Skip To Content
JEWISH. INDEPENDENT. NONPROFIT.
Fast Forward

Neighbor of Paris synagogue smashes mezuzah to ‘restore religious neutrality’

(JTA) — A mezuzah was torn off the doorframe of a Paris synagogue in a suspected anti-Semitic incident.

Meanwhile, in Lyon, France, graffiti praising Adolf Hitler and featuring the word “Jews” was painted on a wall.

In the Paris incident, Marc Dayan, the president of the Yismah Moché Synagogue in the 18th district, discovered the vandalism on Aug. 14 after returning from a vacation, according to a statement by the National Bureau for Vigilance Against Anti-Semitism, or BNVCA.

Dayan asked a neighbor if he had seen anything, the neighbor, whom BNVCA did not identity, said he had done it to “restore religious neutrality” to the building. The mezuzah had been affixed to the doorframe for decades, Dayan said.

He filed a complaint for an anti-Semitic hate crime with police. BNVCA said the incident was “an act of anti-Jewish hatred.”

In Lyon, a graffiti reading “Heil Hitler” and “Juden,” the German-language word for Jews, was discovered Tuesday on a wall on a street. Police are investigating the incident in eastern France as a case of anti-Semitic hate speech, BFMTV reported.

The post Neighbor of Paris synagogue smashes its mezuzah to ‘restore religious neutrality’ appeared first on Jewish Telegraphic Agency.

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.

We’ve set a goal to raise $260,000 by December 31. That’s an ambitious goal, but one that will give us the resources we need to invest in the high quality news, opinion, analysis and cultural coverage that isn’t available anywhere else.

If you feel inspired to make an impact, now is the time to give something back. Join us as a member at your most generous level.

—  Rachel Fishman Feddersen, Publisher and CEO

With your support, we’ll be ready for whatever 2025 brings.

Republish This Story

Please read before republishing

We’re happy to make this story available to republish for free, unless it originated with JTA, Haaretz or another publication (as indicated on the article) and as long as you follow our guidelines. You must credit the Forward, retain our pixel and preserve our canonical link in Google search.  See our full guidelines for more information, and this guide for detail about canonical URLs.

To republish, copy the HTML by clicking on the yellow button to the right; it includes our tracking pixel, all paragraph styles and hyperlinks, the author byline and credit to the Forward. It does not include images; to avoid copyright violations, you must add them manually, following our guidelines. Please email us at [email protected], subject line “republish,” with any questions or to let us know what stories you’re picking up.

We don't support Internet Explorer

Please use Chrome, Safari, Firefox, or Edge to view this site.