BERLIN (JTA) — The mezuzah at the entrance of the Tiferet Israel synagogue in Berlin was found damaged last week with a swastika drawn on the parchment.
The anti-Semitic incident was first reported by Sigmount A. Königsberg, a commissioner covering anti-Semitism for the Jewish Community of Berlin organization. Last Thursday evening, Königsberg tweeted from his personal account that he learned of the incident from the synagogue’s Rabbi Reuven Yaacobov and included photos of the mezuzah’s parchment desecrated with a swastika.
“We will not be put off by this. We Jews are here, we stay here,” said Rabbi Yaacobov according to the Jüdische Allgemeine. “We do not concentrate on the negative, we want to spread more positive things.”
Rabbi Yaacobov promised that the synagogue would soon install a new mezuzah that’s “even more beautiful and even bigger than the previous one.”
German Foreign Minister, Heiko Maas, retweeted Königsberg, noting his frustration with this “disgusting” crime.
“This crime must be solved quickly and those responsible punished!” tweeted Maas. “We stand closely and full of compassion at the side of our Jewish friends.”
There’s been little information made public since Königsberg sent his tweet, but the incident occurred just days before the first anniversary of last year’s Yom Kippur shooting in Halle, Germany, and another violent anti-Semitic attack in Hamburg in which a kippah-wearing Jewish student walking to Sukkot services was seriously injured by a man dressed in a military uniform.
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