About 250 persons attended a ceremony today placing a new menorah on a synagogue in the Riverdale section of The Bronx in response to the vandalism of two outdoor Chanukah menorahs Sunday night.
Rabbi Avraham Weiss of the Hebrew Institute of Riverdale, said a menorah on the roof of the synagogue, which is now being built, was “thrown over the roof” Sunday night and “splattered” onto the street. He said a second outdoor menorah two blocks away was thrown onto the nearby Henry Hudson Parkway.
Weiss said it was decided to place a new menorah on the synagogue as “a statement of strength and conviction.” He noted that building the synagogue, which will be completed in about two months and is the first new synagogue in The Bronx in 20 years, demonstrates the congregation believes in the community. “We will never permit this to occur again, “Weiss said of the vandalism. “Such vandalism, rather than intimidating members of our synagogue, will serve as an incentive to the whole community, Jew and non-Jew alike, to work that much more together in the spirit of strength and peace.”
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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.
