was killed in 2012 with two of his sons and another child during an Islamist attack at a Jewish school in Toulouse.

LEFT: Ordinary French people, other Europeans and people worldwide are beginning to understand how Jews live and the reality in Israel

On hand for the ceremony were the president of the CRIF umbrella group, Roger Cukierman, and Sacha Reingewirtz, head of the Union of Jewish Students of France, as well as the ambassador, Aliza Bin-Nun.