"It's been an incredibly difficult two years," says Phil Rosenberg, president of the Board of Deputies of British Jews. "I think our Jewish identity is being worn far more heavily these days given the pain of it all."
Conflict in the Middle East has, he says, had a profound impact on British Jewish society.
"The attacks of 7 October were felt very personally, not least because there were British Jews who were killed in the initial onslaught and people with British connections held hostage.
"And in the war that followed, the devastation in Gaza was very painful to watch. Then there was the vitriol that surrounded the whole conflict, and the massive rise in antisemitism culminating in deadly attacks."
The devastating shooting at Bondi Beach last weekend, which targeted the Jewish community during Hanukkah celebrations, and the attack on a Manchester synagogue on the holiest day in the Jewish calendar, Yom Kippur, together with the events in the Middle East over the past two years, have collectively had far-reaching repercussions for Britain's estimated 300,000 Jews.
