In the span of a few days, three Toronto-area synagogues were hit last week by gunfire. Temple Emanu‑El in North York was struck during Purim, with 20 shots fired into a building where the rabbi was still inside. Days later, Shaarei Shomayim near Bathurst and Glencairn, and Beth Avraham Yosef of Toronto in Thornhill, were both shot at in the middle of the night, their doors left pocked with bullet holes but, by good luck or bad aim, no bodies.

Police aren’t yet sure if the incidents are linked, but they’re clear about one thing: they’re hate‑motivated. They’re also being lived as hate‑motivated; every Jewish parent now drives past their synagogue’s doors and quietly re‑calculates how many seconds it would take to get their kids out if the bullets came at 11 a.m. instead of 11 p.m.

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