By Leyna Krow, Assistant Editor, JTNews
When Rabbi Cheski Edelman, director of the Chabad Jewish Discovery Center in Olympia, arrived at work on the morning of June 22, he was met with a deeply unsettling sight. During the night, vandals had knocked over the nine-foot-tall menorah that adorns the front of the synagogue and spray painted an anti-Semitic epitaph on its base.
“It certainly did not feel very good to see that,” Edelman said.
Edelman reported the vandalism to the police who surveyed the damage and took fingerprints from empty beer bottles found nearby, but so far, Edelman said, they have not determined who committed the crime. He added this is the first time the Olympia Chabad has been the victim of anti-Semitic vandalism.
Following the incident, Edelman sent an e-mail to the Chabad center’s mailing list reassuring participants that he and his wife Chava would not allow the vandalism to upset the day-to-day activities of the synagogue.
The menorah has since been cleaned and repaired thanks to the efforts of grassroots Olympia organization Unity in the Community.
“We got a painter to cover up the graffiti and the menorah is standing up right again, so it’s looking okay,” said Unity in the Community co-founder Reiko Callner.
Unity in the Community began in 1992 in response to the murder of an Olympia teen by neo-Nazi skinheads. Following that incident, a group of concerned citizens came together to get anti-hate crimes ordinances passed in the city and also put together diversity training events for local schools and law enforcement. Today, the group acts as a sort of community response mechanism for individuals and organizations that have been the targets of hate crimes.
“When people get targeted its important to us that they know the community is behind them. It can be a frightening and isolating thing,” Callner said.
When Unity in the Community heard about the vandalism to the Chabad center, Callner said members asked the rabbi what they could do to help. They also sent condolence flowers to Rabbi Edelman’s mother-in-law, whom he said was very upset by the incident.
Reiko noted that Unity in the Community get calls concerning hate speech vandalism in the Olympia area every couple of months.
In addition to Unity in the Community’s efforts, Edelman said the Chabad center has received an outpouring of support from many of its neighbors, both Jewish and non-Jewish.
“There was a incredible response from the community,” he said. “We’ve had so many people calling and offering their support.”