On Friday, Sept. 25, I was invited to accompany members of the Sons of Jacob congregation in Belleville, Ont., back into their synagogue for the first time since their Kol Nidre service had been shattered by gunfire earlier that month.
During this intimate service for Shabbat, or the weekly Jewish day of rest, I stood beside a stained-glass window riddled with bullet holes, frighteningly close to the pews where we prayed. The service was small and beautiful. People cried openly as they sang. They expressed gratitude for the lives they were still able to live, and they prayed for Constables Jeff Smith and Michael McCurdy, who had helped ensure that they could. There was something surreal about standing in a place of religious refuge while confronting how little distance had separated an ordinary Jewish service from mass death
