Sukkat Shalom Reform Synagogue

The crisis is happening in a sort of slow-motion car-crash way. We all know it – and may feel powerless in relation to it. But it is a crisis.

Written by Rabbi Debbie Young-Somers Tuesday, 09 August 2011

Rabbi Debbie Young-Somers of West London Synagogue considers how we can respond to the riots and looting which have taken place in London and in cities across the country in the last few days.

There is something surreal about waking up yet again to reports of rioting in London. Rioting which essentially consists of damaging property and looting. As my brother joked on Facebook yesterday, in the middle east they are protesting and rioting for their freedom, here there are riots for flat screen TVs and trainers.

Purim is today a time of great celebration and fun but lying below the surface is a story that reflects a deeper reality. This is the reality of bigotry, fanaticism and hatred that infects every people and every land and whose consequences are inevitably death and destruction. Within living memory we have seen the Shoah as well as horrendous massacres in Cambodia and Rwanda.