Newington temple cites antisemitic hack during online worship
A hateful breach of a Jewish congregation’s recent online worship service included swastikas scrawled on a shared screen.
The hack of Temple Sinai’s service Friday lasted about three seconds, “but it was three seconds too long,” Rabbi Jeffrey Bennett said Monday.
The intrusion came during Mourner’s Kaddish, a remembrance of loved ones who have died, as about 200 congregation members watched on Zoom and Facebook Live, Bennett said. The “Zoom bombers” used the system’s “annotate” feature to post swastikas on the shared screen.
They also used the audio feature to play klezmer music (a type of traditional Jewish music) and the chat feature to write inappropriate messages for all to see, according to temple leaders.
Bennett quickly stopped sharing his screen and a worship service co-host muted all attendees, the temple board of directors wrote in a notice to congregants.
The service then continued without incident.
Temple leaders filed an incident report with the Anti Defamation League (ADL) and sent a message to the Zoom security mailbox outlining the breach. Newington police also were
—Rabbi Jeffrey Bennett
alerted and said they would boost patrols around the building, the directors said.
The ADL reported in May that American Jews suffered the highest level of antisemitic incidents last year since tracking began in 1979, with more than 2,100 acts of assault, vandalism and harassment reported across the nation. The organization also reported recently that 28% of Americans have experienced severe online hate and harassment this year.
The hack of Temple Sinai’s service was the first antisemitic intrusion since the temple started holding online worship in late March because of the coronavirus, Bennett said. Steps have been taken to prevent another attack, he said.
Congregation members were “shocked and shaken” by the breach, Bennett said, but they also promised each other “to hold our heads high.”
“It strengthens our resolve to celebrate who we are,” the rabbi said.
Jesse Leavenworth can be reached at jleavenworth@ courant.com.
“It strengthens our resolve to celebrate who we are.”