JTA - 08.31.2004

JTA Breaking News

Rabbis beaten in Odessa  

Two rabbis were assaulted in the middle of the day on one of the central streets in Odessa, Ukraine. 

Fishel Chichelnitzky and David Feldman, who work at an Odessa yeshiva, and three yeshiva students were attacked by five middle-aged men on Aug. 20. They fought back, helped by some passers-by. Local police arrested one of the attackers, who threatened at a police station to find and shoot the kikes, according to witnesses. 

According to Rabbi Avraham Wolf, the chief rabbi of Odessa and Southern Ukraine, this was not the first time rabbis were attacked this year in the city. There also has been vandalism against a synagogue in the Ukrainian port city. This is a result of the helplessness of local law enforcement agencies, Wolf told JTA.