PHOTO BY BOB ROCHE
Congregants line up to throw water on the Shirat Hayam sign, representing a spiritual cleansing for the community.
BY BRIDGET TURCOTTE
SWAMPSCOTT — The community stood together against violence and hatred at Congregation Shirat Hayam Thursday evening.
Heart-shaped Palestinian flag stickers were found on the synagogue’s Atlantic Avenue sign Sunday.
Members of the congregation, rabbis from neighboring communities, and residents gathered around the sign, where the paint chipped when the stickers were removed.
Rabbi Michael Ragozin led the ceremony, calling the vandalism “an act of anti-Semitism.”
Ragozin said in attacking Shirat Hayam, the vandal substituted American Jews for Israel, which he said matches the modern definition of anti-Semitism.
“It essentially accuses Jewish people for situations that exist between the Israelis and the Palestinians,” Ragozin said. “It is anti-Semitism, plain and simple. It’s important that we stand together and we say ‘no more’ to anti-Semitism, and we say ‘no more’ to human hatred.”
Ragozin said he is grateful the act was only an attack on property, not on a person. But he said that when small hate crimes slip through the cracks, it leaves the door open for bigger ones.
“The murder of 49 people weighs a lot heavier on my heart than this,” said Ragozin, referring to the Orlando tragedy which left 49 people dead and 53 wounded. “But that doesn’t remove our responsibility for drawing attention and awareness. Hate crimes on a much smaller scale happen locally. We don’t want to be silent. We can see the deadly results in Orlando.”
Melissa Galick, Northeast civil rights area counsel for the Anti-Defamation League, said it’s a concern to see synagogues increasingly targeted.
Regardless of the intent of the vandalism, the message is one of intimidation, she said.
“It’s important that we constantly keep in mind that we can’t let incidents of intimidation become mainstream and tolerated,” she said. “I’m proud of these leaders and all of you for coming together.”
The group came together through music and performed a purifying Tahara ritual. The Hebrew term refers to ritual “impurity and purity” under Jewish law.
Translated to English, they sang “Oh, what a wonderful world it would be, if we could all live like brothers.”
Each person participated by splashing water that’s kosher for purification onto the sign.
Diane Levin, executive director of the synagogue, explained that the ritual restores the equilibrium.
Rabbi David Meyer of Temple Emanu-El in Marblehead said seeing the group come together speaks volumes, and that together, good people can make a difference against violence and hatred.
“If we keep silent, we only allow hatred to continue,” Ragozin said.
Bridget Turcotte can be reached at [email protected]
