Turku Synagogue Vigil

I was out walking my dog last night (Thursday the 30th of January) and noticed an unusually large amount of people at the Synagogue.  I mean a massive group of people and there was a street blocked off and a couple police cars nearby and so many flowers!

This group of people were not rowdy in the slightest.  There was a calmness in the air and the energy was simply peaceful.  I did hear a bit of solemn singing when I walked by and figured perhaps it was a very late night funeral.

I immediately snapped a couple photos in the dark (so the quality is obviously not so clear or great) and texted a couple friends asking what was up.
Neither of them had the answer so I reached out to my Canadian bestie who is Jewish and asked her what could possibly happen on a Thursday evening around 7pm that would cause such a large group of people to hang out around a Synagogue and hang flowers on the fences.

She suggested:

• Remembrance Day of the Holocaust (which was the previous Monday)
• Funeral
• Bar or Bat Mitzvah

I thought it was weird for the last two options to be held so late at night on a school night as well but figured okay - perhaps it is so.

I also decided to do a bit of research on the Turku Synagogue and was amazed to see there are only 2 of them in all of Finland.
There was the Vyborg Synagogue but that was bombed and completely destroyed on November 30, 1939.
So this leaves us with only the Turku Synagogue (opened in 1912) and the Helsinki Synagogue (opened in 1906).
Then this morning I received a text from one of my local friends who did not know the answer last night but did this morning.

It was a peaceful vigil from the locals in support of the Synagogue because some people decided to vandalize their doors in red paint on Monday. (Article found here from YLE).

I decided during my afternoon dog walk to go over and take a look as so many others had been doing and not only were the flowers beautiful but the feelings of positivity, strength and love from a community full of support for their fellow person.

All photos taken on 31.1.2020

So thank you Turku for showing me - a relatively newcomer to this city - what support and love is for a fellow human being and more importantly for showing the haters that they will not and cannot win.

LAFA