(JTA) — Philadelphia Mayor Jim Kenney signed into law an ethnic intimidation bill introduced after the vandalism of about 175 headstones at a local cemetery. The Ethnic Intimidation and Institutional Vandalism bill signed last week, says that fines for desecrating objects will be applied to each individual act of vandalizing a headstone, grave marker or…
(JTA) — Gravestones were toppled at a Philadelphia-area cemetery, the second such vandalism in the area this year. Five headstones were discovered knocked off of their bases at the Adath Jeshurun Cemetery in the Frankford neighborhood of northeastern Philadelphia. The gravestones were not defaced by graffiti, according to the news website Philly.com. Police reportedly do…
Larry Krasner has spent three decades as an outsider, representing activists from the anti-AIDS and Black Lives Matter movements as a criminal defense lawyer. He’s now poised to become the ultimate insider after winning a Democratic primary to be Philadelphia’s next district attorney. “I always did this because I think trials should always be fair,…
(JTA) — A 13-year-old boy was arrested and charged with throwing a rock through a stained glass window at a Philadelphia synagogue. The incident that occurred on Sunday was the third time since December that baseball-sized rocks have been thrown through the stained-glass windows of Temple Menorah Keneseth Chai, a nearly century-old Conservative synagogue in…
(JTA) — Dozens of volunteers and laborers launched the restoration of toppled and damaged headstones at a Philadelphia Jewish cemetery. Experts in grave restoration are overseeing the work at the Mount Carmel Cemetery, which began Tuesday, the local Fox affiliate reported. Two Philadelphia labor unions offered to provide free repairs and added security. The work…
A new project by the National Museum of American Jewish History aims to collect the stories of the people buried in the Jewish cemetery in Philadelphia. The collection is hosted on Tumblr and allows anyone to contribute stories directly to the page. The site currently hosts two stories of Jewish women buried at the cemetery…
(JTA) — Two Philadelphia unions said they will provide free services to help repair and secure the Mt. Carmel Cemetery. More than 100 gravestones were toppled and damaged over the weekend at the Jewish cemetery in the city’s Wissinoming section. Bobby Henon, a Philadelphia council member with union ties who represents the Wissinoming neighborhood where…
Police investigators in St. Louis and Philadelphia have yet to report on any progress in their efforts to find those behind the vandalism attacks targeting Jewish cemeteries in both cities. Meanwhile, in Jewish communities across the country, cemetery executives are trying to figure out how to prevent the next attack. “There’s always been a presumption…
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