Purim (illustration)
Purim (illustration)iStock

A 40-year-old Jewish man tempted fate by walking into a Paris synagogue dressed as a jihadist, carrying a fake rifle and shouting "Allahu Akbar", a police source told AFP Friday.

The incident took place Thursday evening at the Chabad Lubavitch synagogue in Vincennes in southeastern Paris. Soldiers guarding the synagogue said it came as "a surprise".

The source told AFP that the man arrived wearing long North African robes, carrying a fake Kalashnikov and crying "Allahu akbar", Arabic for "God is greatest".

"It created a certain emotion among the soldiers," the source said.

The costume, of course, was in honor of the holiday of Purim and, according to AFP, the initial shock passed quickly when members of the synagogue realized they knew the man, and that it was only a joke.

He was nonetheless ordered to present himself at his local police station on Friday.

Soldiers have been posted outside many Jewish buildings and other sensitive locations around France in the wake of deadly jihadist attacks last year.

AFP contributed to this report.

(Arutz Sheva’s North American desk is keeping you updated until the start of Shabbat in New York. The time posted automatically on all Arutz Sheva articles, however, is Israeli time.)