Rabbi Abba Dunner, Secretary-General of the Rabbis Conference currently meeting in Brussels, spoke with Arutz-7 today against a backdrop of increasing anti-Semitic attacks throughout Europe. \"250 rabbis of Europe are meeting here,\" Rabbi Dunner said, \"in what has become a dangerous place [Brussels]; a synagogue was burnt down, and they have advised us not to walk in the streets with our hats and beards... We have rabbis from all over Europe and Russia, even Eastern Russia, and we are privileged to have with us also Israel\'s two Chief Rabbis...\"
\"We came originally to discuss the Jewish Family,\" Rabbi Dunner said, \"as this was the topic we set six months ago; we never dreamt that we would instead be discussing the plague of increasing anti-Semitism... Tonight, the President of the European Parliament will address us, and this morning his top aide came. They tell us, \'Don\'t worry, it\'s not anti-Semitism, it\'s just hooligans...\' But we don\'t accept this. We tell them, \'No, it\'s not temporary, and it\'s not just hooligans - it\'s anti-Semitism, clear and simple. There are many Moslems who live here, and you\'re afraid of them, and that\'s why you say that it\'s just hooligans. But you must know and admit the truth...\' Chief Rabbis Lau and Bakshi-Doron were very clear in telling them that they must understand the source of what is going on, and why it is happening precisely now... We have many problems in Europe, such as ritual slaughter, and ritual circumcision in Sweden - but people [Jews] are afraid to bring up these matters because they sense that the public is anti-Jewish...\"
Rabbi Dunner did take a strong stand in at least one issue, however. He said that when he was making arrangements with the Brussels police, \"they told me that the rabbis should not walk in certain places because it would be dangerous... \'Have you gone mad?\' I asked them. \'I should tell the rabbis, who came to Belgium, a free country, that they can\'t walk where they want? If you have a problem, then you should tell the people who are making the problems that *they* can\'t walk where they want, not us!...\'\"
When asked if the rabbis would issue a call for aliyah [immigration to Israel], Rabbi Dunner said, \"No. There will be nothing like that... What I can tell you, though, is that in Eastern Europe, whenever the people are [re-]introduced to Judaism, they automatically want to come to Israel. We don\'t tell them to go to Israel, but we see that the moment they become religious, they move to Israel...\"
Note: It was learned today that a synagogue in the southwestern Russian city of Rostov had been vandalized; its windows were smashed, and a fire was set outside its front gate.
\"We came originally to discuss the Jewish Family,\" Rabbi Dunner said, \"as this was the topic we set six months ago; we never dreamt that we would instead be discussing the plague of increasing anti-Semitism... Tonight, the President of the European Parliament will address us, and this morning his top aide came. They tell us, \'Don\'t worry, it\'s not anti-Semitism, it\'s just hooligans...\' But we don\'t accept this. We tell them, \'No, it\'s not temporary, and it\'s not just hooligans - it\'s anti-Semitism, clear and simple. There are many Moslems who live here, and you\'re afraid of them, and that\'s why you say that it\'s just hooligans. But you must know and admit the truth...\' Chief Rabbis Lau and Bakshi-Doron were very clear in telling them that they must understand the source of what is going on, and why it is happening precisely now... We have many problems in Europe, such as ritual slaughter, and ritual circumcision in Sweden - but people [Jews] are afraid to bring up these matters because they sense that the public is anti-Jewish...\"
Rabbi Dunner did take a strong stand in at least one issue, however. He said that when he was making arrangements with the Brussels police, \"they told me that the rabbis should not walk in certain places because it would be dangerous... \'Have you gone mad?\' I asked them. \'I should tell the rabbis, who came to Belgium, a free country, that they can\'t walk where they want? If you have a problem, then you should tell the people who are making the problems that *they* can\'t walk where they want, not us!...\'\"
When asked if the rabbis would issue a call for aliyah [immigration to Israel], Rabbi Dunner said, \"No. There will be nothing like that... What I can tell you, though, is that in Eastern Europe, whenever the people are [re-]introduced to Judaism, they automatically want to come to Israel. We don\'t tell them to go to Israel, but we see that the moment they become religious, they move to Israel...\"
Note: It was learned today that a synagogue in the southwestern Russian city of Rostov had been vandalized; its windows were smashed, and a fire was set outside its front gate.