By Nick Buglione
It was the second time a window was broken at the temple, at 712 The Plain Road in Salisbury, in as many days. The first window was shattered when someone hurled a rock through it sometime between 8:30 p.m. last Saturday and 9:45 a.m. on Sunday, according to Nassau County police.
Rabbi Judith Cohen-Rosenberg, who has been with the Community Reform Temple for the past 12 years, said there was about $1,000 in damage. "My feeling is that any damage that's done to an easily identifiable Jewish building has to have some kind of bias," she said.
Detectives from the Bias Crimes Squad are looking into the matter. "We're cooperating with the 3rd Squad because of the possible bias nature of the crime," said Detective Sgt. Gary Shapiro of the Bias Crimes Squad.
Police said two other apparently connected incidents took place in the neighborhood surrounding the temple sometime between late Saturday, Nov. 1 and early Sunday. A swastika was spray-painted on the roadway in front of a house on Roxbury Drive, just blocks from the Community Reform Temple, and the front window of a Valentines Road residence was broken. Valentines Road is adjacent to The Plain Road, where the Community Reform Temple stands.
"You kind of hope there'd be at least understanding and respect," said Viki DeJong, a local civic activist who has been a member of the Community Reform Temple for about 30 years. "To realize that this is not anything other than an act of hatred, it's just very upsetting."
This week is an especially sensitive one for Jews, Cohen-Rosenberg said, since Nov. 9 marks the anniversary of Kristallnacht, the night of broken glass, the first organized act of violence by the Nazis against the Jews. "It hurts, it's frightening," Cohen-Rosenberg said. "Jews have long historical memories, so it's hard not to immediately [remember] the terrible instances in the past."
Though anti-Semitic acts of vandalism are few and far between, this is not the first time something like this has happened to the Community Reform Temple. "The front window was smashed ... this had happened many years ago," DeJong said. "It was definitely an anti-Semitic incident."
About seven or eight years ago, some anti-Semitic graffiti was scrawled in front of the temple in chalk, and another window was broken about five years ago around the Jewish holiday Sukkot, Cohen-Rosenberg said.
When DeJong first moved in, she said, Salisbury was about 50 percent Jewish, though their numbers have since declined. "Over the years, it's become more diverse, which is something I always viewed as a plus for any neighborhood," she said, pointing out that Salisbury on the whole has been a great place to live. "I'm sure we have a number of bigots, but they're not vocal or upfront."
Cohen-Rosenberg plans to address the incidents at the upcoming Shabbat services, and said that the temple's president is going to e-mail congregants about possibly starting a temple watch. "We're not going to sweep this under the rug," she said. "We're going to pursue it to the point that it can be pursued."
In the meantime, police said they will keep a closer eye on the neighborhood. "We're not getting into specifics, but we're going to be paying closer attention to that area," Shapiro said. He also noted that in incidents such as these, where evidence is scarce, police rely on eyewitnesses to come forward. "There's very little to go on -- all you have is broken glass," he said. "We rely on the public to assist us if they see or hear anything."
If the perpetrator or perpetrators are caught and it is determined that the incidents were bias-related, that will bump any subsequent criminal mischief charges up a degree, Shapiro said.
Anyone with information should call Crime Stoppers at (800) 244-TIPS. All callers will remain anonymous.
