Anti-Semitic graffiti has been found on the property of a second Jewish congregation in San Antonio.
Around 10 am Monday morning, a maintenance worker found two grills missing and the words “Jew Jew” spray-painted on to a tool shed around the back of the property of Congregation Agudas Achim.
The synagogue is located less than three miles away from Congregation Rodfei Sholom, located near Northwest Military Drive and Huebner Road. A driver’s side window was smashed on the car of a worshiper at the synagogue, and swastikas, “KKK” and vicious racial slurs were spray-painted on dozens of homes, cars, walls and other surfaces in the area around the synagogue.
Rabbi Arye Scheinberg told reporters, “Our citizens feel alert, but safe. They feel they are surrounded by love of this community.” Security in the area has been beefed up, he added, but did not go into details. Last week the FBI said they had identified “a person of interest” in connection with the attacks but no arrests have been made. On Monday, police said they are pursuing multiple suspects.
“I was already disgusted by what happened at Rodfei Sholom last week,” Rabbi Jeffrey Abraham told MySanAntonio.com . “This hits a little closer to home because it’s at my synagogue. I am just saddened that people would stoop to this level to try to break our community.”
Congregation Agudas Achim was founded in 1889 and serves some 550 families on the north side of San Antonio. It is the second-largest synagogue in the city, after Temple Beth El.
In a statement issued Monday, Texas Governor Greg Abbott called the vandalism an “offensive and disturbing attack on people of all faiths. Religious discrimination has no place in the State of Texas and I have faith that law enforcement spearheading this investigation will redouble their efforts to swiftly bring those responsible to justice.”
