With their steps graffitied and hateful rhetoric sprayed across their hostage sign and steps, Congregation Beth El of Bethesda is the latest victim of antisemitic attacks in the DMV area after vandalism was found on Aug. 20.
“It’s a violation of the community, not only of the congregational community but the Bethesda area,” said Beth El’s Senior Rabbi Greg Harris. “I’m concerned for the crack in the fabric of our sense of community.”
This is the second incident of antisemitic graffiti to occur at the synagogue within the past month. Both incidents of vandalism were antisemetic and hateful towards Israel and the Jewish people.
Beth El congregant Reuben Silberman, the CESJDS High School Math Department Chair, received an email from the synagogue detailing the incident, in addition to texts from friends and family discussing the vandalism.
“I definitely think there’s been support among the community, and I thought the email was good and supportive,” Silberman said.
The graffiti resembled similar language found in other incidents of hate seen in the area, such as graffiti found at the nearby Bethesda Elementary School on Aug. 11. Two separate churches in the Bethesda area had their pride and Black Lives Matter flags torn down on Nov. 13, 2023 and Aug. 11 respectively.
The attack at Beth El represents the recent increase in antisemitism across the country and the world. The ADL reports a 360% increase in antisemitic activity following the Hamas attack on Israel on Oct. 7, 2023.
“My first response (after this vandalism) is not fear for my safety or my kids’ safety,” Silberman said. “I’m concerned for the Jewish people and how we move forward and reckon with these questions, and people have such radically, exceptionally different ideas about the world and the Jewish place in it.”
In addition to Silberman, other members of the JDS community attend Beth El, including junior Jesse Fisher.
“Although I feel safe in my community, [antisemitism] does make me feel like sometimes I need to watch out; … sometimes I have to keep [my Judaism] more a secret, and I have to hide my pride in Judaism,” Fisher said.
In response to the vandalism, Harris sent out an email to local religious leaders, calling for a united stand against hate speech. The letter received signatures from over 100 local Jewish, Muslim, Hindu, Sikh, Christian and Buddhist religious leaders.
“Recurring acts of vandalism in our community have been designed to intimidate the Jewish community and make children and adults feel unsafe,” Harris wrote in his email. “This is unacceptable. The basic concept of ‘loving your neighbor’ is a shared value across Abrahamic faiths (Leviticus 19:18; Mark 12:31; Sahih Muslim 45a: Bk 1, Hadith 77), and many other faith traditions practiced throughout the County.”
These two attacks on the synagogue seen within the past month are two of three that the synagogue has ever experienced. A previous incident of vandalism occurred a decade ago when the synagogue had its Israeli flag torn down and slashed.
Programing has continued at Beth El as usual, with sermons referencing the vandalism.
“The only way to respond is for us to come together as a full community, not only as the Jewish community but as a full community, to say that this level of hate has no place in our community, and there’s a lot of healing that will need to be done down the road,” Harris said.
