By COLlive reporter
“I wish I could say Malmo is getting safer for Jews but unfortunately it isn’t,” Rabbi Shneur Kesselman, the Swedish city’s only rabbi, told The Local newspaper two months ago.
Sadly, he was proven right this past Shabbos.
A molotov cocktail was thrown at Kesselman and members of the Jewish community as they were walking home from synagogue on Friday night.
Heading to enjoy a Shabbos meal, a car stopped near them and its passengers began uttering slurs. When the fire bomb was thrown at the Jews, Kesselman and his Chabad House members managed to move aside, narrowly being saved.
Malmo police immediately arrived at the scene but the perpetrators are yet to be found. Kesselman said they were of Arabic origin, many of whom live in the city.
“I was saved thanks to a miracle, he told the Hamevaser newspaper. “The response to this incident and the great miracle is by adding light that will overpower the darkness and the anti-Semitism that is spreading in Sweden and Europe.”
Kesselman, who moved on Shlichus to Malmo in 2004, has experienced plenty of anti-Semitic taunts, The Local reports. Ordeals have included someone carving the word ‘Palestina’ onto his car, and the abuse is ongoing.
“Just last week somebody spat in my face and shouted ‘da– Jew’ at me. It has never happened on a daily basis, but the harassment is something I still experience, and as a result I don’t spend so much time in town,” Kesselman said 2 months ago.
Well, maybe not a whole suitcase. That is, unless you are good at martial arts/judo, have a body guard, or only walk in large groups, with a police presence. Who wants to fight and feel fearful all the time if one can possibly avoid it? Wear a baseball cap in dangerous nonJewish public places. Don’t arrogantly display tzitzit, etc. You won’t overwhelm these people with your piety. Hopefully it is only a temporary danger.
should we walk around with a suitcase and non jewishly looking clothes inside and change several times a day now?
If a man wears the typical Jewish/Hassidic garb, he is bound to be an easy and immediate target for these despicable anti-semites.
IDF protection is an excellent idea if he doesn’t already have armed guards. Maybe even sending his children to live with their grandparents for awhile. But a shepherd doesn’t abandon his flock.
he should call 999 or 911 whatever number
shneur and reizel together with their children are a real example to shluchim and klal yisroel! very nice refined and chassidishe family truly believe in the cause spreading yiddishkeit to bring moshiach !may hashem protect them and klal yisroel
Where did the rebbe say that?
Source?
The rebbe said once, that had Jews before the Holocaust taught the sheva mitzvos bnai noach, there would not have been a holocaust. If government officials, in those places where there is overt antisemitism thrown Jews, sincerely want to help they should officially adopt a platform of the seven universal laws to be taught to children in public schools.
It was a bottle, not a molotov cocktail
next door shliach
Over the past year this has increased even more so… Maybe it means we’re getting super close to the coming of Moshiach, please G-d! Even before any of the horrible things started happening in eretz yisroel and making headlines, I’d be walking around various parts of the upper west side in manhattan, both in broad daylight and at night, and both by myself and together with family and friends … We were simply minding my/our own business, walking by various types of people who I thought were doing the same. Sometimes one of these unsuspecting, plain-clothed, “civil” people said “Jew”… Read more »
Or else he should move his family for the time being. If Mumbai could happen once it can happen again. If the Rebbe has not told him specifically to stay, he cannot assume the responsibility for his family’s welfare. His children need a father
Schneors essence is emmes
i was at r. kesselman, him and his wife are amazing ppl and have such mesiras nefesh to live there its amazing to see
European countries allowed in millions of Muslims, and now they are going to pay dearly for it.
Australia did it too.. bye bye peaceful Australia.
all the anti semites are emerging now