Police were called Sunday morning to Temple Emanuel after antisemitic materials were found on one of its outside doors. Here is John Wittkowski from the Grand Rapids Police Department.
“Somebody had glued two neo-nazi, anti-Semite posters to the glass doors of the building. We believe the crime or the event actually occurred somewhere between eight o clock Saturday evening.”
Although this is the first time something like this has happened at Temple Emanuel according to the President Edi Landman antisemitism in Michigan and across the country is on the rise.
The Anti-Defamation League which tracks allegations of antisemitic acts in the U.S., says there were nearly 1,900 such incidents in 2018. In Michigan alone, the number of white supremacist and antisemitic incidents reported rose from 35 in 2017 to 51 last year.
“If you are not the “perfect white person”, if you are anything but that “perfect person” you can be the subject of this kind of hate.”
Doug Kindschi is the head of the Kaufman Interfaith Institute. He says actions like what happened at Temple Emanuel this past weekend happens when one community attempts to blame another for their experienced hardship or oppression.
“It’s a human characteristic that we see it sometimes from the highest level of our country to petty disagreements within small communities. This idea that you can blame someone rather than trying to correct and make like better for everyone.”
While GRPD doesn’t yet have any leads regarding the incident, they have increased their patrolling of the area.
Michelle Jokisch Polo, WGVU News.