On two occasions exactly one month apart, Fairfax County’s only synagogue, Temple Rodef Shalom, which is located near here, was ripped with gunfire during the early morning hours, it was reported here this weekend. No one was in the $500,000 structure at either time, but damage to the temple was estimated at over $3,000. The first incident occurred on the occasion of the synagogue’s first anniversary, Oct. 25. Nine 22-caliber slugs shattered two main plate-glass windows at the building’s entrance and lodged in interior walls.
A month later, on Thanksgiving Day, shotgun blasts smashed a third window, broke light fixtures and pocked concrete pillars in front of the temple. There was no indication as to the motive behind the shootings, but Fairfax police said they might have been connected with other acts of vandalism that has occurred at six area churches since Sept. 1. The vandalism at those churches involved thefts of office equipment and money from soft drink machines, but not shooting. A policeman noted that last January, 200 cars in the area were damaged by gas-powered pellets fired from a passing car. Two juveniles were convicted in those cases.
CATHOLIC GROUP TO AID SYNAGOGUE
The shootings at the temple were reported by nearby residents. One resident reportedly told the police that two shotgun blasts were fired Thanksgiving morning and a yellow car pulled out of the temple’s driveway. The 1,000-member synagogue, a six-sided hardwood and concrete structure, is in a middle class neighborhood of single-family houses. Before moving into its present location one year ago, the congregation held services at the Chesterbrook Presbyterian Church two blocks away.
The three broken 8-by 8-feet windows, which were not covered by vandalism insurance, have been covered with plywood. A Catholic University drama group will give a benefit performance at the temple on Dec. 19 to help raise money to buy new windows. The police have increased night-time surveillance of the synagogue area and a particularly close watch will be maintained on Christmas Eve and Christmas morning. Dec. 25, in case the similar dates of the two shootings were not coincidental.
The Archive of the Jewish Telegraphic Agency includes articles published from 1923 to 2008. Archive stories reflect the journalistic standards and practices of the time they were published.
