The Toronto Star reports that local police have arrested one person and are searching for two more suspects in the murder of David Rosenzweig outside a Jewish pizza shop early yesterday morning. The funeral of the victim, whose 49th [Hebrew] birthday was yesterday, will begin at 4PM at the Clanton Park Synagogue. Mr. Rosenzweig, survived by his wife Chavi, six children, and one grandchild, was praised by neighbors and friends as \"a kind of saint.\"
Although it was clear that the murderers did not know the victim, and although Police Chief Julian Fantino said yesterday, \"We know that the victim was a middle-aged Hasidic Jew and the two suspects had the appearances of skinheads,\" he would say only that, \"We are looking at the possibility of this being a hate-motivated crime.\" Pearl Gladman, of B\'nai Brith Canada, said there have been recent incidents in which Jews have been harassed in Jewish neighborhoods in Toronto, which has a Jewish population of over 200,000. Local Jews expressed concern over the fact that anti-Semitism had reached their area. Deputy Foreign Minister Michael Melchior said, \"the wave of worldwide anti-Semitic attacks in recent months is the worst since the Second World War.\"
The victim, who arrived to help his son who had encountered car troubles, was standing outside the pizzeria when he was murdered. The killers had come to the pizzeria \"to create trouble,\" according to an eye-witness, saw Rosenzweig dressed as hareidi Jews are dressed around the world, and one of them then stabbed him in the lower back. The paper reported that witnesses heard one of the attackers yelling, \"He\'s a rabbi,\" before thrusting the foot-long knife into his back.
Yisrael Stefansky, a member of Israel\'s volunteer Zaka unit that helps out in gathering blood and body parts for proper Jewish burial after terrorist attacks and other cases of violent death, happened to be in Toronto at the time - and arrived on the murder scene to help out with his Zaka skills. He came to Toronto with a partner to raise funds and to escape the tensions of his \"job\" in Israel, \"and we didn\'t expect to have to collect blood of a Jewish man murdered by a skinhead in Toronto,\" he told Arutz-7 today. \"We showed the people here how to do this type of thing, and now we\'re going to give [the local Hatzolah chapter] a course and train them. In case such a thing ever happens again in Toronto - a murder or an accident - they\'ll know what to do in order to bring the body for proper burial.\"
Although it was clear that the murderers did not know the victim, and although Police Chief Julian Fantino said yesterday, \"We know that the victim was a middle-aged Hasidic Jew and the two suspects had the appearances of skinheads,\" he would say only that, \"We are looking at the possibility of this being a hate-motivated crime.\" Pearl Gladman, of B\'nai Brith Canada, said there have been recent incidents in which Jews have been harassed in Jewish neighborhoods in Toronto, which has a Jewish population of over 200,000. Local Jews expressed concern over the fact that anti-Semitism had reached their area. Deputy Foreign Minister Michael Melchior said, \"the wave of worldwide anti-Semitic attacks in recent months is the worst since the Second World War.\"
The victim, who arrived to help his son who had encountered car troubles, was standing outside the pizzeria when he was murdered. The killers had come to the pizzeria \"to create trouble,\" according to an eye-witness, saw Rosenzweig dressed as hareidi Jews are dressed around the world, and one of them then stabbed him in the lower back. The paper reported that witnesses heard one of the attackers yelling, \"He\'s a rabbi,\" before thrusting the foot-long knife into his back.
Yisrael Stefansky, a member of Israel\'s volunteer Zaka unit that helps out in gathering blood and body parts for proper Jewish burial after terrorist attacks and other cases of violent death, happened to be in Toronto at the time - and arrived on the murder scene to help out with his Zaka skills. He came to Toronto with a partner to raise funds and to escape the tensions of his \"job\" in Israel, \"and we didn\'t expect to have to collect blood of a Jewish man murdered by a skinhead in Toronto,\" he told Arutz-7 today. \"We showed the people here how to do this type of thing, and now we\'re going to give [the local Hatzolah chapter] a course and train them. In case such a thing ever happens again in Toronto - a murder or an accident - they\'ll know what to do in order to bring the body for proper burial.\"