The spiritual leader of a synagogue in Manalapan, New Jersey, that was desecrated and damaged when three youths allegedly drove a tractor through a wall of the recently opened stucture, vowed today that the congregation will not be terrorized nor intimidated by anti-Semitic attacks.
Rabbi Ira Rothstein has mobilized local civic, religious and political leaders to join in condemning the attack by signing an advertisement that will appear later this week in local newspagers, and has organized a solidarity march for November 4 that will conclude at the synagogue where work will begin to repair the damage.
“This was an act of terrorism,” Rothstein told the Jewish Telegraphic Agency in a telephone interview. He said the “Jewish community will stand united and will not be intimidated.”
THREE YOUTHS ARRESTED
Three 18-year-old youths have been arrested in connection with the incident which occurred last Wednesday evening or Thursday morning. The three are accused of using the tractor that was being used for landscaping the Conservative synagogue and driving it through a wall at the education wing of the Temple Beth Shalom.
The vandals also painted swastikas and scrawled anti-Semitic slogans on the walls of the structure. One slogan said: “Jews go home.” No one was in the synagogue at the time. The cost of the damage has not yet been estimated, Rothstein said, although he pointed out that an engineer’s report two days ago indicated that there is structural damage, “more than a hole in the wall.”
The three youths charged in the attack on the 325-family synagogue located in Monmouth County are: Joseph Salvatore Busalacchi, Keith Francis Larocca and Timothy Michael Mclane They were each arrested Monday before dawn at their homes, police reports said.
Police charged the suspects with malicious destruction of property and defacement and damage of religious property. Busalacchi and LaRocca were also charged with aggravated arson, possession of explosives for an unlawful purpose and defacing religious property in a May 19 attack at the Congregation Sons of Israel. In that attack, a molotov cocktail was thrown on the sidewalk of the Sons of Israel Temple. No one was injured.
STRESSES SIGNIFICANCE OF THE ATTACK
Temple Beth Shalom had just moved into the new structure, Rothstein said, and services were first held there during the High Holy Days. The congregation has for the past six years met in churches and schools since being formed by people from Manalapan, Freehold and Marlboro.
Rothstein met with local leaders shortly after the incident and sought to stress the significance of the attack on the synagogue. He said that he told the local leaders that “when this happens to one house of worship, it could happen to us all.”
The advertisement in the local papers, including a full page in the Asbury Park Press slated for this Sunday, condemns violence and religious intolerance and will be signed by some 35-40 leaders, according to Rothstein.
The advertisement will describe what occurred and make a statement that the Jewish community will not be “intimidated.” He said, “Perpetrators will be sent a message that hatred will not go unpunished.”
The advertisement will declare: “We believe this act cannot go unnoticed. The destruction at Temple Beth Shalom is a violation of the fundamental principles of democracy and is an affront to both Jews and Christians. When one house of worship is desecrated, all houses of worship are desecrated. When it happens to one of us it happens to us all ….”
The advertisement will ask readers to join in a demonstration of solidarity on November 4 that will conclude in a ceremony at the synagogue at which time cleanup activities of the structure will commence. The only repair to the synagogue since the attack has been the placement of wood panels nailed to the side of the building to cover the hole in the wall caused by the tractor.
Information on participating in the march can be obtained at 201-446-1200.
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.
