Shabbos Observance Saved Yidden from Ill-Fated Polish Flight
According to Chabad shaliach in Warsaw, Rabbi Shalom Ber Stambler, a number of leaders of the local Jewish community are alive because they canceled their participation in the official state delegation, realizing the flight was on shabbos.
Rabbi Stambler stated the Polish president who was among the many government officials that perished in the crash was a true friend of the Jewish People and Israel. He stressed that President Lech Kaczynski showed his solidarity with the Jews by his actions, not just with words.
He pointed out that when the late president served as mayor of Warsaw, he played a major role assisting in the construction of the Jewish Museum, which is soon to open in the location of the Jewish ghetto area.
Rabbi Mordechai Shudrich, the chief rabbi of Poland, was among those invited to accompany the president on the ill-fated flight. The rav explained he told the president that he cannot fly on shabbos, and his explanation was received and understood.
Avreich Stabbed in his Jerusalem Home on Shabbos
Rav Nachman Yonah Leib [ben Raizel Shoshana) was seated at the shabbos table with his family on Friday night in Jerusalem’s Ramat Shlomo neighborhood when he noticed a significant amount of water on the balcony. He assumed a pipe had burst, perhaps in his neighbor’s home upstairs, prompting him to go upstairs to inform his neighbor of the situation. When the door opened upstairs, R’ Nachman was greeted with a punch to his face, knocking him down, followed by an attack with a knife. He was stabbed three times in his abdominal area.
The family heard screams and ran upstairs, horrified to find R’ Nachman on the ground, bleeding from his wounds. Emergency officials were summoned and Ichud Hatzalah was first on the scene, with first-responders working to stabilize his condition. He was transported to the trauma unit of Hadassah Ein Kerem Hospital and following a number of surgical procedures, he is listed in moderate-to-serious condition.
Version 2: The neighbor and assailant, described as a “baal tshuva”, came downstairs requesting that the family sing zmiros in a lower tone, explaining they were disturbing him. An argument resulted and the neighbor stabbed R’ Nachman.
The attacker was lightly injured and he was transported in custody to Shaare Zedek Medical Center. He explained to police that his downstairs neighbor was disturbing his shabbos and that prompted him to direct a water hose onto his balcony.
1 comment:
This reminds me of stories that I've heard about ultra-orthodox riots on Shabbos. I recall a story of rioting at a parking lot that was open on Shabbos, resulting in vandalism and the attacking of police. I also recall the story of a protest at a factory that was open on Shabbos, with a similar outcome. And stories of people who drove their cars into ultra-orthodox neighborhoods on Shabbos and were dragged from those cars and beaten. So it seems that, in some minds, Shabbos observance warrants violence.
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