According to reports in the Belgian-Jewish newspaper “L’Ma’an Teida” the local authorities in Antwerp have agreed to refill a dried up pool in a central park in the city, in order that local Jews will be able to fulfill the custom of Tashlich on Rosh Hashanah in a month’s time.
The local firefighting unit of the area in Antwerp, has been tasked to fill the pool with thousands of gallons of water in the Stadspark garden, in order that is should be ready before the Jewish new year.
The pool dried up due to a major heat wave this past year that has affected most of western Europe. Approximately 18,000 Jews live in Antwerp and use the pool as a place of fresh water that contains fish, in order to fulfill the custom of Tashlich. Due to the heat wave, it is unclear how many fish survived in the pool. The Jewish community has also obtained the permission of the city to bring in fish to the pool in order to replenish the wildlife and allow for the custom to continue.
Local police want to prevent a possibility where thousands of Charedi Jews march through the city on Rosh Hashanah to head to the nearby river Schheldt, located approximately one mile from the city. The police are worried that such a march would draw anti-Semitic attacks and have therefore encouraged the city to refill the pool, rather than force the Charedim to make the trek.
(YWN Israel Desk – Jerusalem)
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4 Responses
I’m not sure which I worse…..the denial of the affects of global warming on the climate as manifest in this Summer’s record setting heat and drought throughout the northern hemisphere or the denial by the Belgian government that they have any anti-Semitism problem while terrified that a bunch of yidden walking peacefully to taschlich on Rosh Hashana afternoon would trigger physical attacks on them.
ich hob gehairt fun falche fish, ober falche vasser, a modernische geshichte
@GH- Ya me neither, really tough call. #loonylib
Actually, they do admit they have an anti-Semitism problem by spending all that money to refill the pool. They want to protect Jewish citizens while avoiding bad news coverage if there would be attacks. Smart people, the Belgians, also appreciative of the fact that their Jewish citizens contribute greatly to their prosperity.