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Rav of the Kehillah: "There is no anti-Semitism in Kishinev"
"Vandalism? Hammers and iron bars? Never happened!" says a resident of Kishinev to our Etrog correspondent, following media reports in Israel. In an exclusive interview to Etrog, the Rav of the Jewish community in Kishinev, Rav Yisrael Livshitz, said: "We are against placing a menorah in the street, it’s a provocation to the nations."
"We are an Orthodox country," Chirbik told the assembly. "Stephan the Great defended our country from all kinds of Zjids [deragotory term for Jews], and now they come and put their menorah here. This is anarchy."
The Moldovan government says the menorah was subsequently found, reinstalled, and is back in place under police protection.
Our Etrog correspondent saw the pictures, found the menorah whole, and went out to investigate if the rising anti-Semitism in the world has also came to Kishinev, the capital of Moldova, who is responsible for placing menorah in the town square, and what exactly happened there?
The Menorah was not Placed there by the Religious
"Vandalism for the sake of vandalism? Hammers and iron bars? Never happened!" says a local resident to Etrog. "You can imagine that a small group of Romanians or Russians would not dare put a cross in the middle of the street in Israel, even if they have Israeli citizenship, right? Why do you think that here it’s allowed? We are a very small minority in relation to the Christian population, it is clear that such an act will wake sleeping bears.”
According to him, "the religious community did not put the menorah, the opposite is true. Harav Livshitz believes that this provocation is unnecessary and prohibited by halachah. The ones who initiated the menorah are local merchants, who have no connection to religion and are married to non-Jews, with a goal to take over the public relations campaign of Moldova's Jewish community, as if they could.”
The Moldovan government condemned the vandalism, saying that "intolerance and xenophobia" are inacceptable.
Meanwhile, the new Prime Minister, Wald Philat, contacted Harav Livshitz to inform him that he was pained over the incident. Harav Livshitz asked to contact him tomorrow, and give his official response after consultation with the Gedolei Hador in Eretz Yisrael.
In an interview with Etrog, Harav Livshitz, the head of the Jewish community and head of a local Kollel, said that "we do not suffer from anti-Semitism in Kishinev, and Moldova is one of the least anti-Semitic places in Europe. The menorah was placed by non-observant Jews in order to provoke Christians and to show they exist, and that the place belongs to them."
"Whoever complains about anti-Semitism is the one who cut off the heat to the synagogue"
One of the Jews, who presents himself as head of the Jewish community, invited Harav Livshitz to light his menorah and asked him what blessing is made on an electric menorah. "Blessed… who did not make me an am ha-aretz (ignoramus)," was the Rav’s satirical reply. "We'll get another menorah," he responded immediately.
The religious community headed by Harav Yisrael Livshitz is developing slowly; lots of Jews are exposed to activities and return to their roots. Harav Livshitz says that "the same people who complain about anti-Semitism are the ones who cut off the heat in our synagogue to make us abandon our activities, to take over the buildings in order to get rich at the expense of the public assets. This is a first-class scandal.”
According to him, "the cold outside is bone chilling, you have to understand that this is minus 20 degrees outside, and in the building adjacent to the synagogue live families with children. We’re speaking about fifteen children and babies, and this is life or death for them," complains Harav Livshitz, "We must address these issues urgently.”
Etrog will continue to monitor and report on further developments in the Jewish community in Kishinev, capital of Moldova.
Menorah in the town square [צלם] |
Broken menorah at the feet of the statue [צלם] |
Harav Livshitz with some members of the community [צלם] |
Children from the community in Kishinev [צלם] |