‘Chronic disease’ spawns vile messages

In the first 10 months of this year there were three times as many bias graffiti incidents at Five Towns Long Island Rail Road train stations as there were in all of 2012, according to statistics provided by the Metropolitan Transportation Authority.

Last year there were four such incidents, all at the Cedarhurst LIRR station. This year the MTA has reported seven incidents at Cedarhurst, four in Lawrence and one in Hewlett, a total of 12.

On Oct. 30, Cedarhurst resident Jeffrey Leb saw a swastika scratched onto a panel of one of the station’s passenger shelters. “It’s annoying and upsetting that in this day and age, you have to put up with this in any public space,” said Leb, who reported it to Nassau County police at the 4th Precinct in Hewlett. “Vile messages against any group are unacceptable.”

According to the NCPD, four of the five incidents of offensive graffiti it reported in the Five Towns in 2012 were classified as anti-Jewish. The other was described by police as ethnically offensive. This year, through Oct. 31, the NCPD has reported eight incidents — four fewer than the MTA — six of which it described as anti-Jewish, and two as anti-black.

Rabbi Sholom Stern, the spiritual leader of Temple Beth El in Cedarhurst, said that prejudice is a reality in our society, and must be confronted. He likened anti-Semitism to a chronic disease that can be treated through education.

“Chronic diseases are hard to get rid of,” Stern said. “When the culprits are caught, the punitive measures should be a vigorous, intensive educational program that provides them an opportunity to learn what prejudice is all about.”

Though the police offered no explanation for the increase in offensive graffiti, Inspector Kenneth Lack, commanding officer of the NCPD’s Public Information Office, said that each incident is taken “very seriously,” investigated thoroughly and tracked by the Bias Crimes unit.

Lack said that the department has separate annual security meetings with Jewish and Muslim community leaders to discuss these types of incidents and other safety issues.

“When you see something like bias graffiti, the best thing is not to touch it or remove it,” Lack said. “The police will document the evidence. The public should report it to the precinct or the MTA.”

Also in the Five Towns area, a derogatory comment — “Damn Orthodox Jews, you killed our schools” — was written on an Atlantic Beach boardwalk bench on Aug. 2. The sentiment has been echoed in previous train station incidents.

Dr. Asher Mansdorf, a North Woodmere resident who has a dentistry practice in Lawrence and is an 11-year member of the Lawrence Board of Education, said he thinks the written attacks on Orthodox Jews display an ignorance of the culture of the Five Towns. “Overwhelmingly my feeling is sadness because it is written by an individual or individuals who harbors a great deal of hate and angst, and is not a knowledgeable person regarding the demographic changes in the community,” Mansdorf said, referring to the influx of Orthodox Jews in the Five Towns.

Bias graffiti incidents are also taken seriously by the MTA, spokesman Aaron Donovan said. “We take immediate action to investigate it and remove the graffiti” after police have completed their documentation, Donovan said. “If it is reported to us, we do report it to the MTA police. They are involved with information-sharing with all regional law enforcement agencies on this.”

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