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.”
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