As a Target of Hate, a Brooklyn Community Reflects a Nation in Crisis

By Hannah Grossman

On Nov. 3, a group of teenagers threw a metal pipe through the window of a synagogue near Myrtle and Franklin Avenues, police said.

Community members were unsure if the incident was hate-motivated or not. Later video footage emerged that showed the same nefarious teens harassing a Hasidic Jew right before they damaged the synagogue.

“The community is extremely concerned (and) we share and mourn the pain from Pittsburgh,” a community leader of the district, Rabbi Abe Friedman, said.

“In reality, people of all religions always felt safe in houses of worship. Now people feel vulnerable for another attack,” he said.

Friedman is trying come up with a bunch of solutions to protect synagogues and to see what can he do to make law enforcement more familiar with the needs of houses of worship.

Politicians such as Mayor Bill de Blasio have said that synagogues do not need guns. Friedman agrees with the mayor that houses of worship are no places for guns but he feels that enhanced security has become necessary.

“I have to agree that a house of worship is nowhere for a person with a gun to belong but unfortunately people are holding back from prayer, and if they do go they are having anxiety attacks,” he said.

The NYPD’s resources are limited. “There is no way every shul would have a police officer to guard their security,” he said. Relying solely on the NYPD, according to Friedman, is “absolutely not realistic.”

The police have yet to investigate the damage as a hate-crime, although a resident who does not wish to be named said that animosity towards Jews in the neighborhood is commonplace. He went so far as to say that he understands why Hitler went after the Jews. “I think he was 110 percent wrong but I understand,” he said.