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llow us on Twitter @Shomrim "This is the lesson I take from a final story – a story of a small Jewish patrol group called Shomrim, in Stoke Newington, England. Taking its name from the Hebrew word for “safety,” the Shomrim was formed in 2008, in response to a series of anti-Semitic attacks on the local Jewish community. The group of a few dozen members carried out rudimentary patrols of the neighborhoods where many Jews lived. Then, in May of 2013, two men brazenly attacked and killed a British soldier in the streets in London, claiming it was revenge for the killing of Muslims by British soldiers in the Middle East. A wave of anti-Muslim attacks in England followed – including 11 attacks on mosques in the week after the killing. Fearing that they would be next, members of the Muslim community in Stoke Newington turned to their Jewish neighbors. They asked if the Shomrim, having suffered similar attacks, would help patrol the mosque and a local Muslim community center as well as their synagogue. The Shomrim said yes and began patrolling immediately. What the Shomrim understood was that, by patrolling the mosque and community center, they were not patrolling solely on behalf of the Muslim community, but also their own. The rights they were defending were not only the human rights of Muslims, but the human rights of Jews as well. The Shomrim understood that a Europe where anyone feels afraid or endangered because of the actions, beliefs, or speech of a neighbor is a Europe where everyone’s rights are at risk. We would all do well to embrace the same lesson. Thank you so much."