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Friday September 5, 2008

‘Disturbing’ anti-Semitic graffiti found at Richmond synagogue

Members of Richmond’s Temple Beth Hillel found anti-Semitic graffiti painted on the synagogue’s doors, windows and sidewalks Aug. 28.

A Montessori school rents space from the synagogue; the school’s director notified synagogue staff of the graffiti — brown and black spray-painted swastikas and the word “sham.”

“In my 28 years as a congregant, this was the first time we’ve had this sort of hate incident,” said David Brown, the synagogue’s buildings and grounds chairperson and a lawyer in Richmond. “It was very disturbing.”

Brown contacted the Richmond Police Department around 11:15 a.m. Aug. 28. Two officers went to the synagogue and attempted to obtain fingerprints from a paint can lid without success. They have no suspects, said Sgt. Bisa French.

She said anti-Semitic or other offensive graffiti is unusual in Richmond. “It’s not very often we get hate-crime-related graffiti. I’d say at the max we see it five times a year.”

Within a day, the swastikas painted on the synagogue’s doors, windows and sidewalks had been removed. Only a few spots of paint remain on the sidewalk, Brown said Sept. 2, but he’s working to remove every last trace.

The synagogue does not have security cameras. Brown said in light of this incident he’s considering installing cameras around the perimeter of the building. He will learn more about how to keep the synagogue safe on Sept. 11 at an annual workshop on security, held at the Jewish Community Federation of the Greater East Bay.

Larry Fox, a Temple Beth Hillel board member, said he was “stunned” to see the graffiti, but was grateful there was no damage to the inside of the building.

“My first thought was ‘Why our synagogue?’ We have not done anything to elicit anyone defacing our religious home.”

Fox’s wife, Heather, had thought people in the Bay Area were more enlightened than the type who would deface a spiritual building.

“We hope that whoever is responsible will in time learn that we are all people who should be treated with respect,” Fox said.

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