‘We’re looking after each other’ through hostage trauma, says Rachel Riley on Orthodox community visit

Countdown presenter Rachel Riley said watching the hostages return from Hamas captivity has “ripped open a lot of wounds that actually weren’t even recovered”.

The TV star spoke to the JC during a tour of the Charedi community in Stamford Hill with the Jewish Community Council (JCC) on Thursday. 

Addressing the videos showing the Israeli women reunite with loved-ones, Riley said that seeing the women return to the loving embrace of their parents was a “relief”.

And amid the "unfathomable” pain of the past 15 months, she was heartened by seeing the network of support and solidarity in the Orthodox community.

“There's just so much volunteer work. So much community, so much charity. Everyone's looking after each other,” Riley said.

The tour, part of the JCC’s “Get To Know Us” Program, introduced Riley to various community services, including Hot Line Meals, a volunteer-run kosher kitchen offering meals to families unable to cook due to illness and Lev Echod Cancer Care.

Rachel Riley speaking to volunteers at Lev Echod Cancer Care (Photo: The JC)[Missing Credit]

“There's just so much giving back and everyone's emphasised that anyone can ask for this stuff in the tight-knit community,” said Riley. 

Rachel Riley took a tour of the facilities offered to children and families at Lev Echod Cancer Care (Photo: The JC)[Missing Credit]

During her tour, Rabbi Levi Schapiro, a co-founder of the JCC, highlighted some of the concerns the Charedi community is urging the Government to address.

One key issue is expanding free school meals to children in independent schools who are economically disadvantaged, like those in receipt of Universal Credit.

“We’re not talking about the Eton-style schools, we’re talking about the children who are living on the breadline,” said Rabbi Schapiro. “In our community, where our schools are literally on the breadline — and they are independent settings not because the children are wealthy but because they require religious education — these children not entitled to a Free School Meal.”

Riley, a longtime advocate for Free School Meals, added: “I've supported Magic Breakfast, so I know the statistics on how well children learn if they’re fed versus if they're hungry,” she said.

In the voluntary kitchen at Hot Line Meals (Photo: The JC)[Missing Credit]

The presenter also used the visti to highlight the rise of antisemitism, something she has campaigned on for years.

Citing a new survey from the Anti-Defamation League which saw 46 per cent of respondents recording “elevated antisemitic attitudes” she told the JC: "The signs aren't good. You just have to look at statistics in the UK and the States and in France.

"Obviously, it’s a global community. You hear about rabbis abducted in the UAE and firebombs in Australia and the signs haven't been good.”

Addressing the plight of hostages still in Gaza, Riley added: “As a people, I don't think we can start to recover, or assess what's happened until everybody's out.

“We know over these 42 days, as time goes on and as the category of hostage who gets released changes, the signs aren't good for the Bibas babies.”

Kfir Bibas, 2, and his brother Ariel, 4, were the youngest hostages taken by Hamas and it remains unknown whether they are still alive.

“It's unfathomable,” continued Riley. “You hear the stories of the hostages and some of them are going to get out to find — if they get out alive —that their whole families have been murdered. They won't know that until they're rescued, from people in their 80s down to the Bibas.”

The star made reference to the “desperation” of hostage families, citing Adam Ma’anit — whose cousin Tsachi Idan, 50, was kidnapped from his home on October 7 — and his wife Heidi Bachram, who together have been campaigning for the release of the hostages.

“They’ve been living in hell since that day. They can't get any respite. They need to feel like they've done every single thing they can. And I just want them to have rest,” said Riley.

Rachel Riley visiting the Charedi ambulance service (Photo: The JC)[Missing Credit]

Rabbi Schapiro also spoke to the presenter about the work of the Crohn's and Colitis Relief (CCR) in raising awareness and reducing stigma about the condition in the Jewish community.

Crohn’s affects over 150,000 adults in Britain, and is two to four times more prevalent among Ashkenazi Jews compared to those of non-Jewish European ancestry.

Riley threw her wholehearted support behind CCR’s work, joking: “Obviously I'm not living in this community, but there are so many commonalities. I’ve got loads of stomach issues!”

She concluded by praising the organisation for putting on “events where you can go and openly get support, where you don't have to be ashamed and you can actually seek treatment for your pain”.