Today is Golders Green Together day. Golders Green is being decorated in green and gold , and leaders and volunteers from all of the area's communities and across the political divide will be coming together to express a message of unity and rejection of bigotry.
The reason for this uplifting movement was to provide a positive response to tomorrow's rally by a tiny group of far-right extremists who intended to disturb the peace of Golders Green on Shabbat.
However, thanks to the campaign - a fine example of co-operation between the Board of Deputies, the London Jewish Forum and Hope not Hate, with the support of the Community Security Trust - the rally has been moved.
Journalists asked me why we bothered to take on such a tiny group of extremists with absolutely no electoral traction. But however sad a bunch they are, their message is hateful and utterly offensive. We cannot and will not stand by and ignore it.
The real story of Golders Green Together is that the racists have now become irrelevant. Indeed, they have unintentionally done us a favour by drawing together an inspirational coalition from across faiths and groups in our society.
Jews cannot fight antisemitism alone, nor are we being left to do so. This is the encouraging outcome to be drawn from this episode. Another is that government, police, our community and its many allies are now giving close attention to whether the law concerning public demonstrations could be strengthened further.
For now we can celebrate the fact that our message of dignity, strength and unity is the one that has prevailed. Everyone will be able to enjoy a Shabbat of shalom without these hateful intruders disrupting our day of rest and renewal.
