Rabbi Mendel Danow spoke at the meeting last Friday (Photo: Rabbi Mendel Danow)
Initially, he planned to move on from the incident. But as news spread of the attack, he changed his mind. Danow told the JC: “We wanted to transform that response to one of positivity, of growth, and of inspiration”.
Candles spelling "Light" were a feature of the Pensacola Chabad's response to the attack (Photo: Rabbi Mendel Danow)
At an event last Friday, he announced that the brick, once returned by the police – and scrubbed clean of antisemitic slurs – would be used to build the new Chabad development. Against the white frontage of the building, the red brick would stand out, and that was the point.
“Let’s use the brick as a cornerstone of the new building,” Danow said. “It’s the ultimate transformation of using something that was intended for hate and division into something which will expand Jewish life in Pensacola”.
"We want to make [the person who threw the brick] regret their decision,” he said.
Danow told the Jewish Chronicle that he was inspired by Chabad leader Rabbi Menachem Mendel Schneerson, who emphasised focusing on light and positivity. “You can’t fight darkness with a broom,” Danow said. “But if you light one little match the darkness will go away on its own”.
Swedish-born Rabbi Mendel Danow didn’t grow up in the US. He was raised in Sweden, and Leeds and his parents run the Chabad at Leeds University.
Danow experienced antisemitism growing up in Europe all the time, but said he had never expected it in Pensacola. He was warmly welcomed in Florida, and the slogan for his Chabad house – ”Judaism with Joy” – caught on.
The Pensacola Chabad community numbers 500 Jews (Photo: Rabbi Mendel Danow)
“Pensacola has always been a place where people are extremely kind and supportive of the Jewish people,” he said. A 10-hour drive from Miami, the Jewish community is small, but “family-like”.
The reaction from non-Jews has also been extremely positive. Danow said: “I’ve got so much support from people who reached out to me saying who they want to support us, and they’re standing with us and they love us and they can't bear to see something like this happen in our community”.
The new building – which the brick will form part of, alongside a plaque explaining the attack – will contain an ‘arena of things”. A shul, a kitchen, a Kosher store and deli, a preschool and youth centre, a Judaica store and bookstore, and an art centre, will all be housed in the new building.
The new Chabad house will include a Jewish preschool (Photo: Rabbi Mendel Danow)
The community also launched a new project last Friday – Acts of Routine Kindness, or ARK for short. Danow said: “We underestimate the impact of little acts of kindness”. It is not something to take for granted, Pensacola Jews have learned, but something which “should be mindfully put into action every day”. The new project aims to inspire the whole community to do so.
The community is also raising money for security at the Chabad house: www.protectthelight.org
