A Satmar Yeshiva maggid shiur was repeatedly stabbed while waiting outside a Stamford Hill bank on Friday morning.
The offender, Stanley Francis, was charged with attempted murder and possessing a dangerous weapon after attacking 50-year-old Rabbi Alter Yaakov Schlesinger.
The incident was spotted by construction manager Lazar Friedlander and his brother Matt.
Friedlander told the MailOnline: “I’m Jewish myself and I can see another Jewish man shouting, ‘Hold him, catch him, he’s got a knife! Stabbing!’
“There were a couple of other people trying to grab him. Me and my brother managed to force him down and put his hands behind his back until the police came.”
Rabbi Schlesinger is recovering in the hospital. Hatzolah volunteers on the scene said it was “an absolute miracle” that he was not more seriously injured.
Shomrim president Rabbi Herschel Gluck told The Jewish Press, “This could have developed very differently. We deeply appreciate the warm help and assistance that we received from very diverse members of the local community and from the emergency services.”
Chinuch UK Foresees Another Fight With Government
Chinuch UK chair David Landau does not share the optimism of the mayor of Barnet, Councillor Brian Gordon, who wrote an article in the Jewish Weekly entitled, “Virus Puts a Welcome Break on RSE Plans.”
Gordon, who is also an executive member of the Union of Hebrew Congregations, wrote that the facts of life curriculum (called RSE), which was due to be caught in September, will not have to be taught until the following September due to the lockdown, which hampered the necessary parental consultation process.
Gordon wrote, “The UK Kehilla will be able to heave a sigh of relief as they have been relieved of the pressure of delivering RSE this September.”
But Landau told The Jewish Press, “The problems will just be pushed off till the next academic year. There will definitely be clashes with Ofsted over RSE. We will have the same round of unpleasantness with Ofsted.
“They will try and impose their interpretation of what needs to be done in a bullying and insensitive manner. That’s what they do. They won’t look to try and work with us. We will try and engage with them. [But] on past performance, RSE will be another opportunity for friction with Ofsted.”
Some Shuls Bend the Rules
On Monday, British places of worship were allowed to open for private worship for the first time since the lockdown.
But some shuls are stretching the term “private worship” a little in order to allow for minyanim.
A source close to Manchester’s Machzikei Hadass Synagogue told The Jewish Press, “If everyone prays privately and they just say baruch hu u’varuch shemo and Amen, it does not mean communal prayer.”
Government guidance stipulates that worshippers not be “part of a group, led prayer or communal act.”
Utensils Mikveh Is Approved for Use
A new utensils mikveh at Elstree Shtiebel is the only one in North West London to be medically approved for use during the lockdown.
Mendel Tajtelbaum built the mikveh in memory of his mother Ilsa.
He said, “It’s the only mikveh that has been properly allowed and passed by doctors. We have a cleaner come every day, we provide gloves, we’re using special chlorine.