New Jersey Rabbi Recounts Terrifying Firebomb Attack
A New Jersey rabbi recounted the terror of coming under firebomb attack in his own synagogue as he slept, but vowed to turn the incident into a positive for society, the New York Post reported.
“God has a mission for me,” Rabbi Nosson Schuman of Congregation Beth El in Rutherford told the paper.
Schuman was asleep with his family in the living section of the shul before dawn Wednesday when someone tossed a Molotov cocktail through his bedroom window.
Gasoline “sprayed all over our blankets, all over the carpet,” Schuman said. The rabbi and his wife quickly put out the small fire and rounded up their five children, all of whom escaped unharmed.
The attack, which is being investigated as attempted murder, was the fourth anti-Semitic incident in the last month in Bergen County.
The rabbi says the attack will spur him to mount greater efforts to stamp out anti-Semitism and improve multi-faith dialogue.
“We have to work together and respect everybody for the good they do, whether Jew or non-Jew,” the rabbi said. “That’s what the nation needs.”
This is a moment of great uncertainty. Here’s what you can do about it.
We hope you appreciated this article. Before you go, we’d like to ask you to please support the Forward’s independent Jewish news this Passover. All donations are being matched by the Forward Board - up to $100,000.
This is a moment of great uncertainty for the news media, for the Jewish people, and for our sacred democracy. It is a time of confusion and declining trust in public institutions. An era in which we need humans to report facts, conduct investigations that hold power to account, tell stories that matter and share honest discourse on all that divides us.
With no paywall or subscriptions, the Forward is entirely supported by readers like you. Every dollar you give this Passover is invested in the future of the Forward — and telling the American Jewish story fully and fairly.
The Forward doesn’t rely on funding from institutions like governments or your local Jewish federation. There are thousands of readers like you who give us $18 or $36 or $100 each month or year.
Support our mission to tell the Jewish story fully and fairly.
