Temple Beth El

[Editor]

I've spoken with a bunch of residents about this over the last few days. What many find particularly distressing is that things like this don't happen here often.  Hackensack has always prided itself on being open and tolerant.  When something like this does happen here, we can't just shrug our shoulders. 

If you have any information about who may have done this, please step forward.
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Police suspect link in Hackensack, Maywood synagogue desecrations
Wednesday December 21, 2011, 6:46 PM
BY STEPHANIE AKIN
STAFF WRITER
The Record

An interfaith celebration of diversity in response to a Maywood synagogue defacement was met with a fresh act of hatred this week, when the same anti-Semitic graffiti was scrawled across the façade of a Hackensack temple just a mile away.

Swastikas, white supremacist symbols and an accusation that Jews caused 9-11 were painted on the façade and the front sidewalk of Hackensack’s Temple Beth El within hours of the Tuesday night ceremony at the Reconstructionist Temple Beth Israel on Maywood’s Magnolia Avenue, which was meant to usher in the Hanukkah holiday and demonstrate solidarity in response to the first attack.

Community leaders said they found the near simultaneity of the two events distressing.

“It was truly one of the most heartening meaningful experiences, only to see today that this can happen in a neighboring town is repulsive,” said Joy Kurland, director of the Jewish Community Relations Council at the Jewish Federation of Northern New Jersey. “It’s unacceptable. Its abhorrent.”

Police said they were operating on the assumption that the two attacks were connected. Authorities said the incident happened late Tuesday or early Wednesday.

“We think they’re the same actors,” Hackensack police Capt. Thomas Salcedo said Wednesday.

The Maywood and Hackensack police departments were cooperating in the investigation, which also involves the state Department of Criminal Justice because it is considered a bias crime. Teaneck police were also informed to stay alert because the township is home to more than 20 synagogues and Jewish congregations, Hackensack police Capt. Tomas Padilla said.

A secretary discovered the damage at the Hackensack synagogue shortly after she arrived at work Wednesday morning, said Mark Zettler, president of the Beth El Congregation.

She did not see the writing at first because she entered through a back door, but when she entered her office, she saw a black swastika spray-painted across the front window, Zettler said.

The graffiti included three swastikas spray-panted on the front of the building, one of them on the front door. The numbers 14/88 — a white supremacist symbol referencing a quotation about race cleansing and a salute to Adolph Hitler — was scrawled in red four times on a brick part of the facade, Salcedo said. In addition, the words, “Jews did 9-11” were left in black paint on a front sidewalk and an anarchy symbol was on another part of the building.

The news of the vandalism was met with a swift community outcry.

The Anti-Defamation League condemned the incident in a statement.

“At a time when Jews are celebrating the joyous festival of Hanukkah, they instead find themselves cleaning symbols of hatred off their place of worship,” said Etzion Neuer, Anti-Defamation League Director of Community Service & Policy in the New York Regional Office.

Rabbi Jarah Greenfield, of the Reconstructionist Temple Beth Israel, said she planned to reach out to the Hackensack synagogue to let them know they had the backing of a large cross-section of the community.

“It is being met with concern and strength and all the right responses on the part of people who play public roles,” she said.

And Kurland said her group is hoping to organize another demonstration against acts of hatred inspired by both attacks.

Zettler said that he wasn’t concerned about the safety of the congregation, but that the incident was disheartening.

“It’s a wakeup call for anyone who thinks things are just easy and OK,” he said. “There are always people out there trying to make a statement and hurt people in that way. This was just one of those times.”

The building was empty Wednesday other than teachers and about 27 children in a daycare program that rents the building.

Hackensack police scheduled extra patrols, but kindergarten teacher Jessie Harilaou said she was still concerned.

“It is devastating,” she said. “Completely devastating. It’s heart-wrenching that someone could do this to the community.”

The Conservative congregation synagogue has about 115 members, but the next service won’t be held until Saturday, when the congregation has a Hanukkah luncheon and a Sabbath service planned, Zettler said. He said he hoped to have the graffiti removed by then.

Email: akin@northjersey.com

[Editor]

Reward Offered in Bergen County Anti-Semitic Vandalism Cases
Teaneck police alerted to nearby incidents, monitoring area houses of worship
By Noah Cohen
December 26, 2011

The Anti-Defamation League is offering a $1,000 reward for information leading to an arrest in two recent incidents where area synagogues were defaced with swastikas and anti-Semitic messages.

The first incident was reported Dec. 10 at Temple Beth Israel in Maywood, according to the Anti-Defamation League. A similar crime was reported on the first day of Hanukkah at Temple Beth El in Hackensack. Police have said they believe the two incidents are linked.

“We are deeply troubled by a repeat attack on a Jewish place of worship in Bergen County," Etzion Neuer, ADL director of community service and policy in the New York Regional Office said in a statement. "At a time when Jews are celebrating the joyous festival of Hanukkah, they instead find themselves cleaning symbols of hatred off their place of worship. While graffiti swastikas are often the work of malicious juveniles, the appearance of white supremacist symbols strongly suggests an extremist connection."

In the Hackensack case, swastikas, the phrase 'Jews Did 9/11,' and the white-supremacist code '14/88,' were found, the statement said.

Teaneck Police Chief Robert Wilson said he has been in touch with Hackensack’s top police official, Capt. Tomas Padilla, about the nearby incidents. No similar cases have been reported in Teaneck recently, police said.

“We are monitoring all our houses of worship vigilantly,” Wilson said. “We ensured that all of our officers are aware these incidents have occurred.”

Teaneck officers regularly conduct checks at the town’s more than 40 religious sites.

Authorities urged anyone with information to contact the Hackensack Police Department at 201-646-7777 or Crime Stoppers at 201-488-4222.

[Editor]

Public rallies in support of vandalized Hackensack, Maywood synagogues
Tuesday December 27, 2011, 10:16 PM
BY LINH TAT
STAFF WRITER
The Record

HACKENSACK — Responding to two anti-Semitic incidents in Bergen County this month, the public at large joined members of the Jewish community Tuesday to send a message that hate-based acts would not be tolerated.


MICHAEL KARAS / STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER 
Joanne Rose, a secretary at Temple Beth El and the person who discovered the graffiti at the Hackensack synagogue, wipes away tears during Tuesday night's service. About 160 people gathered at Temple Beth El in Hackensack for a “Service of Rededication,” in a united message of peace and to commemorate the last night of Hanukkah. The evening included singing, readings and speeches by religious leaders of different faiths as well as civic leaders.

“My message today is not for you who are here today. My message is for those who write graffiti. … We’re calling you out,” said Daniel Kirsch, former chair of the Jewish Community Relations Council of Bergen County.

“In … America, there’s a place for everyone. But there’s no place for you,” he said, garnering the loudest applause of the evening.

On Dec. 10, anti-Semitic graffiti was spray-painted on the property of Temple Beth Israel, a Reconstructionist synagogue in Maywood. A week-and-a-half later, on the first day of Hanukkah, swastikas were scrawled on the façade of Temple Beth El, a conservative synagogue in Hackensack.

The Rev. Donald Pitches, president of the Bergen County Council of Churches, an organization of Christian churches and clergies, said before the ceremony that it was important for individuals, regardless of religious background, to stand up against any act of hate.

“Anti-Semitism and violence and desecration on any house of worship really is an attack against all of us,” he said.

Mayor Jorge Meneses of Hackensack reiterated a message he has previously delivered, vowing that the city, through its Police Department, would take measures against anyone found responsible for the graffiti.

“When these things happen, it’s not [only] that particular community that suffers and feels awful. We as a whole city feel it, too,” he said.

Tuesday’s ceremony aimed not only to send a strong message to those who defaced the synagogues that their acts would not be tolerated, but also to provide healing, organizers said.

For Illana Galed, 23, of Hackensack, being asked to light the menorah at the end of the service alongside her mother helped in the healing process. Her grandparents both survived the Holocaust.

“I did it for my mother and my grandmother,” she said of her role in the service. “When you see a swastika, you don’t want history to repeat itself.”

Larry Lesh of Maywood braved the wet weather to attend the ceremony. Though he was raised in Maywood, he celebrated his bar-mitzvah at the Hackensack synagogue decades ago and said it was his “duty” to return and support the community. After the ceremony, he said the evening did provide relief.

“It helped me in the sense that I could see that we have support from the government. We’re not in this alone. And we can’t be in this alone,” he said.
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The back story

On Dec. 10, anti-Semitic graffiti was spray-painted on the property of Temple Beth Israel, a Reconstructionist synagogue in Maywood. On Dec. 21, the first day of Hanukkah, swastikas were scrawled on the façade of Temple Beth El, a conservative synagogue in Hackensack.

Authorities believe the two incidents are connected.

Hackensack police have been working with investigators from Maywood and the state Department of Criminal Justice. They said Tuesday there were still no suspects but that the case remained active.

Last week, the Anti-Defamation League offered a $1,000 reward for information leading to an arrest.

Anyone with information may call Hackensack police at 201-646-7777 or Crime Stoppers at 201-488-4222.
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Email: tat@northjersey.com

[Editor]

Man arrested in firebombings of 2 NJ synagogues
Published January 24, 2012
Associated Press


Jan. 24: This undated photo of Anthony Graziano was released by the Bergen County Prosecutor's Office in New York.

HACKENSACK, N.J. –  An unemployed teenager charged Tuesday with firebombing two synagogues is an anti-Semite whose hatred of Jews guided his actions, authorities said.

Anthony Graziano, of Lodi, was charged with the Jan. 11 attack on a Rutherford synagogue and the Jan. 3 firebombing of a synagogue in Paramus. He was being held on $5 million bail.

The charges include nine counts of attempted murder, bias intimidation, arson and aggravated arson. The 19-year-old Graziano was scheduled to make an initial court appearance Wednesday morning.

"We have no doubt that the arson and attempted murder in Rutherford were a direct result of Mr. Graziano's hatred of people of the Jewish faith," county prosecutor John Molinelli said Tuesday.

Molinelli and other authorities didn't speculate on what may have spurred Graziano to action. They described him as a 2010 high school graduate and loner who lacked access to a car but searched for nearby synagogues on the Internet and rode his bike to the two locations and, at the Rutherford synagogue, threw several Molotov cocktails and other incendiary devices before fleeing. He is believed to have acted alone.

Graziano's father, whose name is also Anthony Graziano, told The Record newspaper that he sees his son infrequently but that his son had never said anything to suggest he had any animosity toward Jews.

He called his son a great kid but said "he's confused."

A man who answered the door at the teen's home in Lodi told The Associated Press that the young man's mother was too distraught to speak and had known nothing of his activities.

The Rutherford attack narrowly avoided causing serious injury and possibly death. According to police, the Molotov cocktails were thrown at Congregation Beth El early on Jan. 11, igniting a fire in the second-floor bedroom of Rabbi Nosson Schuman's residence. The rabbi, his wife, five children and his parents were sleeping at the time. Molinelli said Graziano knew people were in the residence when he threw the bombs.

"I'm elated," Schuman said Tuesday about the arrest. "It's been a very stressful two weeks even with police coverage at our home. We're still a little scared because obviously this guy's not normal. Maybe this will restore life back to some normality, though we will still be doing outreach to try and restore unity."

The fire at Congregation K'Hal Adath Jeshuran in Paramus was discovered on the morning of Jan. 3 when members smelled gas in the building and contacted authorities. Fire and police officials determined an accelerant had been used in the rear of the building to start a fire. The fire had quickly burned itself out, and no injuries were reported.

Molinelli speculated Tuesday that Graziano might have changed his methods after the Paramus attack, resulting in far more firepower directed at the Rutherford synagogue.

Graziano's arrest was the end result of meticulous police work combined with an alert public. Once the ingredients of the bombs used in the Rutherford attack were identified -- low-grade motor oil, duct tape, hairspray and empty bottles of raspberry Crush soda -- investigators searched for stores that sold all those items. They came up with a Wal-Mart in nearby Saddle Brook and were able to pull surveillance video showing a man buying those items on Jan. 9.

Last week, they released still photos and video and received tips that led them to Graziano late Monday at the residence where he lives with his mother and siblings. Molinelli implied that evidence taken from Graziano's residence related to the synagogue attacks wasn't the only indication of his religious views, but he declined to elaborate.

Attempted murder carries a minimum 30-year sentence upon conviction, while arson carries a 15-year maximum sentence.

In the weeks leading up to the fire bombings, anti-Semitic graffiti was discovered at synagogues in Hackensack and Maywood, according to police. Two days after the Rutherford attack, a swastika was found scrawled in a park in Fair Lawn, though police haven't said if it is connected to the other incidents.

"It is very disturbing that a hate monger was living right in our midst in Bergen County," said Etzion Neuer, acting New Jersey director of the Anti-Defamation League. "But this sends a message that it will not be tolerated."

Read more: http://www.foxnews.com/us/2012/01/24/arrest-made-in-firebombings-new-jersey-synagogues/#ixzz1kVBTBN6T

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[Editor]

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Hackensack's Jewish community grateful for support after recent bias incident
Last updated: Friday February 10, 2012, 1:24 AM
BY MARK J. BONAMO
MANAGING EDITOR
Hackensack Chronicle

The signs seen in December at Temple Beth El synagogue, in Hackensack, were not good – swastikas, white-supremacist symbols and an accusation that Jews caused the 9/11 terrorist attacks were spray-painted on the building. It was an injury made more insulting by the fact that the defacement was found on the first day of Hanukkah.

The incident in Hackensack was part of a wave of anti-Semitic bias incidents that occurred in Bergen County in recent weeks. These events included a similar synagogue defacement in Maywood in December, an act of arson at a Paramus synagogue early last month, followed shortly thereafter by the firebombing of a Rutherford synagogue.

But despite finding these incidents deeply disturbing, Hackensack’s Jewish community also found something else. There has been empathy and support for the community on official and unofficial levels that demonstrated the recent bias attacks did not dislodge their place in the city’s social fabric but deepened it.

"In all my time in Bergen County, I’ve personally never experienced overt anti-Semitism that I can think of," said Larry Eisen, the treasurer of Temple Beth El, who has lived in Hackensack for more than 40 years. "If anything, what happened has brought the Jewish community together."

Eisen noted not only the visible support of local politicians, including the City Council, Bergen County Executive Kathleen Donovan, State Sen. Loretta Weinberg, U.S. Reps. Steve Rothman, Bill Pascrell and Scott Garrett and U.S. Sens. Frank Lautenberg and Robert Menendez. He was particularly impressed with the response of local law enforcement, including the Hackensack Police Department, the Bergen County Police Department and the Bergen County Prosecutor’s Office.

But for Eisen, what was most notable was the support for the local Jewish community provided by the general public.

"We have had an outpouring of people, not all Jewish and not all from this area, sending us spontaneous donations to pay for the cleanup of the building and to pay for increased security measures," Eisen said. "We got a very large check from a man in Texas saying how outraged he was and that we should use his funds to improve the situation."

While the synagogue considers how to spend the funds, Eisen considered the arrest of Anthony Graziano last month. Graziano, 19, of Lodi, plead not guilty to charges of attempted murder, aggravated arson and bias intimidation related to the firebombing in Rutherford and arson attack in Paramus. No one has been charged in relation to the incidents in Hackensack or Maywood.

Eisen was relieved by the arrest of Graziano and hopes for arrests soon regarding the other bias incidents. He expressed a high level of confidence about where he thought the culprit in Hackensack definitely was not from.

"I am positive that whoever did this did not come from Hackensack," Eisen said. "This is so alien to the character of Hackensack — we’re a community of so many different races, ethnic groups and religions. We have all lived side by side for so many years that I would be flabbergasted if it turned out to be someone from Hackensack."

Rabbi Robert Schumeister echoed Eisen’s comments about both the wider community’s response to the incidents as well as who might be responsible.

"Whoever did this, whether an individual or a group, is in no way reflective of the community at large," Schumeister said. "The support we have gotten is a statement that this is a community where this type of incident is not acceptable, nor will it be tolerated. There has been recognition that if any one group is singled out, we are all threatened. There is a shared fate for us all."

Email: bonamo@northjersey.com