Hours after the late-night explosion outside the Jewish community center in Malmo, Sweden, the scent of baking challah was already wafting from the center’s ovens into the chilly morning air, as it does every Friday morning.
Later, the Jewish preschool at the site would open as usual.
A smashed bulletproof glass window and two police officers standing watch were the only evidence of a Sept. 28 attack in which assailants set off an explosive device and threw bricks at the center’s door, according to Rabbi Rebecca Lillian, who lives in the building.
Swedish police arrested and then released two 18-year-old male suspects whom witnesses had placed at the scene; the city’s prosecutor is considering whether to indict them.
Some Swedish Jews said the attack was yet another unwelcome reminder that they must bolster their public campaign against anti-Semitism, which only recently began to gain steam in the Scandinavian country after years of attacks and intimidation against Jews, often by local Muslims.