Yeshiva Student Attacked With Knife After Offering Tefillin in Melbourne Neighborhood

Last Friday, Yitzhak Lowenthal, a yeshiva student from Melbourne, Australia, was distributing Shabbat candles and challah and offering to lay tefillin to local Jews in the Bentley neighborhood. According to Australian media reports, Lowenthal politely approached an older man and asked if he was Jewish. After receiving curses and the man walking away, the man followed Lowenthal, returned holding a knife in his right hand, threatened to kill him and another accompanying young Haredi man, and struck Lowenthal in the abdomen. The man was reportedly watching Lowenthal continue knocking on Jewish homes offering tefillin and confronted him again, shouting that Lowenthal was harassing people and repeatedly threatening to kill him and his friend while brandishing the knife. Police were quickly called to the scene, located the suspect within minutes, and arrested him for questioning. As of the report, no charges had been filed. Despite the trauma and violent attack, after giving his testimony to police, Lowenthal collected his tefillin and resumed visiting homes to encourage Jews to perform the mitzvah, as he does weekly.