(JTA) — The words "Jews murder" were spray-painted outside one of Chicago’s oldest congregations.
The graffiti was discovered early Wednesday morning on the Anshe Emet synagogue on the North Side, the Chicago Sun-Times reported. The congregation, which is nearly 140 years old, has been at its current location since 1929. It also houses the Bernard Zell Anshe Emet Day School.
"The vandals who painted anti-Semitic graffiti this morning on a major Chicago Jewish institution, Anshe Emet Synagogue and Bernard Zell Anshe Emet Day School, not only defaced a building, but also scrawled their message of hate on the hearts of all Chicagoans who take pride in our city’s openness and diversity," said David Sherman, chairman, and David Prystowsky, executive director, of the Jewish United Fund’s Jewish Community Relations Council, in a statement.
"The visible damage can be removed with relative ease; harder to erase is the impression these hateful words and images leave on the children and families for whom the school and synagogue are a second home. Their sense of peace and well-being has been violated, as it is for all Chicagoans whenever any religious or ethnic group is targeted," they said.
Police are investigating the vandalism, according to the newspaper.
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