A Sefer Torah for Adrian and Melvin – A Response to Terror

There are moments in our lives when grief sits so heavily in our hearts that we struggle to comprehend why it happened. The murder of Adrian Daulby and Melvin Kravitz in a terror attack at Heaton Park Synagogue on Yom Kippur (October 2), 2025, that wounded others, has left a wound in the hearts of their families, their friends and the local and wider Jewish community. Their lives were taken in an act of hatred, leaving behind a pain that no words can truly ease.

A Hachnasat Sefer Torah is one of the most moving occasions in Jewish life. It is a celebration of faith, continuity and the enduring bond between the Jewish people and the Torah. Last Sunday (October 11, 2026), the local Manchester Jewish community came together to dedicate a Sefer Torah in their memory. The Hachnasat Sefer Torah was a tribute to two lives taken too soon, and it was a declaration that, even in the face of terror, the Jewish community will continue to stand together.

Where terror seeks to divide, we choose to unite.

Where hatred seeks to destroy, we choose to build.

Where violence seeks to silence us, we respond with singing and dancing in the streets and the eternal words of our Torah.

The streets were filled with men, women and children singing, dancing and parading the Sefer Torah underneath a Chuppah on its way to Heaton Park Synagogue. Everyone was united by a shared sense of loss and a determination to honour Adrian and Melvin. There was sadness, tears, embraces, prayers and moments of reflection, but there was also immense joy.

The Torah became a symbol of collective strength, of a community refusing to allow tragedy to have the final word. Every letter represented a connection to generations past and generations yet to come. Every step of the procession carried a message that Jewish life, Jewish faith and Jewish identity in Manchester, and in the UK, will continue.

This Torah dedicated in their memory will be read, studied and cherished for generations. Children will grow up seeing it. Families will gather around it. Prayers will be recited in its presence. Long after the immediate pain of this tragedy has begun to fade from public attention, their names will remain connected to something eternal, and that is the extraordinary power of Jewish tradition. We do not deny our grief. We do not pretend that tragedy does not hurt. We mourn deeply, because every life is precious and every loss matters. But we also understand that mourning and hope can exist side by side. We know that remembrance is not simply about looking backwards, it is also about looking forward.

Over the years, the Jewish people have known persecution, displacement, hatred and loss but we continue to rebuild our communities, reopen our synagogues, educate our children, celebrate our traditions and reaffirm our commitment to Jewish life. The Hachnasat Sefer Torah for Adrian and Melvyn was a living expression of that resilience.

It reminded us that our greatest strength is not found in standing alone, but in standing together. It is found in the hands that comfort a grieving family, in the volunteers who give their time to protect our community, in the neighbours who show up and in the countless people who understand that when one part of our community suffers, we all share in that pain.

Terrorism seeks to create fear that extends far beyond its immediate victims. It seeks to make people question whether they can live openly, practise their faith freely and feel safe being who they are. The answer must be a society in which Jewish people can live proudly and without fear, supported by neighbours and friends who recognise that an attack on a community is an attack on us all.

I did not personally know Adrian or Melvin but in the past 12 months I have got to know them. The whole day was hugely emotional and many people, including myself, shed many tears. We will not allow the memory of Adrian and Melvin to become just another headline, another tragedy that briefly captures our attention before the world moves on.

Their names deserve to be remembered.

Their lives deserve to be honoured.

Their families deserve our compassion, our support and the knowledge that they do not have to carry their grief alone.

Their names will not be forgotten.

The Sefer Torah dedicated to them will stand as a reminder that even when hatred takes lives, it cannot take away the love those lives inspired or the good that will grow from their memory.

We cannot undo what happened to Adrian and Melvyn and nothing can erase the pain of their loss, but we can choose how we respond. We can allow grief to deepen our compassion, tragedy to strengthen our bonds, and remembrance to inspire us to do more for one another. Our response to darkness is to bring more light into the world and ensure that Jewish life continues to flourish.

May Adrian and Melvyn’s memory be for a blessing and may their souls be bound up in the bond of life. May those who were injured make a full recovery.

The UK Jewish community is a strong, proud, united and resilient community – and we are not going anywhere.