TRAVEL
Grim reminder on a magical Jewish coast

By GEOFF KUHILLOW

SHIVERS ran down my spine as I stood rooted to the spot. For I was gazing at a gruesome hole in the ground where a 13-storey beachfront tower block stood before it came crashing down, killing 98 people earlier this year.

It was hardly surprising that more than 40 of them were Jewish, After all, nearly one-third of the 5,600 population of Surfside — the up-market Miami Beach suburb where the disaster happened — are Jews.

In front of me, bulldozers were still levelling the ground on which the Champlain Towers South condo complex once proudly stood.

I closed my eyes as I tried to picture the nightmare scene when so many innocents were crushed in their beds in the early hours of June 24.

And I found myself reciting the Kaddish memorial prayer for all those lost holy souls.

A few other bystanders bowed their heads in respect. Perhaps they had made a special journey to do so. Or just felt the urge pull over as they motored along the coastal highway.

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