JTA: The Global News Service of the Jewish People

• Share
• Email
• Print

Anti-Semitic graffiti found on Norfolk synagogues

April 20, 2009

(JTA) -- Anti-Semitic graffiti was found on several synagogues in Norfolk, Va.

The slurs and racial messages were discovered in at least five places by worshippers on Saturday morning, according to the Virginian-Pilot newspaper.

There are currently no suspects, police told the newspaper, though they suspect that the vandalism was set to coincide with Monday's anniversary of Adolf Hitler's birth. Rabbi Michael Panitz of Norfolk's Temple Israel told the newspaper that stickers with anti-Semitic sayings were found stuck to the synagogue's windows.

“People were certainly sobered and in some cases, it triggered some very personal, some very sad memories because our worship congregation includes people who are refugees from lands of oppression,” the rabbi said. “But there was certainly a collective, quiet resolve that we will not be terrorized," he said, "from worshipping in public together.”
 

Click to login and write a letter to the editor or register for a new account.

This article was made possible by the support of readers like you. Donate to JTA now.