Image by Facebook

(JTA) — A large menorah in the front yard of an Arizona family was twisted into the shape of a swastika.

The Hanukkah candelabra was made of gold spray-painted PVC pipes and solar-powered lights.

Parents Naomi and Seth Ellis told the Washington Post they built the 7-foot menorah in front of their house after their three sons, ages 5, 6 and 9, asked for lights in their yard like their neighbors’ Christmas decorations.

As the Forward reported on Friday, family discovered Friday morning that the menorah had been tampered with. Police helped Naomi and Seth Ellis dismantle the swastika before their sons saw it, according to the newspaper. The menorah was rebuilt and replaced.

“We talk a lot about the importance of equality and tolerance, loving everybody no matter what,” Naomi Ellis told the Washington Post. “I had to tell them that not everybody feels that way. Some people are ignorant, and this is what they do.”

The Chandler Police Department told local news stations that the vandalism will be investigated as a hate crime. Additional police patrols were set up in the area in response to the incident.

On Friday evening, members of the family’s synagogue and their rabbi gathered in the Ellis front yard to light their rebuilt menorah, according to reports.

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.

The coming year promises to be filled with more complex and historic developments. We are entering an era where independent, fact-based Jewish journalism will be more important than ever. We need to be ready for whatever 2025 will bring, and with your help, we can be.

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.

$36 $500

$120 $180 Other amount