Berlin synagogue mezuzah vandalised with swastika
Incident was reported by antisemitism commissioner Sigmount A. Königsberg before being condemned German Foreign Minister, Heiko Maas
The mezuzah at the entrance of the Tiferet Israel synagogue in Berlin was found damaged last week with a swastika drawn on the parchment.
The antisemitic incident was first reported by Sigmount A. Königsberg, a commissioner covering antisemitism for the Jewish Community of Berlin organisation. Last Thursday evening, Königsberg tweeted from his personal account that he learned of the incident from the synagogue’s Rabbi Reuven Yaacobov and included photos of the mezuzah’s parchment desecrated with a swastika.
“We will not be put off by this. We Jews are here, we stay here,” said Rabbi Yaacobov according to the Jüdische Allgemeine. “We do not concentrate on the negative, we want to spread more positive things.”
Rabbi Yaacobov promised that the synagogue would soon install a new mezuzah that’s “even more beautiful and even bigger than the previous one.”
German Foreign Minister, Heiko Maas, retweeted Königsberg, noting his frustration with this “disgusting” crime.
Geschändete #Mesusah an der #Synagoge Tiferet Israel Berlin. Wie ich vom zuständigen Rabbiner soeben erfuhr, hat eine Person die Mesusah am Eingang zur Synagoge aufgebrochen und das innenliegende Pergament mit einem Hakenkreuz geschändet. pic.twitter.com/k7dmfWjaP1
— Sigmount Königsberg (Privat) (@s_koenigsberg) October 1, 2020
“This crime must be solved quickly and those responsible punished!” tweeted Maas. “We stand closely and full of compassion at the side of our Jewish friends.”
There’s been little information made public since Königsberg sent his tweet, but the incident occurred just days before the first anniversary of last year’s Yom Kippur shooting in Halle, Germany, and another violent antisemitic attack in Hamburg in which a kippah-wearing Jewish student walking to Sukkot services was seriously injured by a man dressed in a military uniform.
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