Acts of vandalism at five Jewish facilities in suburban Montreal are not isolated, according to the head of the city’s Jewish Community Security Coordinating Committee.

Windows were smashed early Monday morning at four synagogues and a Jewish school in the heavily Jewish suburbs of Cote Saint-Luc and Hampstead.

Rabbi Reuben Poupko, the security committee’s chairman, said the vandals likely attacked early Monday, at approximately 2 a.m.

Forwarding the News

Thoughtful, balanced reporting from the Forward and around the web, bringing you updated news and analysis each day.

Terms(Required)

I agree to the Forward's Terms of Service and Privacy Policy

Email(Required)

“There have been similar incidents over the past few months that haven’t garnered any attention,” he told the Montreal Gazette. “It’s increasing in intensity and frequency.”

Police say there is surveillance video available to assist in the investigation. Poupko said security cameras had been installed in the last few years due to the rise in attacks on Jewish communal buildings.

“We felt this was a necessary investment,” he said.

Talking about Monday’s vandalism, Poupko told the Canadian media that “These are cowards who act under the cover of darkness, who fling rocks in the middle of the night, and they will not determine how the Jewish community behaves or gathers for prayer or for study. We will continue to use our institutions despite these continued assaults on our buildings.”

Last March, a synagogue in a neighboring suburb was defaced with swastikas and ritual objects were desecrated.

Two months ago, another synagogue in nearby Laval, Quebec, suffered extensive damage after vandals placed a garden hose into a pipe that led into the building’s oil tank and left it to flood overnight. More than 600 gallons of oil spilled onto the back lawn, causing contamination and other damage to the building.

The Forward is free to read, but it isn’t free to produce

I hope you appreciated this article. Before you go, I’d like to ask you to please support the Forward.

Now more than ever, American Jews need independent news they can trust, with reporting driven by truth, not ideology. We serve you, not any ideological agenda.

At a time when other newsrooms are closing or cutting back, the Forward has removed its paywall and invested additional resources to report on the ground from Israel and around the U.S. on the impact of the war, rising antisemitism and polarized discourse.

Readers like you make it all possible. We’ve started our Passover Fundraising Drive, and we need 1,800 readers like you to step up to support the Forward by April 21. Members of the Forward board are even matching the first 1,000 gifts, up to $70,000.

This is a great time to support independent Jewish journalism, because every dollar goes twice as far.

—  Rachel Fishman Feddersen, Publisher and CEO

2X match on all Passover gifts!

$90 → $180 $180 → $360

$360 → $720

Other amount