Days of Awe   

Almost a month after he blocked a marauding terrorist from entering his shul on Yom Kippur morning in Manchester, a shaken Rabbi Daniel Walker remembers those murdered on the holiest day of the year — and is determined to rebuild. But for the wider community, the hate unleashed in a shul raises questions about the future that no one can answer

For Rabbi Daniel Walker, Yom Kippur morning began exactly as it had every year since he assumed the pulpit of north Manchester’s Heaton Park shul nearly two decades ago. First came pre-Shacharis preparations, then toward nine o’clock he strode through the crisp autumn weather with his thoughts focused on the day ahead.

There would be a sermon, davening, and aliyos to manage. There would be the regulars — including older members of the historic community — as well as young families with children. It would be a chance to greet newcomers among the hundreds who would pack the imposing red-brick shul with its large glass entrance.

In short, all the pulpit rabbi’s familiar duties awaited Rabbi Walker as he approached the security gates that fateful morning.

What he didn’t yet know was that on that fateful Yom Kippur, those duties would include barring the shul door to prevent a terrorist entering; attempting to administer aid to badly wounded shulgoers; seeing a congregant shot dead in front of him; and holding together a semblance of Yom Kippur normalcy even as anti-terror police evacuated his devastated shul members.