Brooklyn Menorah Displays Vandalized in Anti-Semitic Hate Crime
Graphic by Angelie Zaslavsky
Four days into Hanukkah, Brooklyn Rabbi Mendy Hecht discovered two public menorah displays vandalized on Tuesday morning, in what the New York Police Department and Parks Department are investigating as an anti-Semitic hate crime.
“Taken out of its place, torn apart, broken. … That’s something more than I’ve ever experienced,” the Chabad rabbi told DNAInfo, describing the condition of the two menorahs, located in the Underhill Playground and Park Slope Playground. He said one of the menorahs had one of its arms ripped out, with its wiring taken off, while another had been pushed off its base and slanted.
Hecht held a Hanukkah celebration Wednesday night at the Park Slope Playground, distributing latkes and gifts to the children after the incident. Brooklyn Borough President Eric Adams attended, his office telling the news site that he wants to “denounce acts of hate attempting to disrupt the holiday season in Brooklyn.”
Following President-elect Donald Trump’s victory, New York has seen a spike in hate crime, many of them involving anti-Semitic and pro-Trump graffiti in public spaces including parks, apartment buildings, trains and phone booths. City police documented a one-third spike in bias incidents during the month of November, while state authorities have pledged to devote more resources to the investigation of hate crimes.
Contact Daniel J. Solomon at [email protected] or on Twitter @DanielJSolomon
Why I became the Forward’s Editor-in-Chief
- Alyssa Katz, Editor-in-Chief
You are surely a friend of the Forward if you’re reading this. And so it’s with excitement and awe — of all that the Forward is, was, and will be — that I introduce myself to you as the Forward’s newest editor-in-chief.
And what a time to step into the leadership of this storied Jewish institution! For 129 years, the Forward has shaped and told the American Jewish story. I’m stepping in at an intense time for Jews the world over. We urgently need the Forward’s courageous, unflinching journalism — not only as a source of reliable information, but to provide inspiration, healing and hope.
Support our mission to tell the Jewish story fully and fairly.
