A terror attack in Belleville greets Yom Kippur 5787

Ezekiel's vision from the Leipzig mahzor {prayer book for the high holy days}

On Rosh Hashanah it is written, on Yom Kippur it is sealed – how many shall pass away and how many shall be born, who shall live and who shall die, who in good time and who before time, who by water and who by fire, who by sword and who by wild beast, who by famine and who by thirst, who by earthquake and who by plague  …

-         From the high holidays prayer book

 May you all be inscribed and sealed for a good year, a healthy year, and a happy year.

Special for this year, the City of Toronto has erected signs in front of all the synagogues saying it's against a bylaw to harass Jews while we’re praying. (Actually, the sign’s a few hundred words long and doesn't mention Jews, but I thought I'd boil it down for you.) Thank you, Toronto. But in our current antizionist times, it's the policemen with guns that are actually more helpful. See here. 

Scene of attempted terror attack outside Sons of Jacob Synagogue in Belleville
Constable Jeff Smith was critically wounded by the terrorist. Our prayers go out for his swift recovery.

As for Toronto’s new bylaw, the antizionists ignored it. They gathered outside the Meridian Centre in North York, which was being used for High Holiday services, to taunt Jews as they entered on Yom Kippur.

Neil Herland, a CBC journalist, recorded his experience of running the gauntlet.

“I'm a journalist,” he wrote. “And I happen to be Jewish. On Yom Kippur I went to a synagogue service in Toronto and was met by protesters trying to taunt and intimidate me from entering the building.

“My late father was an Austrian Jew who survived the Holocaust in Romania. And came to Canada as a refugee. This year I got an Austrian passport, in case Canada becomes unsafe for me as a Jew. I fear that moment is approaching, here in Canada and elsewhere.

“Jewish Canadians are living in a parallel world. Where police stand guard with guns outside synagogues. And Jewish schools, religious sites and businesses are targeted with bullets."

See Neil's full posting and video here.

As for my family, we updated our non-Canadian passports a while ago, just in case. I wrote about it  here.

Update, Sept 25, 2026: The CBC has pulled Neil Herland off the air for posting what happened to him and subjected him to a disciplinary hearing. See here.