Coexisting with the “Palestinians”

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bcycle and told the Arabs gathered around him that he had just breturned from Jerusalem, where “thousands of Muslims had bbeen killed and their blood spilled like water.” The Arabs, seek- bing blood, marched through the streets. Suddenly, elderly Rabbi bSlonim appeared, headed for the office of the police chief. The bArabs leaped upon him and beat the aged rabbi unmercifully. bFrightened Jews watched from their homes, as did the chief of bpolice. A woman, Mrs. Sokolov, watching from her window, bcould not stand to see the sight and ran to the police chief. He bcurtly told her that it was none of her business, and “further- bmore, it is the fault of the Jews anyhow.” He advised her to lock bherself in her home.

bThe mob then turned to the Grodzinski home. Y. L. bGrodzinski, in testimony given later, stated: “When the riots bbegan, there were people in our house. I saw a young Arab open bthe gate to our courtyard and tens of Arabs burst in. They sur- brounded the house and began banging on the doors. We hastily bsecured the doors as stones came smashing through the win- bdows. When a shot was fired into the room, we went up to the bsecond floor and called for help. Eliezer Don Slonim saw us and bmanaged to get a group of police, who finally scattered the mob. bWe then all decided to move to the home of Slonim, since he had bexcellent relations with the Arabs and we felt sure that his house bwould not be attacked.” How false this was will be seen later.

bThe bloodthirsty Arabs wanted Jews. They made their way bto the Slobodka yeshiva. Because it was the eve of the Sabbath, bmost of the students were not there. Only the Yemeni shammas b(sexton) and the perpetually diligent masmid, eternal learner of bTorah, Shmuel Rosenholtz, were to be found. (Rosenholtz rare- bly left the study hall.) The mob, breathing fire, came charging binto the courtyard. The shammas leaped into the well in time and bcovered himself; it saved his life. Not so Rosenholtz. Completely bimmersed in his Talmud, he did not even hear the mob come in. bIt was only when stones came flying into the hall, one smashing bhim in the head so that blood spurted over his Talmud, that he battempted to flee. But the mob was upon him and punctured his bbody with knife wounds, like a sieve.

bThe Hebron massacre has its first victim. The tragedy un- bfolds.

bEvening now comes to Hebron, and the Sabbath will soon bbegin. The Arab mob that murdered Shmuel Rosenholtz in cold b