WASHINGTON, November 4 (RIA Novosti) – A Hasidic rabbi who was shot and seriously wounded by alleged Islamic terrorists in southern Russia in July attended a Jewish pilgrimage event in Brooklyn on Sunday after making a strong recovery from his injuries, the New York Post reported.
“My doctor thought it would be a good idea to [attend the event] after hearing how inspiring it was for me,” Rabbi Ovadia Isakov told the Post at the annual Chabad Lubavitch gathering in Brooklyn that was attended by more than 5,000 rabbis from around the world.
Isakov, 40, was shot from behind on July 24 after participating in a ritual slaughter in his native Dagestan, a mainly Muslim republic in Russia’s restive North Caucasus region, in what Russian authorities classified as a hate crime.
The bullet pierced his liver and right lung, the Post reported on its website Sunday evening.
The suspected shooter, alleged warlord Sherif Akhmedov, was killed in a September raid by Russian special forces in Dagestan, according to Russian authorities.
Akhmedov was suspected of being “directly involved” in at least 20 terrorism-related attacks, including on police and other officials, as well as on a synagogue, in the preceding two years alone, according to Russia’s anti-terrorism committee.
“I believe that there is a God, and that good overpowers evil,” Isakov told the Post when asked about the capture and killing of his assailant.
“Hopefully, we’ll come to a time when God will eradicate all evil and we’ll live in a perfect world,” he added.
