A vandal painted a two-foot high, black swastika on the outside of Shaare Tzedek, a Conservative congregation on the Upper West Side last weekend.
The police department’s Bias Crime Unit was investigating the incident, according to the shul and the Anti-Defamation League.
The vandalism was noticed around 12:30 p.m. Sunday, and took place sometime after the building closed at around 5:30 p.m. Saturday night.
“People are always shocked when this kind of thing happens, and kind of scared,” said Lolita Pogrebitskaya, the shul’s office manager.
Jamie Rubin, assistant regional director of the Anti-Defamation League’s New York office called the incident “a sad, ignorant and hateful act that violates the entire community, not just the Jewish community.”
A spokesman for the NYPD said Tuesday that he had no information about the attack.
ADL surveys have shown a recent rise in vandalism attacks against Jewish sites and property. Last July, a swastika was painted at the Park East Synagogue on the Upper East Side, and in October a woman was charged with painting some 20 swastikas in Brooklyn and Queens.
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