500 Attend Shabbos Meal at Chabad After Attack

Sunny Beach, Bulgaria

Last Friday night, some 500 Israelis celebrated Shabbat with Chabad in Sunny Beach, Burgas. With Burgas’s airport still closed, and the resort city reeling from Wednesday’s terrorist attack, Chabad expects smaller numbers at this week’s Shabbat dinner, but is determined to host Shabbat as always, said director of Chabad activities in Bulgaria, Rabbi Yosef Solomon.

Wednesday’s bloody bus bombing in which seven were killed and many wounded, took Bulgaria, one of the smallest countries in southeastern Europe with little experience with terrorism, by surprise.

Rabbi Solomon , who spoke with Bulgarian Foreign Minister Nikolai Mladenov, Thursday morning, believes it is a wake-up call. “This is a pervasive threat, and the government now recognizes how serious it is.”

Chabad representatives from Burgas, a popular destination for Israeli travelers, were at the scene shortly after the explosion, and have been working round the clock to assist survivors and their families at local hospitals, at the airport, with Israeli rescue teams and local authorities. “Many rescue teams from Israel have come here, and we’ve been doing everything we can to help them,” said Solomon.

As well, Chabad representatives met with “the interior minister and the foreign minister in an effort to help them understand Jewish requirements in evacuating and respecting the dead,” Solomon told lubavitch.com. Bulgarian authorities investigating the bombing have not yet released the bodies of the dead have to Israel, and Chabad rabbinical students are participating in the traditional shmira, or vigil, over the bodies.

Chabad continues to provide food and drink to Israeli rescue teams, to the wounded and their families, while calls keep pouring from families and friends. “The calls are relentless.” said Solomon. “People are desperate for information.” The Chabad center in Burgas has dedicated a hotline to this emergency: +359888122749

“Our Chabad center here has become an information center and has been placed at the disposal of this emergency crisis,” Solomon said.