Los Angeles Synagogue Defaced With Paint
Hebrew Discovery Center before the attack Image by @HebrewDiscoveryCenter
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-hcl50.orc.scoolaid.net/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.
A message from our CEO & publisher Rachel Fishman Feddersen
I hope you appreciated this article. Before you go, I’d like to ask you to please support the Forward’s award-winning, nonprofit journalism during this critical time.
At a time when other newsrooms are closing or cutting back, the Forward has removed its paywall and invested additional resources to report on the ground from Israel and around the U.S. on the impact of the war, rising antisemitism and polarized discourse..
Readers like you make it all possible. Support our work by becoming a Forward Member and connect with our journalism and your community.
— Rachel Fishman Feddersen, Publisher and CEO
