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.
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