The Jews of Brussels are primed to celebrate the Passover holiday with a series of public celebrations despite ongoing tensions related to recent terror attacks, according to community officials and rabbinic leaders.
Late last month, terrorists set off coordinated attacks at both Brussels’ Zaventem airport and a local metro station, killing 32 people and injuring more than 300, and many of the city’s Jews including Chabad-Lubavitch chose to mark the festive Purim holiday in a relatively subdued fashion as a sign of respect for those who lost their lives. But now that the official period of national mourning is over, Chabad representatives have stated that they do not intend to hide—either during Passover itself or during the days leading up to the festival.
Meeting with Belgian security officials on April 8, representatives of several Jewish organizations, including European Jewish Community Center, the American Jewish Committee and the European Jewish Association, expressed their concerns and formulated plans to protect their constituents in the coming days.
“After the recent attacks and as we plan for the upcoming Jewish holiday, safety is very much on our minds,” says Rabbi Michoel Rosenblum, a Chabad rabbi and director of the EU Jewish Building, who facilitated the meeting. “Unfortunately, this is the sad reality here in Brussels—every Jewish gathering requires a great deal of security planning.”
Interviewed on Wednesday, Rosenblum said that, as a matter of course, the Jewish community is always at a high level of alert, and that while the situation is certainly tense, “we have things in place for the most part” and “are taking all precautions.”
The Jewish community is “doing what we have to do,” he explained, adding that all events are protected by armed guards with “their fingers on the trigger.”
Asked about recent media reports of subdued Purim celebrations in the city, the rabbi replied that during the next two weeks, the pace of events is not only “not scaled down, but if anything, is scaled up. This is not a time to scale down in any way, shape or form. In these times, we must double our efforts.”
While there is concern, he conceded, the community is “resilient,” and so far, there is no indication that attendance at events will be any lower than during previous years.
Chabad will hold two educational “Model Matzah Bakery” workshops at local schools for some 350 children in the days leading up to the holiday, and hundreds are expected at three community seders across the city.
Rabbi Shmuel Pinson, director of Ohel Menachem with his wife, Shulamith, who serves as program director, will host a radio segment to discuss the significance of the holiday. “We are making a public seder on the first night and are expecting 100 people,” says Pinson, referring to the festive ceremony and meal celebrating the exodus from Egypt. “We encouraged more people to come, and I think we will have the same or more as other years.”
Rabbi Shimon and Yente Lasker, co-directors of Beth Chabad of Brussels, will be hosting a seder as in previous years, which attracts English speakers living in and visiting the multi-lingual Belgian city.
There will also be increased efforts to distribute handmade shmurah matzahs, he adds, calling them a protection against harm in a play on words, comparing shmurah (watched or guarded) to shmirah, the term used in many Jewish communities for voluntray neighborhood patrols.
Outreach for ‘Chametz’ Sales
A special effort will encourage local Jews to sell their chametz, or leavened food items, which are forbidden to eat or even own during Passover. On Thursday evening, the rabbi says he will set up a table outside during the city’s “White Nights” street festival to explain the seder to revelers and discuss its importance.
“We are trying to do everything to encourage people to come back and feel comfortable,” he says, asserting that by boosting security and refusing to give in to fear, the Jewish community will strengthen its members and remind them that “G‑d is watching them, and that they should be strong and unafraid,” as that is the meaning of Passover.
“We are using the message of Passover to encourage and give the people strength,” he states.
In nearby Antwerp, preparations are ongoing for the annual Passover expo and “Model Matzah Bakery,” a popular 10-day Passover educational exhibition at Chabad-Lubavitch of Antwerp. The expo attracts more than 3,000 Jewish children, as well as adults from both the local community and neighboring cities as far off as Amsterdam, Netherlands, and Dusseldorf, Germany. Two separate seders will be hosted on the first two nights of Passover with 300 expected to attend. Some 350 pounds of matzah will also be distributed.
Rosenblum says that “as far as Pesach and matzah distribution go, we are looking forward to a busier season than usual.”
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