Vandalism mars Oakland temple
Oakland synagogue was vandalized with antiSemitic graffiti early on the first day of the Jewish High Holy Days, prompting police to boost security at other temples in the city and the mayor to condemn the incident as a vulgar act of hate.
Security guards at Temple Sinai in the 2800 block of Summit Street discovered black spray-painted graffiti on the west side of the building around 4:45 a.m. Wednesday. The Oakland Police Department is investigating the vandalism as a hate crime. No arrests were made.
Temple Sinai’s senior rabbi Jacqueline Mates-Muchin and Sam Schuchat, president of the temple’s board of trustees, were awakened by calls from the security guard just before 5 a.m. and immediately went to inspect the synagogue.
Realizing there would not be enough time to paint over the graffiti before the day’s first Rosh Hashanah service at 8:30 a.m., Mates-Muchin had the vandalism covered with white paper before members arrived. As people came for the service and heard about the act, they began to write “words of love” on the paper to “cover the words of hate,” she said.
“I felt like that’s what we want to put out into the world,” she said.
Mayor Libby Schaaf, who stopped by the temple Wednesday, applauded the reAn
action of the synagogue’s members.
“Ignorance showed its face in Oakland today,” she said. “And our community responded with love. I strongly condemn the vulgar graffiti spray-painted on Temple Sinai, a house of worship in the heart of our city.”
As congregants filtered into the building for the second morning service, many stopped to write a note on the paper banner. While most were arriving for Rosh Hashanah services, Mates-Muchin said she spoke to a number of community members not affiliated with Temple Sinai who stopped to express their support.
By 11:30 a.m., a city maintenance crew had painted over the graffiti. The paper banner was moved inside to hang in the temple’s social hall.
“We’re thinking of keeping it up for a while,” Schuchat said. “It does look kind of nice.”
The Oakland Police Department has stationed an officer at Temple Sinai and will increase patrols at all synagogues in Oakland throughout the rest of the month.
“This is a very disturbing incident,” said Officer Johnna Watson, a police spokeswoman. “We’re aware of how this relates to national incidents and are investigating it as hate crime.”
Police are reviewing video surveillance footage from the surrounding areas in hopes of tracking down the vandal. Anyone with information on the incident can contact the Oakland Police Department at (510) 238-3278. The department is offering a reward of $2,500 to anyone with information that leads to an arrest.