Newton synagogue vandalized

Temple Shalom in Newton was vandalized with a swastika on its sign this weekend. The synagogue's rabbi, Eric Gurvis, is the president of the Massachusetts Board of Rabbis. In today's Globe, Megan Woolhouse reports:

Some parents and young people on their way to a bar mitzvah and bat mitzvah saw the swastika. Others missed it in the swirl of activity and wondered why police were swarming the area. Rabbi Eric S. Gurvis decided to address the incident from the pulpit. "There was an audible gasp," he said. Gurvis said he read several liturgical psalms as planned before the crowd, and then went to another prayer service in the same building and told them what happened before reading passages from Psalms. 'We're preaching for openness, understanding, peace, justice, and tolerance, and here is this act of injustice,' he said in a phone interview later. 'Even if it was a prank, it's not funny. It's a hate crime.'

Derrek Shulman, director of the New England Region of the Anti-Defamation League (ADL) today issued the following statement on the incident:

“The Anti-Defamation League condemns the use of this hateful symbol and is reaching out to support the synagogue and the community. We are heartened by the quick, strong response from the community and law enforcement to let the perpetrators of this hate crime know that their message is not welcome in Newton, or any other community. The Nazi symbol of the swastika is offensive to Jews and to the community as a whole.”

(Photo by Randy H. Goodman for the Globe)