(JTA) — A large menorah and a Holocaust memorial were damaged at a synagogue in Sun City, Arizona, on the first day of Hanukkah.
The damage to Temple Beth Shalom was discovered Sunday morning. The local sheriff’s office is investigating the incident, which has not been classified a hate crime, the local media reported. The synagogue had celebrated a bar mitzvah the day before, the NBC affiliate Channel 12 News reported.
The copper and metal menorah has been in front of the synagogue for more than 30 years.
Tire tracks in the front yard of the synagogue indicated that someone smashed a truck into the menorah; it also appears that someone then tried to pull down the menorah, according to reports. It will cost about $7,000 to fix the menorah, Rabbi Sheldon Moss told the local television station KPHO.
A Holocaust memorial on the synagogue’s campus also was damaged.
