A man stands at the plywood-covered entrance of the Beth Rambam synagogue in Cote St-Luc in Montreal on Monday, January 17, 2011. The synagogue was one of several Jewish locations that were vandalized late Saturday night.
_ Photograph by: Dario Ayala, THE GAZETTE
***
The attacks of vandalism this weekend on five Jewish institutions in Montreal are a disgrace. It is outrageous that a community in this city cannot go about its normal life without having to be worried that it might at any time be the object of a gratuitous, hateful and violent attack.
Montreal's Jewish community has reacted with admirable composure to these latest incidents, in which rocks were thrown through the windows of synagogues, a school and a daycare centre. Rabbi Reuben Poupko, chairman of Montreal's Jewish Community Security Co-ordinating Committee, said the attacks would not "determine how the Jewish community behaves or gathers for prayer or for study."
Such an attack is "not the end of the world, but it's not the way the world should be," said Rabbi Chaim Steinmetz of the Tigereth Beth David Jerusalem Synagogue in Cote St. Luc, one of the vandalized buildings. In an interview with CBC, Steinmetz added, "I think as Jews we've developed a defence mechanism when an act of anti-Semitism is relatively small. We kind of shrug it off."
Montrealers should not shrug this incident off, however. It was a co-ordinated, planned attack. We do not want to be a place where vandals feel they can attack the institutional existence of fellow citizens with impunity, for some kind of twisted thrill or political posturing.
As a city, Montreal's record of anti-Semitic acts is already charged. The last thing it needs are new entries, although sadly there has been no shortage of them. Last March, Ahavas Yisroel Viznitz Synagogue in Outremont was defaced with swastikas. Also last year, Young Israel of Chomedey synagogue in Laval sustained extensive damage when vandals caused an oil leak, contaminating the site.
In 2007, the Ben Wieder Jewish community centre was firebombed, and a few months earlier, the Skver-Toldos Orthodox Jewish Boys School. Two men were convicted in the attacks; one was sentenced to seven years in prison, the other to four. Police found letters in which the men claimed to be acting on behalf of Islamic Jihad.
One of the most shocking attacks was the 2004 firebombing of United Talmud Torah elementary school. More than 15,000 books were destroyed in the fire, which was allegedly in response to Israel's killing of a Hamas leader. Two Montreal men were charged; one was convicted and sentenced to two years in jail.
These convictions are a positive sign in an otherwise bleak picture. But the fact remains that these acts are far too common. It is shameful that there are those who would carry out such acts against other Montrealers, people with whom they share not only a civic space, but a life. What they do not share, tragically, are values of freedom and tolerance and respect.
Read more: http://www.montrealgazette.com/news/Editorial+Anti+Semitic+attacks+disgrace+Montreal/4124224/story.html#ixzz1BPOtYDYV