Prague Journal

Sunday, April 10, 2005.

There was almost no one at the airport at midnight, as we checked in and went through the routine security checks. The woman at the ElAl desk who interrogated us is the friend of Ales’s daughter Susana (Prague really is a small town!) and she updated us on the fracas at the Altneu schul on Saturday evening! There has been friction among the leadership of the official Prague Jewish community since last fall when Tomas Jelinek, who ousted Karol Sidon, Prague’s long-standing chief rabbi, refused to step down himself, amidst increasing divisiveness between the Orthodox and Chabad factions. Chabad is an international, ultra-orthodox Jewish sect aimed at getting all Jews to be more observant. Rabbi Sidon has been running services at the High Synagogue since last summer, when Jelinek took over the chairmanship of the Prague Jewish Community.
According to the Prague Post, the violent altercation occurred on April 9 in an emotional dispute between Israeli members of the Chabad movement and locals backing Karol Sidon, former chief rabbi of the Czech Republic. Many of the facts surrounding the fight that broke out in the synagogue’s entry hall are disputed. Both sides acknowledge that the conflict became physical when diminutive 19-year-old Hebrew teacher Tsila Jerochim was slapped in the face by Martin, a Sidon supporter. In response, Martin and his friend were beaten by several Chabad worshippers, including Jerochim’s father. Police responded to the scene, and Martin filed charges against the Chabad members in the fight. A videotape of the attack taken from a temple camera is in the hands of the Prague police, who are investigating the assault as a criminal offense. Both sides agree that the incident stems from the ongoing tension in the Prague Jewish Community over its leadership and religious future.
Of course the press has a field day with this stuff, with headlines like "Jew versus Jew" and "Fights over money." In this case, Jerochim said the tension in the synagogue turned critical Friday evening, April 8, when about 30 Sidon supporters turned up at the Old-New Synagogue along with Rabbi Sidon, who had been moved out of the Old-New Synagogue when Jelinek was elected chairman of the Prague Jewish Community. Sidon's group arrived at the Old-New Synagogue, a prestigious spot for any rabbi, to “take it from Chabad,” said Jerochim. Jerochim admitted telling Martin’s girlfriend that she was acting like the Nazis by trying to keep Chabad supporters out of the synagogue. But Martin says his girlfriend, who confirmed his version of events, told him that Jerochim had called her a “Nazi pig,” which Jerochim denies. Upon hearing of the slur, Martin slapped Jerochim in the entrance hall of the synagogue. “I didn’t do it to hurt her,” he said. “I did it because I thought she was being hysterical and that’s what the psychiatrists say you should do in such a case.” He added that as many of his relatives had been murdered by the Nazis, he found it unbearable that anyone should utter such an insult in a synagogue. Hearing Jerochim scream, several Israelis who worship at the Old-New pounced on her assailant and his friend. However, other witnesses said that the Israelis had no idea why Jerochim was upset and simply seized an opportunity to engage in violence against two people they deemed as obstacles to Chabad’s control of the synagogue. The two beaten men ended up seriously wounded — one of them was tugged by his legs on the floor after being beaten on the head which resulted in a concussion. The synagogue was closed following the violence. http://www.praguepost.com/P03/2005/Art/0421/news5.php

posted by JWinn @ 11:28 PM