Rosh Hashanah passed mainly quietly in the restive Crown Heights section of Brooklyn, but Hasidim there did report a few scattered incidents of harassment and violence, including a rifle shot through an empty synagogue.
The shooting occurred sometime between 5:30 p.m. and 7 p.m. Sunday, and was directed at Congregation Ahavas Moshe, according to Rabbi Shea Hecht, a Jewish community spokesman.
Police have determined that the 9-mm bullet was fired from an apartment building next door to the congregation. It passed through a window, two wooden benches, and hit a window frame on the opposite wall, where it became embedded, said Eli Blachman, the synagogue president.
Blachman discovered the damage when he returned to open the building for Rosh Hashanah evening services. Police are investigating.
During the holiday, several groups of Lubavitcher Hasidim walking to and from religious services were verbally harassed, spit at and attacked with bottles, residents said.
One was a group of eight Lubavitcher men walking back to Crown Heights from an area hospital, where they blew the shofar for patients.
Blacks shouted “Dirty Jews” and “Heil Hitler” at the Hasidim and threw bottles at them, according to Rabbi Joseph Spielman, president of the Crown Heights Jewish Community Council. But nobody was seriously hurt.
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