A rabbi who serves as spokesman for a Lubavitch synagogue-community center in Brooklyn said today that vandals who broke in last night for the second time in two weeks caused “many thousands of dollars” in damage to the structure and its equipment.
Rabbi Joseph Rosenfeld told the Jewish Telegraphic Agency that the more than 40-year-old Israel Leventhal Synagogue had been sold to the Lubavitch movement in 1982 and re-named the Educational Institute Oholei Torah. He said that, in addition to worship services, the institute served children by sponsoring camps and school classes and in other ways serves the Lubavitch community. The Institute is located near the world headquarters of the Lubavitch movement on Eastern Parkway.
Rosenfeld said police had still not found any clues to the identity of the vandals. He said the vandals had smeared anti-Semitic graffiti on the structure’s marble sections and on the walls of the main floor of the building. Rosenfeld said the obscenities had been scrawled on the walls, as well as a “Heil Hitler” and a drawing of a soldier giving the Nazi salute.
The vandals failed in their efforts to break into a synagogue in the building’s upper floor. In a play-room, a variety of costly electronic machines and school supplies were either destroyed or stolen, Rosenfeld said.
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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.
