"He repeatedly struck the rabbi on the head with an aluminum baseball bat as the victim was walking to synagogue to pray"

Because there is so much anti-Semitism in our world, it's normal to think that must be the cause when a rabbi is savagely attacked out of the blue. To all Jews, myself included, the notion is quite frightening that someone would hate us so much that he would take a baseball bat and bash a rabbi over the head repeatedly for no reason at all.

Unless, of course, there was a reason: serious, untreated mental illness. It's hard to assign blame in that case to Jew-hatred. When someone is delusional and psychotic, he is a danger to everyone, Jew and gentile.

That is just what happened in Toms River, New Jersey. Here is the story from the Washington Post:

TOMS RIVER, N.J. -- A man who savagely beat a New Jersey rabbi with a baseball bat during an unprovoked attack has been sentenced to eight years in state prison.

Lee Tucker must serve 85 percent of the term imposed Friday before becoming eligible for parole. He also must pay $9,500 in restitution to the rabbi, who has suffered seizures since the October 2007 attack in Lakewood.

Tucker, who has a history of mental illness, pleaded guilty in December to aggravated assault. He repeatedly struck the rabbi on the head with an aluminum baseball bat as the victim was walking to synagogue to pray.

The rabbi suffered skull, nose and eye socket fractures as well as a brain hemorrhage.