Despite record post-Oct. 7 antisemitism, European Jews are out and proud this Sukkot

Across Europe, rabbinical leaders say they will celebrate Sukkot just as openly as in past years, despite a sharp rise in anti-Israel rhetoric and antisemitic incidents on the continent.

“People who built sukkot last year will continue to do so,” said Rabbi Joav Melchior, who leads a Jewish community of about 2,000 in Oslo, Norway.

“This doesn’t mean people here aren’t more afraid to show their Jewishness than before October 7. They are. But those who chose in the past to build sukkot will not stop,” Melchior said.

The Jewish commandments to leave one’s home and build a makeshift hut under the open sky and to wave the four species — a palm frond, willow, myrtle and citron fruit — make Sukkot perhaps the most conspicuously Jewish of all the holidays.

Antisemitic incidents fueled by virulent criticism of Israeli policies have reached historic highs across Europe after Hamas launched the ongoing military conflict when thousands of terrorists burst across the border from Gaza into Israel on October 7, 2023, killing some 1,200 people and seizing 251 hostages amid acts of horrific brutality and sexual assault.

But despite a rise in the already high rates of antisemitism amid the ongoing Israel-Hamas war, rabbis from Milan, Copenhagen, Oslo and Warsaw all said Sukkot would be celebrated just as openly as in the past.

“Sure people in Milan will build sukkot,” said Rabbi Igal Hazan, who leads the Beit Menachem Synagogue, runs the B’te’avon soup kitchen and is the director of the Chabad-affiliated elementary and high schools, which provide graduates with Israeli matriculation.

“You can walk around Via Solderini and you will hear people singing and there are sukkot on every corner,” Hazan said, referring to one of the main streets in Milan’s Jewish neighborhood.

“Of course we are careful and in addition to the two soldiers provided by the state to every synagogue, we have two additional private security guards paid for by the community,” he added.

Antisemitic incidents in Italy broke historic records in 2023, reaching 216 in just the last three months of the year, compared to 241 in all of 2022. In all, 2023 saw 454 reported antisemitic incidents.

During an event at the Great Synagogue of Rome marking the first anniversary of the October 7 attack, General Pasquale Angelosanto, Italy’s coordinator against antisemitism, reported a 400% rise in antisemitic incidents targeting Italy’s Jewish community over the past year.

Yet, Hazan said that his personal feeling is that Italy is one of the safest Jewish communities in Europe and the community in Milan, which officially numbers between 8,000 and 12,000 Jews, is growing fast.

“We have restaurants and bakeries and activities and nobody is afraid, though we are alert,” he said.

No sukkah if you ‘suffah’

Chief Rabbi of Denmark Rabbi Jair Melchior, who is the brother of Norway’s Rabbi Yoav Melchior, said that Danish Jews have never been too keen on building the sukkah.

“Most of the Jews here are religious but not ultra-religious and have never been visible. Only about 10 men walk around with a kippa,” said Jair Melchior, referring to the Jewish head covering. “So unlike in cities like Antwerp or London, where you have large Haredi communities and people have always built sukkot, this is not the case in Denmark. Also, it’s pretty cold here.”

According to halacha, or Jewish law, a Jew is exempt from sitting in a sukkah if it involves suffering. Cold and rain are both halachic justifications for not eating or sleeping in the sukkah.

“Regarding the four species, the community has historically ordered a few sets for everybody and left them at the synagogue. So you don’t see people wandering the streets of Copenhagen,” he said.

Jair Melchior said that in the wake of October 7, what is felt most is a low-level antisemitism.

“I walk around openly with a kippa and I do get pushed or yelled at occasionally, and that can be unpleasant, but I don’t feel real danger — and I think all the men who walk around with a kippa would say the same,” he said. “At the same time, after October 7, I told my son, who is now 12, that he should wear a hat to cover his kippa when he walks to school.”

Melchior said that additional members of his community have moved their mezuzah inside the door post so they can’t be seen from the outside.

“Still, with social media it’s pretty easy to find out if someone is Jewish,” he said.

Melchior noted that the apartment of a Jewish woman was firebombed earlier this year even though there were no visible signs she was Jewish.

The firebombing, which burned some balcony furniture but did not cause any injuries, took place on May 29. A suspect with a Muslim background was arrested and charged with the firebombing.

Melchior said that about half of all antisemitic incidents in Denmark are perpetrated by Muslims. He said he supported the Danish policy of refraining from mentioning the religion of perpetrators of hate crimes.

“You don’t do it with non-Muslims, so you shouldn’t do it with Muslims,” he said.

In February, Henri Goldstein, head of the Danish Jewish community, told The Associated Press that Denmark was undergoing its biggest antisemitic wave since 1943, when the country was occupied by Nazi Germany.

Loud and proud in Warsaw

Meanwhile, in Warsaw, Rabbi Itzhak Rapoport, head of the Torah Mi’Tzion Kollel, said that he plans on walking to synagogue with his four species and a sukkah will be built at the Nozyk Synagogue, the largest in the city.

“I’m not sure people even know what a lulav is, to tell you the truth,” said Rapoport. “It’s an international city with a lot of diversity and a guy walking with a palm branch is not really all that big of a deal. People don’t really pay attention.”

At the same time, Rapoport noted that after October 7, “all the antisemites came out of the holes in the ground where they were hiding. Even people who I considered philo-semites before October 7 started criticizing Israel in ways that seemed to me uncalled for.”

On May 1, the 20th anniversary of Poland’s membership in the European Union, a teenager threw a Molotov cocktail at the Nozyk Synagogue, which caused minor damage to the building.

However, Rapoport said that he wears his kippa without a hat wherever he goes, whether inside Warsaw or outside.

Something rotten in the kingdom of Norway

In Norway, meanwhile, anti-Israel sentiment has been fueled over the past year in part by the leftwing government, according to Joav Melchior.

“On October 7 this year, we had an event attended by the king of Norway, the crown prince, the prime minister and all the leaders of the important parties in our synagogue,” Joav Melchior said. “But it was too little too late.”

Melchior said that he attempted for seven months to get government officials to denounce anti-Israel demonstrators who repeatedly used the slogan “no Zionists on our streets.”

“When they finally did say something it was vague,” he said.

Melchior said that while there is no sense that Jews will be attacked physically on the streets or will be ostracized at work, there is a toxic political climate.

“Jewish life hasn’t been affected, but almost everyone in the community has lost a non-Jewish friend,” he said.