Window Smashing At BK Synagogue Latest In Hate Crime Rise: Clergy

EAST WILLIAMSBURG, BROOKLYN — With caution tape stretched across its storefront and shattered glass still on the ground outside, a local synagogue that had its windows smashed in over the weekend isn't letting the attack stop it from spreading a message of "light and love."

Rabbi Menachem Heller, of Chabad of Bushwick, said Tuesday afternoon that congregation members have still continued to gather at the Flushing Avenue building in the days since the Saturday attack, including a community meeting Monday night.

The support from members of the congregation and others who have reached out since the attack have helped him and his family feel safe, Heller said. He had been celebrating the Sabbath inside the synagogue when the windows were smashed Saturday evening, just feet from where his children were playing.

"Members of the community are strong and optimistic," he said. "I didn't have to reassure them, they were reassuring me, asking 'What can we do Rabbi? What more can we do?' We know the community is with us."

Heller was joined outside the synagogue Tuesday by other clergy members and officers from the 90th Precinct, who are investigating the attack. Police released a video Tuesday morning of a person of interest in the case.

Clergy members said Tuesday the attack was the latest in an increase in anti-Semitic or religiously-motivated hate crimes in the area and across the city.

"You should be able to pray any time...without any concern that something will happen to your family," said Assembly Member Michael Blake, who is also a Methodist minister. "As leaders of faith we have to call it out even if it doesn't happen against us. We can't be silent."

Anti-Semitic incidents were a major factor for a rise in hate crimes in the city last year. NYPD recorded 352 hate crimes in 2018, up about 6 percent from those the year before. Of those, 183 were anti-Semitic hate crimes, a 22 percent increase from the year before and a 38.6 percent increase from around the same time in 2016, numbers show.

In the Williamsburg area specifically, elected officials recently held a meeting to discuss a series of stickers with messages of hate speech that were posted around Greenpoint earlier this year. A few months ago, two members of the Jewish community were attacked on the same block in a week.

Heller reiterated Tuesday, though, that the attacks will not discourage members of the community. In a Facebook post about the incident, he said the attack has made the congregation more determined to share its faith and offer an "inclusive and warm environment."

"Despite the intentions of this attack to divide and intimidate, our doors will remain as open as ever, welcoming visitors to join our growing Bushwick family," he said.

Photos by Anna Quinn/Patch.