On Yom Kippur, October 2, 2025, tragedy struck the Heaton Park Hebrew Congregation of Manchester in the UK, a close-knit community led by Rabbi Daniel Walker, who has served as its rav since 2008.
That morning, a terrorist identified as Jihad Al-Shamie, a 35-year-old British national of Syrian descent, launched a brutal attack against the congregation, ramming his car into people gathered outside the shul before attempting to force his way inside. He was armed with a knife and wearing what appeared to be a bomb belt.
Thanks to the quick thinking and decisive action of
Rabbi Walker and his congregants—who locked and barricaded the doors—the attacker was prevented from entering the sanctuary.
The assault claimed two innocent lives and left several other people injured. One victim was tragically struck by police gunfire amid the chaos of the emergency response. The authorities have officially declared the assault a terrorist incident.
In the wake of this horrifying event, His Majesty King Charles III visited the shul on October 20 to show solidarity with the Jewish community, meeting with Rabbi Walker, survivors of the attack and emergency responders. After viewing the floral tributes outside the shul he also paid his respects inside. His visit underscored the national significance of the tragedy and reinforced the message that the community was not alone in its grief and recovery.
In our conversation, Rabbi Walker reflects with deep emotion on the terror, resilience and spiritual strength that have defined his community since that tragic day.
According to media reports, you said that you saw evil. But I think that a lot of people saw a great light in you and in the Divine Providence that was visible that day.
I don’t know what they saw in me, but we certainly saw Divine Providence in many ways and many of the details.
Take us back to what happened. When did it begin? How did you notice what was happening?
When I arrived in shul on the morning of Yom Kippur, I noticed that there was a commotion at the entrance gate because someone had been behaving suspiciously, but it was just a minor concern. No one thought it was anything major and everything carried on as usual. The first time I became aware of something happening was when we heard a tremendous bang from outside. Then some of the men ran in shouting, “Close the doors and windows! There’s someone trying to get in!” because the back doors and the windows were all open.
What time was this?
It was approximately 9:30 a.m. I remember exactly where we were holding in davening because we were eventually evacuated, and when I was able to come back into the shul a few days later, many of the machzorim were still open, including that of the person who was killed. We were up to “Ranenu Tzaddikim.”
Did people start to run outside after you heard the commotion?
No. One of the men who was murdered ran quickly to the back doors and closed them, which probably saved lives because we know that the attacker tried to get in through the back. Then I went out to the front, where I saw a member of our kehillah who had been standing outside as volunteer security and was now in the foyer and was very badly injured.
What happened was that the attacker crashed his car into the entrance gate and hit the security guard who was standing there. He then jumped out of his car, and a man named Melvin Cravitz who was just coming to shul to daven died al kiddush Hashem right outside the gate. There were two men inside the gate who were there as volunteer security. One of them very bravely ran toward the attacker in an attempt to stop him, and he was stabbed and very badly injured. Baruch Hashem, he is now out of the hospital and is getting better.
Another quick-thinking and brave man ran into the shul while being chased by the attacker, and he managed to close the doors and lock them. By doing that, he saved the lives of everyone inside. I spoke to one of the medics afterward, and he told me that they were expecting to find dozens and dozens of fatalities and critical injuries, but there weren’t, baruch Hashem, because of those two men.
There has been some confusion about this, so I’d like to clarify: All in all, two people were murdered?
Yes. Three people were injured and two were murdered. The first injured person was the security guard outside. The second was Andrew, the person from the kehillah who went outside to stop the intruder; he was slashed and stabbed by the attacker. And as I mentioned, Melvin—who was not a security guard, contrary to reports in the media—was murdered on his way to shul. After that, we were barricaded inside. When the police came, they had to shoot the attacker because he had a knife and what looked like a bomb belt. As they were shooting, one of the bullets went through the door and hit two members of the kehillah. One person was badly injured and the other, a member of the kehillah named Adrian Daulby, was niftar.
So it appears to have been friendly fire from the police, who were trying to stop the attacker.
It seems that way, although nothing is confirmed until the investigation is finished.
You haven’t mentioned your involvement at all, but the media implied that you were the hero.
That’s very exaggerated.
Either it’s exaggerated or you’re very humble. What were you doing during all this?
After the very brave men risked their lives and successfully came inside and locked the door, the attacker ran up the steps to the entrance of the shul and was throwing himself against the doors. The doors were shaking, and there was a fear that they would break. A number of men inside the shul—at least eight or nine of us—braced the doors to make sure that he wouldn’t be able to get in. There were also people doing first aid on the man who had been very badly injured. There were a lot of people trying to do things, and I just happened to be one of the people there. The hero thing is a complete exaggeration.
Nonetheless, I am assuming that as the rav and manhig of the kehillah, you took a leadership role during this incident. Is that correct?
Yes. I did my best to do that.
How large is your kehillah?
The congregation as a whole is pretty large. I believe there are about 550 families, although not everyone comes to shul on a regular basis. But we would have expected a very big turnout on Yom Kippur. One of the elements of the very stark hashgachah pratis is the timing. It happened at the very beginning of davening. Because the davening is quite long, not everyone necessarily tries to get there on time. Melvin, who was murdered outside, had made a hachlatah during Elul to be in shul early. There were about 37 people in shul at the time, mainly men. A few hours later, there would have been hundreds and hundreds of people.
Why would that have made a difference, considering that the people who were inside were mostly unharmed and it was only those in the front who were injured?
Because there would have been a lot more people, including women and children, in the courtyard, as well as people going in and out. There were a few children playing outside when it started, but they quickly ran inside. And if it had happened during Yizkor, there would have been hundreds of people standing outside. The fact that the area was empty, as well as the fact that he remained in that area in a futile attempt to get in was hashgachah pratis. Baruch Hashem, he remained focused on those doors and not somewhere else where he could have done much more harm, chas v’shalom.
You mentioned that he had a belt on. Did it contain explosives?
It certainly looked like explosives, but there have been different reports. Some have said that it was a non-viable bomb while others have said that it was fake. I haven’t had a clear answer.
He didn’t have a gun, correct? He used a knife.
Yes. He used it to kill Melvin, and he also attacked Andrew and wounded him badly.
So the bullets had to have come from the police.
Yes.
The terrorist obviously attacked on Yom Kippur because he knew there would be activity on that day.
Absolutely.
Is the assumption that he planned the attack in advance, or did he just see a lot of people coming to shul that day and decided it was a good opportunity?
I don’t know, but it would seem unlikely that he would have been able to have those preparations in place without planning.
This was a lone terrorist without any accomplices, correct?
I think that the police are still looking into that, but for now it seems that way.
How quickly was he killed by the police?
My sense of time was really off. From what I understand the whole thing took only seven minutes, but I have to say that it felt a lot longer than that. I imagine that it was pretty quick.
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