Sukkot
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A nine-year old Jewish boy was attacked on a Brooklyn subway platform during Sukkot by a man who physically and verbally assaulted him and asked him “why Israel kills children in Gaza.”

The incident took place when the boy, along with several other Chabad yeshiva students, were helping Russian Jews shake the lulav.

The boy’s father Mordechai Lightstone wrote about the anti-Semitic attack on Twitter.

“My son (9) asked me if there was any news from Israel today. I asked him why. He and a group of other kids, 7-12 years old [went] with a few older yeshivah students to help Russian Jews in south Brooklyn shake the lulav,” Lighstone wrote.

He said that while on the subway platform, a man approached his son and began to scream and harass him.

His son said that the man kept asking him “why we were killing kids in Gaza.”

“My son looked at him in confusion, and so the guy (‘He had some white in his hair.’) began shaking my son's arm. The man followed the kids onto the train, still yelling.”

A group of Israeli teenagers saw what was happening and took action.

They were “visiting for the holidays and also on the train to help people shake lulav. [They] pulled my son and his friends to the back of train and stood between the man and the kids. The man continued to yell (‘His face turned red.’)”

“When they reached the next station, the group all switched train cars as the man continued to yell that he was glad they were leaving... And thus my son's question. He wanted know why the man chose to yell at him – a 9-year old from Brooklyn,” Lightstone said.

He added: “I know this thread will get a lot of use by people of stripes to boost their agendas – so I'll preempt it by saying what my hope is: If you see a group of Chabad kids asking people to do a mitzvah, say something nice to them – even if it's not your thing. They really are all kids who put themselves out there to help other Jews in ways most adults wouldn't. It takes a lot.”

Lightstone said that his son was not injured in the anti-Semitic attack.

“If it wasn't clear: Thank G-d my son is 100% fine,” he tweeted.