Jewish cemetery desecrated with anti-Semitic graffiti days before Yom Kippur

BY ERIKA NORTON
WARWICK — Leonard Silver, a well-known Sugar Loaf resident who is battling cancer, came to the Temple Beth Shalom cemetery in Warwick on Monday to show his wife the plot he had recently picked out. But he was met with a heart-breaking sight — the walls around the cemetery had been vandalized with anti-Semitic graffiti.
Black spray-painted Swastikas, “Heil Hitler,” and lightning-shaped "SS" insignias of the Nazi military police were discovered Sunday morning covering the walls of the Jewish cemetery near the intersection of Spanktown Road and Union Corners Road. The incident occurred just days before Yom Kippur, the holiest day of the Jewish year.
Silver is also the son of Holocaust survivors.
“I didn’t know what had happened,” Silver said, visibly emotional, “and to come and see these messages on the wall just hit me so deeply in the core.”
Warwick police were alerted Sunday of the vandalism that likely happened the night before, according to Rabbi Rebecca Shinder of Temple Beth Shalom. The headstones and the nearby St. Joseph’s Cemetery were left unharmed.
“My initial reaction was this is awful, this is terrible, but it’s probably not so bad,” said Shinder, who has been with the Florida, N.Y. temple congregation for 11 years. “I figured maybe there’s one little thing or something, and then I get here and it’s all across the front, so much so that it’s rare people (driving by) don’t stop.”
Shinder said she was absolutely surprised by the incident, and that nothing like his has happened since she’s been with the temple. She said others such as Debbie Warner, a founding member of the temple and local resident for 60 years, and Tim Purta, the Florida funeral director who has lived locally his whole life, both agreed that a similar incident has never happened.
Silver, however, said he was not surprised.
“The Jews have suffered nearly every day throughout history,” he said. “It didn’t matter whether it was near a holiday or far from it. But it certainly is wonderful to know that soon I’ll be in the temple again and I’ll be able to get my head on straight and deal with this in a more sensible and spiritual and loving way. Right now I’m in pain, deep pain.”
Before Yom Kippur services held Tuesday night, Shinder said their worship would be altered in light of the incident. The message wouldn’t be of hatred and anger, she said, but that the congregation will stand stronger in spite of the vandalism.
Micah Sander, a junior at Warwick Valley High School, came to the cemetery with his parents on Monday. When asked why he came, he said with tear-filled eyes, “Just to show that they can’t break us, that we still can come together, that this isn't defeat. We’re going to clean the walls, change the walls whatever we need to do. It’s that we’ve taken attacks, we’ve kept going, and to show that we’re here and see if we can help.”
Warwick police are currently investigating the incident. There is a $10,000 reward for information leading to a conviction in this case, and anyone with tips is asked to call the Warwick Police Department at 845-986-5000.

Service of Solidarity

A “Service of Solidarity and Healing” will be held at the Temple Beth Shalom cemetery at 11:30 a.m on Sunday, Oct. 16. for anyone who wishes to attend. The gathering will be in front of the desecrated cemetery gates for prayers and songs, accompanied by the temple’s Torah Scroll, which was saved from the Nazis.
President of the Jewish Federation of Greater Orange County, Leslie Green, released a statement condemning the cemetery vandalism, encouraging people to gather at the cemetery Sunday morning.
“The spray-painting of swastikas at this local cemetery sends a message of hate which reverberates throughout our community,” Green said. “Anti-Semitic incidents such as this have only one goal: to intimidate and instill fear.”
The Anti-Defamation League also released a statement on Oct. 10., stating they were “deeply disturbed” by the vandalism.
“Children learn this from us, the adults, the parents, the people who are around them,” Silver said. “And there’s three ways you can change this, one is by example, two is by example, and three is by example. By example we can change this and that’s how children learn.”