With the start of Shabbat, the Jewish community in Nice, France, is preparing to celebrate the holy day of rest in unison and defiance following a terror attack that rocked this serene city on the Mediterranean Coast.
“We are going to have a lot of extra security, but of course, our synagogue will remain open for Shabbat,” said Rabbi Roueven Ouanounou, a Chabad-Lubavitch emissary in Nice. “We are getting calls from people asking what the plans are for Shabbat. Now is more important than ever for the synagogue to be open.”
Nice was sent into chaos late Thursday night when Mohamed Lahouaiej Bouhlel, a 31-year-old French Tunisian, rammed a truck through a crowd of innocent civilians celebrating Bastille Day on the coastal city’s promenade. Bouhlel drove for more than a mile over the crowds, leaving a devastating path of destruction in his wake before being shot and killed after a gun battle with police. The terror attack has left 84 dead and more than 200 wounded, with 50 hanging “between life and death,” according to a statement made this morning by French President François Hollande.
At least 10 children are believed to be among the dead, with chilling pictures and eyewitness accounts from the scene depicting overturned strollers and toy dolls.
Despite previous reports and lists of injured members from the Jewish community, Ouanounou said at present, they know of three Jewish women who were at the scene—two of whom have been hospitalized with serious injuries and a third who remains missing.
“At the moment, we have information about three people from the Jewish community,” Habad Loubavitch of Nice Côte d’Azur announced today in a statement. “Raymonde bat Nouna, missing; Clara bat Nouna, hospitalized; Hafsia bat Miryam, hospitalized.”
“Every moment that passes that the missing woman is not found in a hospital, the situation becomes worse,” said Ouanounou on Friday morning, adding that his father-in-law—head Chabad emissary of the Nice Côte d’Azur region Rabbi Yossef Yitschok Pinson—was currently visiting with the injured in hospitals.
‘It’s a Very Tough Time’
As previously reported, four counselors at Chabad’s Camp Gan Israel in Nice were at the scene of the attack, crossing to the opposite sidewalk minutes before Bouhlel began driving his truck through the crowd. According to Pinson, the young women saw people being mowed over, including babies and the elderly.
Ouanounou said both the boys’ and girls’ division of camp was canceled on Friday. A decisions has not yet been made as to when it will resume.
“It’s a very tough time,” stated Ouanounou. “Of course, measures have to be taken to prevent such things from happening again, but we must continue doing our work and reaching out to every Jew in Nice.”
Chabad of Nice’s statement concluded by asking everyone to perform good deeds and positive actions: “Men should put on tefillin. Women and girls should light Shabbat candles. Everyone should add in giving tzedakah. ... Shabbat Shalom to all.”
Habad Loubavitch of Nice Côte d’Azur is working to help people in the wake of the July 14 terror attack. See here.
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