I welcome this £250m to protect Jewish communities. But what good is it if the hatred persists?

People outside Heaton Park synagogue in Manchester on 2 October last year, after two worshippers were killed in a terror attack. Photograph: Peter Byrne/PA

When arsonists attacked Finchley Reform Synagogue earlier this year, the physical damage was mercifully limited. The fear travelled much further.

For years, it was my community: I sang at Friday night services, taught b’nai mitzvah students, and its former rabbi officiated at my wedding. Seeing it targeted felt painfully personal, part of a pattern that has led to British Jews changing routines, concealing symbols of our identity and wondering whether the places we gather in can be kept safe.