Jewish American Heritage Month

Posted By richards on August 18, 2017

Photo: Courtesy Of Mel Waldorf

A window of Temple Israel of Alameda was boarded up after a vandal threw rocks at it Wednesday night.

A window of Temple Israel of Alameda was boarded up after a vandal threw rocks at it Wednesday night.

Alameda synagogue vandalized by rock-thrower

The windows of a childrens classroom at a Jewish temple in Alameda were broken when someone threw rocks at the synagogue, police said Friday.

Staffers at Temple Israel discovered the vandalism Thursday morning. The rocks apparently were thrown the night before, including at a window where young children had painted stars of David.

Sgt. Erik Klaus, who oversees the Alameda Police Department property crimes division, said officers are not investigating the incident as a hate crime

There was no graffiti, no notes, no previous threats, Klaus said.

But some in the Alameda Jewish community saw it as an act directed at the synagogue.

Mel Waldorf, a Temple Israel member, took his 14-year-old daughter with him to survey the damage after receiving an email sent to the congregation. Waldorf said it is important for his daughter to understand what happened in the aftermath of a series of anti-Semitic threats she faced at Alameda High School.

When they got to the synagogue, on Bay Farm Island, Waldorf said he saw an officer carrying a bag with a rock larger than a softball. It looked like the vandal had tried to smash the front door of the temple in addition to throwing the rocks, he said.

There was no question this was a Jewish institution, Waldorf said. Why did whoever did this smash the windows of the synagogue, not the church or preschool or community center 10 feet away? I can understand (the police) dont have enough information to definitively call it a hate crime, but its hard to imagine this wasnt targeted.

Klaus said no arrests have been made and that police have not identified a motive.

Kimberly Veklerov is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. Email: kveklerov@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @kveklerov

Originally posted here:

Alameda synagogue vandalized by rock-thrower - SFGate

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