Interfaith group started after 9/11 marks its 20th

V THE DAY after 9/11, the then minister of Birmingham’s Singers Hill Synagogue, Rabbi Leonard Tann, co-founded the local Faith Leaders Group, having walked to the city’s Central Mosque in a demonstration of support for the Muslim community.

Now chaired by the current Singers Hill minister, Rabbi Yossi Jacobs, with representatives from the six major faiths in the city, the group marked the 20th anniversary with a service at the Birmingham Peace Gardens.

The gardens are close to the shul and in his address to the ceremony, also attended by civic leaders, Rabbi Jacobs recalled his own 9/11 experience.

At the time he was studying in America, “not too far away from New York. We could see the smoke in the air.”

He had planned to return to Glasgow for Rosh Hashanah and with US airports closed in the aftermath of the attacks, “my brother managed to get us tickets on the day the flights resumed [September 16] to get home just in time”.

The atmosphere at the airport had been tense with passengers in queues for six hours amid heightened security — and more so on the plane.

He paid tribute to Rabbi Tann for his foresight in gathering faith leaders on the steps of the mosque “to say that we as Jews know what it feels like to be targeted for something we have not done — and that we as people of all faiths are with you”.

On Sunday, standing alongside Imam Mohammad Asad of the Central Mosque, Rabbi Jacobs declared: “We replicate the friendship and respect which was pledged 20 years ago.”