BREAKING NEWS

Black-faced apparent Purim effigy in Rockland County draws condemnation

By JTA

MARCH 27, 2016 09:54

NEW YORK — Leaders in the Jewish community of New York’s Rockland County condemned the hanging of a black-faced doll with dreadlocks outside a local home apparently in celebration of Purim.

The effigy, which according to a News12 Hudson Valley report Thursday evening was spotted outside a Spring Valley house, angered many African-Americans and others in the area for its reminder of the lynchings — extrajudicial hangings, often by a mob of whites — that have historically terrorized black men.

Barry Kanarek, the director of the Jewish Federation of Rockland, told News 12 Thursday that the effigy was a means of celebrating “the defeating the evil Haman who wanted to kill all the Jews.”

On Friday morning, the federation and the Rockland County Board of Rabbis, a group made up solely of non-Orthodox Jewish clergy, issued a joint statement condemning the “insensitive and offensive ‘hanging of Haman’ practice on display during Purim.”

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