Alabama Zoom Selichot service interrupted by Holocaust imagery
In this photo illustration a Zoom App logo is displayed on a smartphone on March 30, 2020 in Arlington, Virginia. – The Zoom video meeting and chat app has become the wildly popular host to millions of people working and studying from home during the coronavirus outbreak. Image by OLIVIER DOULIERY/AFP via Getty Images
(JTA) — Holocaust imagery interrupted a videoconference on Zoom for some Alabama Jews to say the selichot prayers and prepare for the High Holidays.
Some 50 congregants from Montgomery, Auburn, Dothan and Mobile were on the call with rabbis on Saturday night when at least two or three unknown people joined the meeting, the Montgomery Advertiser reported.
They began to share their screens with images of “Hitler, swastikas and I thought some pornographic images,” the call’s leader, Rabbi Scott Kramer of Agudath Israel Etz Ahayem in Montgomery, told the newspaper.
“It was chaotic. Then voices came in screaming at everyone using bad language, anti-Semitic language, telling us ‘you should go back to the showers,’ which is of course a reference to the Holocaust,” the rabbi said.
Kramer said the group has been meeting long distance for several months and had not had any other incidents of so-called Zoom-bombing.
“It was shocking to me. For 72 years, nothing like this has ever occurred to me,” Micki Beth Stiller, a board member at Temple Beth Or, told the newspaper. “It was just stunning. It feels like you’ve been violated.”
The harassment continued for about 10 minutes until the rabbi was able to end the call. Kramer later restarted the videoconference, but the harassers returned. Eventually they were kicked off, leaving everyone crying, including the rabbi. He called the incident a “gut punch.”
Kramer called the Montgomery Police but was redirected to the FBI.
The post Zoom selichot services for Alabama Jews interrupted by Holocaust imagery appeared first on Jewish Telegraphic Agency.
Hello, fellow Forward reader! I’m Joel Brown, a Forward reader and supporter for more than 15 years, and currently the chair of the board of directors.
I’m an avid Forward reader because it ticks so many of my essential boxes: excellent journalism, Jewish focus and diverse viewpoints. In today’s political climate, what I most appreciate is the Forward’s independence — made possible by the generosity of its membership.
The Forward is committed to bringing you unbiased, nuanced Jewish news. From my position as board chair, I see an exciting future as we expand our position as the definitive independent voice of contemporary American Judaism.
That’s why I’m paying it Forward, by matching $36,000 of reader gifts. It’s an investment in the Forward’s newsroom, to continue telling the American Jewish story with truth and independence.
— Joel Brown, Forward board chair
Support our mission to tell the Jewish story fully and fairly.
