Golders Green, My “Home Away from Home”: I’m Horrified By Anti-Semitic Attacks

I lived the ex-pat life in London twenty years ago before having kids with my husband. He worked at a major Big 4 accounting firm in West London by the Thames and I worked at a public relations firm in trendy East London.

Getting me to cross the pond as they say was a big challenge. A born and bred New Yorker leaving the Big Apple was scary for me. But I did it with much trepidation and it turned out to be one of the best decisions I ever made.

We chose to live in Notting Hill, as I fell in love with the verdant neighborhood with a nod to the Julia Roberts movie. It was a compromise for us as my husband felt secretly guilty about making me move overseas and I liked the direct access on the Central train line to work. But Notting Hill lacked a kosher butcher and the local Tesco supermarket had no kosher section. Never mind I thought to myself, I can easily access public transport and get to Golders Green, the Jewish part of North London.

At my PR firm with close to 200 employees, I was one of two Jews. This was new territory for me as in New York, the PR world was filled with young plucky Jews like myself.  Yet I still wore my Magen David proudly. I did not experience any antisemitism at work. In fact, I felt like I was treated with curiosity and respect. As I slowly became friends with my co-workers, they learned that I was the granddaughter of Holocaust survivors. In a country fascinated with World War II history, they had a lot of questions about my family’s experience and my Jewish upbringing, in general. I never felt threated at work or on the streets of Notting Hill but at times I did feel isolated and when I did Golders Green came to the rescue.

I grew up in Queens close to Kew Gardens Hills, where Main Street was teeming with kosher butchers, bakeries, restaurants and Judaica stores. You could often hear Yiddish or Hebrew on the streets. I treasured going to the bakery on Friday with my dad to pick out a Shabbat treat which 90% of the time was a black and white cookie as he stocked up on freshly baked challah. Even though I wasn’t Orthodox, I felt warm and safe on our trips to Main Street.

I wanted to find that same feeling when I moved to London and for me, Golders Green was my Main Street across the pond. The 45-minute tube ride was worth it because when I exited the station, the neighborhood was chock full of kosher eateries, butchers and Judaica shops. I would fill up on kosher meats at Menachem’s and happily nosh on rugelach from Grodz bakery forgoing the traditional English kosher scones.  Streets were busy with young Jewish families doing errands much like Main Street in Queens on a Friday before Shabbat.

So, when I read about the stabbings this week of two Jewish men in Golders Green, it shook me to my core. Sure, I had read about the arson attacks on the Hatzola ambulances there but perhaps that was an insolated incident. I was hopeful that it was. I always felt safe and at home walking in Golders Green. To hear about young families walking the streets of their neighborhood with helicopters whirring over their head as their home is treated as a crime scene breaks my heart. But this is the reality that my people are facing daily no matter what part of the world Jews are living in these days. I only wish Golders Green can return to the safe home it is for those who live there and those who view or visit it as a “home away from home” like me.