SAN DIEGO (KGTV) – San Diego Rabbi Aharon Shapiro describes the importance and meaning behind some of the traditional Jewish garments.
“So, it’s similar like we wear our Yarmulke that reminds us that God is always above us. We wear the tzitzits to remind us to do acts of goodness and kindness,” Shapiro said.
Acts of goodness and kindness are far from what the 65-year-old received on Monday morning. Shapiro told ABC 10News while wearing his Yarmulke and tzitzits, which are traditional Jewish garments, he walked into 7-Eleven store near San Diego State to get two sodas when someone walked in behind him and asked him if he was Jewish.
“And then without taking a breath, he launched into a tirade against Israel, against the Jews; ‘all Jews should be dead, all Jews deserve to die,’” Shapiro said.
That volatile volley of words wasn’t the only thing Shapiro said happened to him inside the store.
“Then he just ran at me and, as you can see, I wear my tzitzits out. The tzitzits are attached to a four-cornered garment, and he pulled one of them, yanked it off, threw it on the floor, said something completely vile, and ran out the door,” Shapiro said.
The suspect fled the scene, and while there was no description of the person, San Diego Police said it’s investigating this incident as a hate crime.
But Rabbi Chalom Boudjnah of the Chabad House of the College Area said there have been other antisemitic incidents in San Diego.. One happening this March.
“One morning, we come to synagogue and we see that menorah is on the floor,” Boudjnah said. “It’s somebody who ran to toward the menorah pushed it as hard as he could until menorah collapsed.”
As ABC 10News has previously reported, the Del Cerrio neighborhood had antisemitic fliersplaced on cars by a known hate group earlier this month.
The organization Stop Antisemitism’s executive director told ABC 10News similar fliers popped up in Allied Gardens on Wednesday morning.
“The fliers have the same subject matter as, you know, all of them; basically, vilifying the Jewish people,” said Liora Rez, the Executive Director of Stop Antisemitism.
Hearing and seeing of these antisemitic incidents, Rez said she is calling for action from legal and law enforcement.
“We see that this being just another example of the hate speech we see online manifesting into hate that we see in the physical realm whether it be via these leaflets or violence against this rabbi,” Rez said.
This rabbi having his own message, too.
“And get the American public aware of what is happening is very important and very critical to ending all hate; not only against Jewish hate but hate in America in general,” Shapiro said.
The Rabbi of the Chabad House of College Area told ABC 10News a new menorah is under construction and expects it to be finished by next month.
