Jewish American Heritage Month

Posted By admin on December 26, 2021

Police are investigating and elected officials have condemned the drawing of three swastikas outside a 90-year-old synagogue in West Orange on Saturday.

The symbol was scrawled in chalk on the sidewalk in three places surrounding the Bnai Shalom Temple on the corner of Pleasant Valley Way and Woodland Avenue, said Rabbi Robert Tobin. Tobin said it appeared based on security camera footage that the incident took place at about 9 a.m. on Saturday, about 15 minutes before the start of services.

A statement from West Orange Township said the swastikas were discovered by a jogger at 1:45 p.m. on Saturday, then removed by a township public works crew after investigators combed the scene. The incident remained under investigation by the West Orange Police Department on Monday.

Tobin said it was the first such attack on Bnai Shalom in his 11 years as rabbi. He added that the use of a symbol evoking the slaughter of six million Jews in Europe leading up to and during World War II was especially painful for a congregation that includes three living survivors of the Holocaust and dozens of survivors children.

I have Holocaust survivors walking across those sidewalks every Saturday when they leave my synagogue, Tobin said in an interview Monday. We dont need to inflict that experience on our survivors or anybody in the Jewish community.

Tobin was heartened by the support the congregation had received from West Orange Mayor Robert Parisi and the Township Council, who in the statement condemned the act, in the strongest possible terms.

Such heinous and despicable actions against any one group or individual is considered an attack against us all and our deeply rooted community values, town officials said in the statement. Neighborly love, unwavering unity, and mutual respect will rule the day as West Orange will continue to set the standard in always recognizing cultural diversity as our impregnable strength.

The rabbi said he was touched by a call he received from the synagogues congresswoman, U.S. Rep. Mikie Sherrill, D-11th District.

And he said services would go on as usual this coming Saturday.

I would never let something like this stop us from living our Jewish lives, he said.

Anyone with information is asked to call the West Orange Police Department at 973-325-4000.

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Steve Strunsky may be reached at sstrunsky@njadvancemedia.com

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Police investigating swastikas scrawled on sidewalks around N.J. synagogue - NJ.com

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