This article comes courtesy of news partner Bay City News, a local wire service.
Vandals wrote anti-Semitic slurs at Temple Sinai in Oakland shortly after Rosh Hashanah, the Jewish New Year, began on Wednesday evening, temple leaders wrote in a Facebook post this morning.
Temple leaders wrote, "We received a call early this morning that someone wrote anti-Semitic slurs on the side of our building. The police have been contacted and we will have security on the premise. The graffiti will be covered when everyone arrives for services this morning."
Oakland police said they received a report of vandalism at the temple at 2808 Summit St. (between 28th and 29th streets) at 5:15am today and responding officers and technicians found graffiti on the side of the building and conducted a preliminary investigation.
Police said the incident is being investigated as vandalism and a hate crime.
"The Oakland Police Department stands against hate and hate crimes. We serve all communities of Oakland," a police spokesperson said via email.
Temple Sinai leaders said in their post, "While this is surely upsetting, this will not define our experience of coming together as a community today. Our strength and resilience will sound through our voices in song and prayer."
The leaders said, "The graffiti will be covered with paper. We invite members of the community to write words of love and friendship as guiding lights for the coming year."
Some of the thoughts at Oakland's Temple Sinai where hateful graffiti was written early this morning. pic.twitter.com/pdMmbAMlGg
— Amy Hollyfield (@amyhollyfield) September 21, 2017
One temple member responded to the post about the graffiti by writing, "I'm sorry to hear that hate has colored the holiday. I love the idea of the words of love will cover it up!"
Another member wrote, "This is terrible. I'd like to know how the perpetrators will be pursued and that the severity of these kinds of hate crimes aren't minimized. I want to know about real action."
A third person wrote, "Very sad that this type of behavior is increasing. We must present a united strong yet loving front to the rest of the world and remember Never Again."
—Jeff Shuttleworth
