Los Angeles Synagogue Defaced With Paint
Graphic by Angelie Zaslavsky
A synagogue in Southern California was vandalized with white paint, one of several attacks on the congregation in recent years, the Jewish Journal reported Tuesday.
Rabbi Nathan Louie discovered that vandals had splattered white paint over the entrance of the Hebrew Discovery Center in Woodland Hills on Sunday morning. He said the perpetrators attempted to write something with the paint until passerby called the police and they fled.
Louie described the incident as a “hate crime” that left the community “violated,” and predicted the damages would cost the synagogue $10,000. He vowed to increase security measures, including hiring an extra security guard and only permitting members to enter the space.
Yet another act of [Anti-Semetic](https://forward.com/tag/anti-semitism/ “Anti Semitism”) vandalism in Los Angeles. A synagogue in Woodland Hills was defaced with white paint. This is not the first hate crime targeting the Hebrew Discovery Center in the San Fernando Valley. pic.twitter.com/T8FCvYnU8d
— Siamak Kordestani (@SiaKordestani) July 17, 2019
The rabbi also claimed that vandalism had occurred in 2016 and 2018, when someone entered the synagogue and began shouting that they wanted to “kill the Jews.”
Anti-Defamation League official Matthew Friedman told the Jewish Journal that the incident sends “sends an intimidating message to the Jewish community, specifically at synagogue.”
California has seen rising reports of anti-Semitism in recent years, as has the United States in general.
This is a moment of great uncertainty. Here’s what you can do about it.
We hope you appreciated this article. Before you go, we’d like to ask you to please support the Forward’s independent Jewish news this Passover. All donations are being matched by the Forward Board - up to $100,000.
This is a moment of great uncertainty for the news media, for the Jewish people, and for our sacred democracy. It is a time of confusion and declining trust in public institutions. An era in which we need humans to report facts, conduct investigations that hold power to account, tell stories that matter and share honest discourse on all that divides us.
With no paywall or subscriptions, the Forward is entirely supported by readers like you. Every dollar you give this Passover is invested in the future of the Forward — and telling the American Jewish story fully and fairly.
The Forward doesn’t rely on funding from institutions like governments or your local Jewish federation. There are thousands of readers like you who give us $18 or $36 or $100 each month or year.
Support our mission to tell the Jewish story fully and fairly.
