{"id":48579,"date":"2023-12-01T16:08:34","date_gmt":"2023-12-01T16:08:34","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sheffieldwire.co.uk\/?p=48579"},"modified":"2023-12-02T08:28:07","modified_gmt":"2023-12-02T08:28:07","slug":"jewish-sheffielders-grieve-each-life-lost-in-a-vigil-for-palestinian-and-israeli-dead","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sheffieldwire.co.uk\/index.php\/2023\/12\/01\/jewish-sheffielders-grieve-each-life-lost-in-a-vigil-for-palestinian-and-israeli-dead\/","title":{"rendered":"Jewish Sheffielders grieve in a vigil for Palestinian and Israeli dead"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

As the conflict between Israel and Gaza rages on, a group of Jewish Sheffielders came together to grieve both Palestinian and Israeli dead.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

In the Winter Garden on Wednesday night, the group paid their respects by lighting candles as they read the names of men, women and children killed. Then they recited the Jewish mourning prayer, the Kaddish<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Before lighting her candle, one young woman, who chose to remain anonymous, made a statement: \u201cWe are here today to mourn and to dream of a better future for all who live on the land between the river to the sea.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“There is a Jewish Talmudic phrase, ‘Each life destroyed, it is as if a whole world is destroyed.’ We are here to mourn the loss of every life, for each life lost – is a whole world lost. However we know that only an end to the oppression of the Palestinian people can prevent the loss of more lives.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Sheffield has a small Jewish community, with less than 800 recorded in the 2011 census. Source: Rei Takver<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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The Sheffield vigil came ten days after Na\u2019aamod UK<\/a>, \u201ca movement of Jews in the UK seeking to end our community’s support for Israel’s occupation and apartheid,\u201d held the largest Jewish-led ceasefire rally in British history. That day, 800 Jewish activists rallied in a London park<\/a> demanding a hostage deal, an end to the Gazan siege, and an end to antisemitism and Islamophobia.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Describing the Sheffield vigil, Maya Brown, a Community Development Worker for the Sheffield Reform Synagogue, said: \u201cNaming the dead felt poignant, painful. But that\u2019s part of the power. It\u2019s a place to hold the pain.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Yesterday, 800 Jews & friends gathered for the largest Jewish-led ceasefire rally in UK history. We gathered, yet again, to call for an immediate ceasefire, a hostage deal, and an end to the siege on Gaza, & to stand together in solidarity against antisemitism and islamophobia.\ud83e\uddf5 pic.twitter.com\/rIfBPk7uRO<\/a><\/p>— Na'amod (@NaamodUK) November 20, 2023<\/a><\/blockquote>