Sukkot Services Go Forward In Catalonia Despite Independence Tumult
Image by Getty Images
Violence between police and pro-independence protesters in Barcelona will not disrupt holiday services there, a leader of the Jewish community said.
Victor Sorenssen, a leader of the Jewish community of the capital of Catalonia, an autonomous region with its own language and many residents who seek independence from Spain, said the city’s Jewish congregations will not “be affected by something that is essentially a political discussion.”
Sorenssen said this following riots Sunday during the poll in which more than 300 people were injured in clashes with police, who were under orders to prevent a referendum of independence organized by the Catalonian government even though a top court in Spain ruled it was illegal.
Community events, including Sukkot celebrations and Simchat Torah, are at present to go on as scheduled despite the tension around the referendum, Sorenssen added. He said he was not aware of injury to any of the community’s members in the clashes, he added.
Like the Catalonian population at large, the Jewish community is also divided on the independence issue, Sorenssen also said, prompting the Jewish community to “not make any statement or declaration” on the issue at hand.
I hope you appreciated this article. Before you go, I’d like to ask you to please support the Forward’s award-winning journalism this Passover.
In this age of misinformation, our work is needed like never before. We report on the news that matters most to American Jews, driven by truth, not ideology.
At a time when newsrooms are closing or cutting back, the Forward has removed its paywall. That means for the first time in our 126-year history, Forward journalism is free to everyone, everywhere. With an ongoing war, rising antisemitism, and a flood of disinformation that may affect the upcoming election, we believe that free and open access to Jewish journalism is imperative.
Readers like you make it all possible. Right now, we’re in the middle of our Passover Pledge Drive and we still need 300 people to step up and make a gift to sustain our trustworthy, independent journalism.
Make a gift of any size and become a Forward member today. You’ll support our mission to tell the American Jewish story fully and fairly.
— Rachel Fishman Feddersen, Publisher and CEO
Join our mission to tell the Jewish story fully and fairly.
Only 300 more gifts needed by April 30
