Undeterred by Terror, London Jewish Schools Parade on Lag BaOmer

by Tzali Reicher – chabad.org

Less than a week after a terrorist stabbed two Jewish men in one of London’s most prominent Jewish neighborhoods, 1,000 Jewish children and adults paraded through the city’s streets on Tuesday in celebration of Lag BaOmer.

London’s Lag BaOmer parade is an annual event that aims to strengthen and share Jewish unity and pride. Beginning in the 1950s, the Rebbe, Rabbi Menachem M. Schneerson, of righteous memory, encouraged grand Lag BaOmer parades as a way to mark the day, which is the anniversary of the passing of the Talmudic sage Rabbi Shimon bar Yochai, the author of the Zohar. The Rebbe himself regularly participated in these parades in Brooklyn, sharing a thought with the thousands gathered and watching as children marched down the parade route. Over the years, and with the Rebbe’s encouragement, Lag BaOmer parades and celebrations sprung up around the world. Today, hundreds of Lag BaOmer parades and celebrations are organized every year in Jewish communities across the globe.

The parade in London’s Stamford Hill neighborhood has been an annual highlight since 1960, but after the terrorist attack last week, which followed a string of attacks on the British Jewish community over the last two years, some suggested that this year’s festivities be canceled.

“That was never an option,” says organizer Rabbi Sholem Ber Sudak of the Lubavitch Children’s Centre in London. “In unsettling times, when Jewish people are being attacked just for being Jewish, that is the time to stand up with courage and pride in who we are and what we represent.”

Working in close coordination with Metropolitan police, the Community Security Trust and Shomrim, the community volunteer security force, the parade proceeded without incident. Children recited the Twelve Pesukim, and marched through the streets carrying banners depicting scenes of Jewish life. Throughout the parade, traffic was halted along main roads to allow the children to march safely. The parade was followed by a carnival at a local park that drew thousands more.

Rabbi Shmuel Lew, a veteran Chabad-Lubavitch emissary in England, and Rabbi Yossi Posen, co-director of Chabad-Lubavitch of Epping, addressed the gathering, alongside Mayor of Hackney Caroline Woodley.

In his speech, Rabbi Posen addressed the community’s concerns, and shared the Rebbe’s directive to hatred and antisemitism. Drawing on a verse from Psalms, he told the children that the Hebrew term nes lehisnoses can be translated as a “trial” or an “ordeal.” Rashi, the master commentator, reads it differently: a banner to be raised high.

“There are always challenges and trials that the Jewish people face, but the way to respond is not to focus on hatred,” he said. “Our response must be to carry the banner of Torah and the Jewish people, undaunted and with faith in G‑d, with our heads held high.”