The following is a press release sent out by the Jewish Federation of Winnipeg and the reply received  in appreciation from  Ariel Goldman,President , Fonds Social Juif, the main French jewish social welfare organization)

Press release: Winnipeg, January 13^th, 2015: Jewish Federation of Winnipeg joins Jewish communities around the world in mourning the loss of four members of the French Jewish community, murdered Friday in a deadly hostage taking at the Hyper Cacher (Kosher Supermarket) in Paris.

The victims of the attack were:

·        Yohan Cohen, age 22, an employee of the kosher supermarket.

·        Yoav Hattab, age 21, a recent alumni of the Birthright-Taglit tour to Israel.

·        Philippe Braham, age 45, a computer engineer survived by his wife and four children.

·        Francois-Michel Saada, age 64, a pension fund manager and father of two children, both living in Israel.

This recent act of terrorism that threatens the existence of a community that goes back to the Middle Ages, follows on the heels of a series of attacks against Jews in France including the one on a Jewish day school in Toulouse in 2012 where a teacher and three children were brutally murdered at gunpoint.

The French Jewish community numbering some 550,000 people is the third largest Jewish community in the world after Israel and the United States. With over seven hundred day schools and hundreds of synagogues, this community has a long and great history and was the first European Jewish community to be emancipated. 

In support of the French Jewish community, Federation is accepting donations that will go directly to supporting the families of the victims and to a long-term fund to pay for new and enhanced security measures to protect the Jewish schools and synagogues. All funds will be directed through the CRIF (Conseil représentatif des institutions juives de France) the French Jewish community’s representative body.  Donations can be made by calling the Federation office at 204-477-7428 or online: Jewish Federations of Canada | 2015 France Emergency Fund

Further, we encourage members of our community to dedicate this Shabbat to the memory of the four victims by lighting four candles at your Shabbat table.

Our thoughts and prayers go out to the families of the four victims of this horrific and senseless act of terror, and to the entire Jewish community of France in this difficult time. 

JE SUIS JUIF – I AM A JEW

LETTER JEWISH FEDERATION RECEIVED INN RESPONSE FROM FRENCH JEWISH LEADER

Paris, January 15, 2015

Dr Adam Bronstone Directeur Généra'

Jewish Federation of Winnipeg

Dear Friends,

We have read your words of solidarity and would like to sincerely thank you. We are deeply touched. Thank you for standing with us.

Please be aware that we are doing everything in our power to respond, in the emergency, with the means we have, the problems facing us. We take, with the government and public authorities, the nec-essary steps following what we consider to be a turning point in France, to ensure that community

spaces are secured at the level of the threat.

In addition, the FSJU assists the victims/ families and attempts to provide psychological response to traumatized members of the community.

Unfortunately the means of the state have their limits and we must rely on ourselves, united Jewish people .After this terrible tragedy, we must strengthen as soon as possible the safety of our schools, our community centers, our living spaces.

We urgently need to provide and train more security guards in front of our schools.

We need to support the relocation of hundreds of families living in difficult neighborhoods exposed to increasingly aggressive anti-Semitism.

In the next few days we will be able to send you a leaflet showing what we plan to do to bring them a concrete help. Moreover, for the Jewish community of France, struggle against anti-Semitism has become, as you know, a major concern for years now.

We realize with sadness that those terrible events could represent an opportunity to build a strong and efficient defense against hatred.

We are looking for strong partnerships. We might also appeal to your financial support. As you probably know, an important number of our big donors have left France and although we put all our efforts in fundraising among the members of our Jewish community, we cannot reasonably expect to collect enough money to cover our needs.

I hope we will have a chance to discuss that further in the next few days.

Sincerely Yours,

Ariel Goldmann

Association reconnue d 'utilité publique

• T él 01 42 17 10 47 • Fax 01 42 17 45 • [email protected] .www.fsju.org

39, rue Broca

• 75005 Paris