An arson attack caused damage but no injuries at the apartment of a rabbi in central Budapest last Friday night.
The door to the second-floor flat in an apartment building was demolished by the explosion of a gas container that had been soaked in gasoline. Inside the apartment, Rabbi Tamas Lowi, his wife and two small children escaped injury.
As a result of the attack, security measures will be introduced at the homes of Jewish communal leaders, said Gusztav Zoltai, chairman of the Jewish community. Until now, security was confined to Jewish communal offices.
Police say the arson attack was one of a series in the area over the last few weeks and carried no special anti-Semitic overtones.
CORRECTION 1: A story in Tuesday’s JTA Daily Dispatch on the new Catholic catechism referred incorrectly to the blood libel. The reference should have been to the charge of killing Jesus. Paragraph 14 should read:
While that clear and unequivocal repudiation of the deicide charge was welcomed by the Jewish analysts, it did not go far enough, said Rabbi Leon Klenicki, director of interfaith affairs for the Anti-Defamation League.
CORRECTION 2: A story in Tuesday’s JTA Daily Dispatch on Jesse Jackson and the American Jewish Congress unveiling a joint legislative agenda misstated the objective of the Religious Freedom Restoration Act. It is designed to circumvent a 1990 Supreme Court ruling giving government greater leeway to infringe on religious practices.
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The Archive of the Jewish Telegraphic Agency includes articles published from 1923 to 2008. Archive stories reflect the journalistic standards and practices of the time they were published.