CST wishes our whole community a safe and enjoyable Pesach
For two years, we have been unable to celebrate Pesach as we all wanted to. We have been unable to sit around the seder table with family and friends, every household carrying out its own version of this very special festival.
We have had to be innovative in overcoming the challenges that COVID-19 has posed to the notion and practice of community.
This year, with life gradually returning to something more familiar to what we knew before the virus’ outbreak, CST also has to get back on track: but throughout the pandemic and for all of the changes in our lives, CST has kept working for the good of our community, ensuring that British Jews can live Jewish lives with the confidence that security brings. As long as there are people who hate Jews – as long as antisemitism, terrorism and extremism remain unfortunate parts of our reality – this work cannot stop.
Events over the past year have shown how crucial it is that CST sticks to its mission, supported by the partnership of our Jewish communities. Reactions to the war between Israel and Hamas in May 2021 had a far-reaching and profound impact on the Jewish community, driving a record annual total of antisemitic incidents reported to CST. In January of 2022, a British terrorist, motivated by his hatred of Jews, travelled across the Atlantic to a shul in a small town in Texas, where he took congregants and a rabbi hostage. It provided a stark reminder of an uncomfortable truth: if it can happen there, it can happen anywhere.
We strive every day to make sure that it does not happen here. Protecting the wide and wonderful spectrum of Jewish life in the UK, encouraging it to flourish, is at the core of our mission. We rely on your support and cooperation in this endeavour. There are different ways that you can help us.
You can contribute by becoming a volunteer and training in technical and physical aspects of modern-day security, ensuring that your synagogue and fellow congregants are as well-protected as possible.
You can report antisemitism to us when you see it.
Every report helps us to better do our jobs, to better understand the landscape of anti-Jewish hate, and to better represent our community to police and government.
You can donate to us. We are a charity and depend upon the generosity of our community. Every penny goes towards building a better Jewish – and British – future together.
CST wishes you all a chag Pesach sameach.