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.

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“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.”

The event proceeded without incident as children recited the Twelve Pesukim and marched through the streets carrying banners depicting scenes of Jewish life.
The event proceeded without incident as children recited the Twelve Pesukim and marched through the streets carrying banners depicting scenes of Jewish life.

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.

Drawing on a verse from Psalms, Rabbi Posen explained that the Hebrew phrase nes lehisnoses can be translated as a “challenge” or a “a banner to be raised high.”

“The Jewish people are facing great challenges,” he told the children. “All eyes of the world are on us, and what do they see? A people standing tall, faithful to G‑d, learning Torah and doing mitzvot with joy, and proud of who we are. Like a banner on a ship in stormy seas, nothing can bring us down.”

Organizers coordinated closely with Metropolitan police, the Community Security Trust and Shomrim, the community volunteer security force, to ensure the security and safety of the event.
Organizers coordinated closely with Metropolitan police, the Community Security Trust and Shomrim, the community volunteer security force, to ensure the security and safety of the event.