Picture above: Rabbi Nosson Schuman describes how the flames landed on his blankets while he slept while his wife, Pessy, looks on outside their Montross Avenue home.
Several Molotov cocktails and other incendiary devices were thrown at a northern New Jersey synagogue on January 11, 2012. The attack on Congregation Beth El in Rutherford was the fourth bias incident within a month against a Jewish religious institution or center in northern New Jersey. Within the last three weeks, a fire was intentionally set at a synagogue in Paramus, and anti-Semitic graffiti was discovered at synagogues in Hackensack and Maywood.
Rutherford, New Jersey is an inner-ring suburb of New York City, located 8 miles (13 km) west of Midtown Manhattan. There is direct train access to mid-town Manhattan. As of the 2010 United States Census, the borough population was 18,061.
Congregation Beth El was founded in 1919 as The South Bergen Hebrew Institute of East Rutherford, a Conservative Jewish congregation. In 1951, it changed its name to "Temple Beth El, the Jewish Center of South Bergen." But in the 1970s--80s, there was a decline in membership, and in 1995, the board decided to move Temple Beth-El into the Orthodox sphere and it became Congregation Beth El. A mechitza was instituted (separating men and women during the service) and Orthodox regulations followed.
Its Rabbi is Nosson Schuman, a graduate of the University of Michigan and Yeshiva University. His torah study was done at Yeshivas Chaim Berlin from which he obtained rabbinic ordination. His true passion he states is Kabbalistic and Chasidic thought.
A fire was ignited in the second-floor bedroom of the rabbi’s residence. Police are treating the attack both as a bias crime and as an attempted murder.
Bergen County Prosecutor John Molinelli said Wednesday’s intentionally set early-morning fire was possibly the work of more than one person. The incident occurred at about 4:30 a.m., when incendiary devices were thrown at various parts of the large Victorian-style home that houses Congregation Beth El on its ground floor, and the rabbi’s living quarters on the second level.
Rabbi Nosson Schuman, his wife, five children and the rabbi’s parents were sleeping when the fire occurred. Rabbi Nosson Schuman said that he saw a flash of fire outside his bedroom window before his bedspread caught fire. The rabbi said he got his wife and five children out of the building safely. No one was seriously hurt.
Police said the device thrown through the rabbi’s bedroom window did not explode, but ignited. It put the rabbi’s bedspread, carpet, and bedroom window on fire. Rabbi Nossom Schuman’s left hand was burned when he extinguished the flames. Police have been stationed outside the Montross Avenue synagogue
One of the rabbi’s daughters, Menuchah Schuman, said she at first thought someone had broken into her home when the attack occurred. “I heard my dad yell, ‘fire, fire, fire,’” said the 15-year-old who was studying for a midterm exam when the home was attacked at 4:40 a.m. Wednesday. “My mom called 911 informing them of the attack, but I was afraid to go outside. I’m lucky to be alive.” Last night she slept with the door open.
“It bothers me we were attacked because of our religion,” said Menuchah who chose not to attend school today. “They tried hurting my family, but God protected us.” The rabbi said he and his wife, Pessy, had a difficult night sleeping following his bedroom attack.
Pessy Schuman, posted her worries to her Facebook wall during the wee hours of Thursday morning after a night of troubled sleep. “Can't sleep, I keep wondering if the cops outside are awake and vigilant,” she wrote about 3 a.m. “I keep waiting for the next bomb to fly in through my window. I hate windows.”
“The manner in which this heinous crime has been committed has brought our office to really raise consciousness on this,” Prosecutor Molinelli said. “This is certainly a hate crime, this is certainly a bias crime, this is aggravated arson, but most importantly, we are now looking on this as an attempted homicide.”
He said there was nothing to suggest that the rabbi had been personally targeted, but added nothing had been ruled out so far as the investigation was continuing. A wide coalition of law enforcement agencies, including the Newark office of the FBI, is participating in the investigation.
Etzion Neuer of the Anti-Defamation League said the League was very concerned that there had been four bias incidents in such a short period of time. “We view these as part of a deeply troubling continuum that we pray will end now,” he said. The League has offered a $2,500 award for the arrest and conviction of a suspect.
Further Reading:
Hate Crimes hit New York City Metropolitan Area
The Anti-Defamation League 2010 Audit of Anti-Semitic Incidents
