Two Dutch Jewish Sites Firebombed Within 24 Hours
by Tzali Reicher – chabad.org
Early Friday morning at 3:40 a.m., assailants placed an explosive device by the doors at the synagogue in Rotterdam. Neighbors in the Dutch city heard the blast and called police. By the time they arrived, a small blaze was burning at the door.
“Thank G‑d, the door’s concrete framing contained the fire, starved it of avenues to spread, and it burned out without the need for the emergency services,” said the synagogue’s Rabbi Yehuda Vorst, who in addition to his role as rabbi of the Jewish Community of Rotterdam serves as the Chabad-Lubavitch emissary to the city. Vorst was not at the synagogue when the explosion occurred.
Chris den Hoedt, who serves as chairman of the Jewish Community of Rotterdam, told Chabad.org that the precautions the synagogue took by installing a secure entrance with bulletproof glass and explosion-proof doors helped ensure there wasn’t further damage.
Hours later, in Amsterdam’s Buitenveldert neighborhood, a similar explosion struck the outer wall of the Cheder of Amsterdam on Friday night. The Jewish day school, where Vorst was a member of the inaugural class, sustained damage to its outer brick walls. Thankfully, the damage there too was minimal and there were no injuries.
The Cheder’s founding was initiated by Rabbi Mendel Futerfas, a legendary Lubavitcher Chassid and survivor of Stalin’s labor camps in the Soviet Union who visited the country with a directive from the Rebbe, Rabbi Menachem M. Schneerson, of righteous memory, to help strengthen Jewish education in the Netherlands. The Rebbe extended many blessings and much attention to the school.
The attacks were swiftly condemned by leading politicians in the Netherlands. Amsterdam Mayor Femke Halsema called it “a cowardly act of aggression towards the Jewish community,” while Dutch Prime Minister Rob Jetten said there “must be no place for antisemitism.”
In Rotterdam, four young men between the ages of 17 and 19 were arrested after officers stationed near a second synagogue pulled over a car driving erratically and recognized the occupants from a description circulated earlier that day in connection to the firebombing. Meanwhile in Amsterdam, police have obtained images of the suspect responsible for the blast.
The attacks were part of a wave of antisemitic violence that swept across Europe that week. Days earlier, a synagogue in Liège, Belgium, had been struck in an explosion its mayor also described as an antisemitic attack. A previously unknown Islamist group quickly claimed responsibility for the Rotterdam attack in a video posted to social media.
‘We Carry Forward’
Rabbi Vorst wasn’t expecting a large crowd for Shabbat services, with many of the synagogue’s regular attendees away in another part of the country for a community Shabbaton.
Despite that, in response to the attack, many Jews of Rotterdam made their way to the synagogue on Shabbat morning, the full synagogue a clear statement of support and making it apparent that terrorism would not intimidate the Jewish community. Mayor Carola Schouten visited the Rotterdam synagogue on Friday and on Shabbat day during the service to show her solidarity.
“Our community is very resilient and will not be intimidated by cowardly acts of random violence,” says den Hoedt. “We are proud Jews and only grow stronger in our identity, religion and sense of community by these threats.”
During his Shabbat address, Rabbi Vorst spoke about the upcoming Jewish month of Nissan, which begins this week. In Hebrew, he explained, the name of the month can be read as different words: nes, a miracle; nisoyon, a trial; and from the verse in Psalms, nes lehisnoses — which the master commentator Rashi explains to mean “a banner to be raised high”. He told the community that throughout Jewish history, there has never been a shortage of challenges. What has also never been in short supply, he said, is the backing of G‑d, and the resilience of a people who choose to carry the banner of Jewish pride forward rather than set it down in the face of darkness.
“People can be afraid,” he said. “But nevertheless, we trust in G‑d Almighty and continue marching forward with our heads held high. This perfectly describes the people of our community.”
