And stunned expressions
one knew what they were doing while we stood at the side. The professionalism was phenomenal.
You could see the pain on the faces of the medical staff. We saw kids being wheeled in, interviewed by the police, being treated by the staff. They were shivering, absolutely shocked. But they had a quiet determination about them, not wanting to be beaten by the terrorist’s actions. They were immensely brave.
On one of our journeys between departments I was walking with Siddiq, the imam. We were approaching the children’s department and a couple walked past us. The eyes of the father looking towards the imam said a thousand words. There was a look of anger on his face, of recrimination, as if to say to Siddiq, “it’s your fault”.
As I sat down with my fellow chaplains, I told them about my different experiences, how I walked with Tova down Ben Yehuda Street in Jerusalem during the height of the suicide bombings and for a split second there was a shout of “terrorist, bomb” and suddenly everyone ran, and then a few moments later everything was fine and from fear of death, life went on.
I told my colleagues how in Israel there is such immense security around schools, synagogues and Jewish institutions. Unfortunately the reality in is that unless extremism is sorted, it will be like that here. They were shocked.
As I reflect, I pray that the image we project in the hospital of coexistence is played out in the wider public. But after the shock wears off and the anger rises we have to be careful, we have to do what we can to show that religion is a model of peace and understanding, we have to show that extremism has no place in our society and that it has to be driven out. We have to educate the message of peace and not hatred. And let the love of God shine in our lives to help those around us.
The professionalism of the NHS and our police is unquestionably immense, and every person dealing with the victims is a hero. I pray that we shouldn’t have to deal with such tragedies and children can play peacefully and not need to be brave over such events.
May god heal those wounded and give solace to the bereaved families.
Amir Ellituv is a hospital chaplain and rabbi of the Sha’are Hayim Sephardi Congregation in Hale, Cheshire