Yale Bathroom Graffiti Warns of Arson Attack on Jewish Center During Shavuot
Image by getty images
Graffiti scrawled in a bathroom in a Yale University science building threatened an arson attack on the campus Slifka Center for Jewish Life.
The graffiti was discovered late last month but was first reported in the local media on Tuesday. The exact wording of the graffiti has not been released, but it reportedly threatened an attack for May 16, the second day of the major Jewish holiday of Shavuot.
Police in New Haven, Conn., and the FBI are investigating, the New Haven Register reported.
“This is a very disturbing incident for a community such as ours, in which tolerance of all races, religions and points of view is a fundamental value,” Yale Vice President Linda Koch Lorimer said in a statement. “A threat to any community within our university is a threat to us all.”
Slifka Center programs have continued on schedule, and upcoming events including Shavuot programs have not been altered.
“Difficult times can serve to remind us of our many blessings,” a statement issued by the center said. “Slifka Center is fortunate to be a vibrant hub of Jewish and interfaith life within a welcoming community, in which incidents such as this one are very rare.”
A Slifka Center board member said the news of the graffiti was not released to the public sooner in order to allow the police to do some investigation quietly.
I hope you appreciated this article. Before you go, I’d like to ask you to please support the Forward’s award-winning journalism this Passover.
In this age of misinformation, our work is needed like never before. We report on the news that matters most to American Jews, driven by truth, not ideology.
At a time when newsrooms are closing or cutting back, the Forward has removed its paywall. That means for the first time in our 126-year history, Forward journalism is free to everyone, everywhere. With an ongoing war, rising antisemitism, and a flood of disinformation that may affect the upcoming election, we believe that free and open access to Jewish journalism is imperative.
Readers like you make it all possible. Right now, we’re in the middle of our Passover Pledge Drive and we still need 300 people to step up and make a gift to sustain our trustworthy, independent journalism.
Make a gift of any size and become a Forward member today. You’ll support our mission to tell the American Jewish story fully and fairly.
— Rachel Fishman Feddersen, Publisher and CEO
Join our mission to tell the Jewish story fully and fairly.
Only 300 more gifts needed by April 30
