Netanya Synagogue vandalized for fifth time in month
"These people think they are defending society and serving religion, but they don’t understand that they are destroying society," a community rabbi said.
By JEREMY SHARONConservative synagogue in Netanya vandalized four times in space of eight days(photo credit: COURTESY BET ISRAEL SYNAGOGUE)
The Masorti (Conservative) synagogue in Netanya was vandalized once again at the beginning of this week, and has now been attacked on five occasions in little over a month.The Municipal Council of Netanya condemned the incident, and Mayor Miriam Feirberg-Ikar has given instructions to security personnel to increase patrols at the site.On this past Shabbat morning, synagogue members who came for the morning service discovered that one of the glass doors at the front of the building had been smashed for the fourth time in recent weeks.In another incident last month, teenagers entered the synagogue, ran up to the first floor, knocked over and damaged a water cooler flooding the floor, and knocked over a sculpture.Since the first set of attacks at the beginning of May, the synagogue has installed security cameras, and footage of a singe individual perpetrating the attack was captured by the system.The footage is being turned over to the police, although a formal complaint has not yet been made by the synagogue.Emeritus rabbi of Bet Israel, Rabbi Ervin Birnbaum, 89, said he felt “utter disgust with society” and that it could not understand how such attacks could be committed.He said he did not think the perpetrators were necessarily haredi, but that he believed motivated by an animus towards progressive Judaism.“These people think they are defending society and serving religion, but they don’t understand that they are destroying society,” Birnbaum said.“The community is very frustrated with the city and with society. Which direction are we going in this city? The people here want a change of perspective where people accept the other and accept people who are different.”
Director of the Masorti Movement in Israel Dr. Yizhar Hess accused haredi leaders who have spoken disdainfully and disparagingly of the progressive Jewish movements in recent months and years of responsibility for incitement.“The comments of the haredi political leaders about [progressive Judaism], which can only be described as anti-Semitism, lead to deeds,” said Hess, and called on the police to give the attacks “their full attention.”He also called on Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to condemn the incidents, and to Mayor Miriam Feirberg Ikar “to do everything she can to protect the community in her city and to help its members feel secure in the city in which they live.”Hess said pointedly that if such vandalism took place abroad, or in an Orthodox synagogue in Israel, the country would be up in arms.The Netanya Municipal Authority said in response to the incident that “we strongly condemn all acts of vandalism,” and that the issue was being dealt with by the police.“At the same time, Mayor Miriam Feirberg-Ikar has instructed the [municipal] Enforcement, Supervision and Security Administration to increase patrols at the site.”A spokesman for the Prime Minister’s Office said “We condemn in the strongest possible terms the vandalisation of any synagogue or other house of worship.”
