But the mood in Har Nof, which is predominantly a haredi neighborhood, was one of sadness and mourning, not of anger and revenge, and residents and worshippers at the synagogue were almost fatalistic in their views on the attack perpetrated just 24 hours earlier.

 Men went to back to pray in the Kehillat Bnei Torah synagogue, which has now been cleaned and restored, and parents took their young children to school passing by the scene of Tuesdays attack.

 Haim, a resident of the neighborhood who lives one street away from the synagogue and studies there every day, said that the threat of terrorism now felt closer and more real although acknowledged that all of Jerusalem’s residents have been suffering from a lack of security for several months.

 “This reality isn’t new, but when such an incident happens so close to you, and to people you know, it creates a different feeling,” he said speaking outside of the Bnei Torah synagogue. “But we are people of faith here, we know that if such a thing is decreed against us, God forbid, then it doesn’t matter where you are, you could be in New York, it doesn’t matter,” said Haim, describing how one of the terrorists ran past a friend of his, leaving him unharmed, as he went to shoot at the police officers who arrived at the scene.

 “We are not a vengeful people, we are not a culture of blood for blood, we are faithful Jews, our answer to such events is to strengthen our faith and our religious practice,” continued Haim. “We are not like our Muslim cousins for whom revenge is something natural and if someone is killed then they need to kill someone else in return, we believe that God guides this world and it is he who will avenge us.”

 Yisroel, another neighborhood resident who lives across the road from Kehillat Bnei Torah and prays at the synagogue regularly, said he knew the four Jewish victims of the attack and described them all as very special people.

 He said it was hard to express the sadness and loss the community felt, noting that he studies with one of the sons of Rabbi Moshe Twersky, who was one of the four worshipers killed.

 “There’s no anger here, it’s not the way we feel. We believe that we don’t understand everything, and we believe everything happens is from God. Who can we be angry at? It’s hard to blame people,” said Yisroel.

 Tzahi, another resident and frequent worshiper at Kehilat Bnei Yisrael said it was hard to come to terms with what had happened but said that people were nevertheless continuing with their lives.

 “Unfortunately what happened was not in our control, it was decreed from above, but we’re continuing to pray, continuing to live, despite the wishes of our enemies,” said Tzahi as he left the synagogue after the morning prayer service on Wednesday.

 He said that it was frightening to think about how the two terrorists were able to carry about their attack in such a normal, residential area but that the only answer was to carry on with life.

 “They want us to be scared, they want us to be shocked, they want us to leave, they don’t want us here, but we will endure and live on here. We will continue to practice our faith, to pray, this is our answer,” he continued, but said that as a Jew

 “As Jews we believe in coexistence, man was created in the image of God, we do not go wild or murder. We have to protect the lives of every man. Our enemies regrettably have chosen only the kind of thing we saw here yesterday.”