Chabad Family Not Deterred in Face of Apparent Arson

After spending the last days of Sukkot in a neighboring town, Chabad-Lubavitch emissaries Rabbi Menachem and Moussia Teichman returned to their Uzhgorod, Ukraine, home only to find it gutted by fire.

Torah stolen from Jewish school in Cottage Grove

Cottage Grove, MN — The Sefer Torah at MyYeshiva, the Yeshiva High School of the Twin Cities in Minnesota, was stolen during Chol Hamoed Sukkos. Thieves apparently broke in to the yeshiva building through a window in the zal, the study hall, and made off with the yeshiva’s only Torah. The Torah was donated last year to the yeshiva by a friend and supporter in honor of the school’s opening.

“There’s a feeling of violation when your car is stolen, or when your purse is snatched,” said Rabbi Mottel Friedman, executive director of MyYeshiva, “The feeling of having our Torah stolen, our most precious inheritance, is the worst type of violation. Our very souls have been wounded.”

Man Assaulted with Metal Pipe, Rock Thrown Into Sukkah

CROWN HEIGHTS, Brooklyn [CHI] — A relatively calm and peaceful Sukkos and Simchas Torah was marred by two serious acts of violence against the Jewish community. A Jewish man on his way home on Friday night was assaulted by a young black male, who was riding on a bike and swung a metal pipe at his head.

The incident took place on Crown Street between Kingston and Albany Avenues at around 1:30 AM, Hatzalah received the call for an assault and upon arriving on scene they began treating the victim, who was described to be in his late 30’s, for serious trauma to the back of his head.

He was apparently assaulted by the young perpetrator with a metal pipe, described a number of eye witnesses, the victim himself could not recount the attack since he lost consciousness immediately after the assault.