L'Shana Tova ~ Happy New Year!

A soldier stands guard outside a synagogue in Neuilly-sur-Seine, outside, Paris, France, January 13, 2015. (photo credit: AP/Christophe Ena) From The Jeruasalem Post

This year, I forgo the usual Rosh Hashannah image of a shofar because I cannot get some of the grimmer events of the past twelve months out of my head. The year was especially evil for Jews in France and, perhaps more surprisingly, was a nasty year for terrorism here in Canada. With one soldier murdered in Quebec and a second on Parliament Hill, I felt compelled to post a different sort of image. 

I wanted a photo of the two cheerful tactical officers with their semi-automatic rifles who guard our synagogue at this time of year, but the kids thought it would be terribly embarrassing (to them or the officers or both) for me to ask to take their photo. So I settled on this image of a soldier guarding a synagogue in France. Hopefully things will never get as bad here as they are there. ~ Brian 

P.S. Not to give anyone the wrong idea, most synagogues in Canada, don't have the same level of security for the High Holidays, usually just an off duty police officer or two or a couple security guards.