Delivered to the Young Israel Synagogue of Bal Harbour, according to reports, was a DVD, a photo of someone pointing a gun and anti-Semitic writing.
By JNS
A package containing anti-Semitic and threatening content was received at the Young Israel of Bal Harbour Synagogue, near Miami Beach on Monday.
Inside the package was a DVD, a photo of someone pointing a gun and anti-Semitic writing, sources told COLLIVE.
Police are investigating the incident.
“It must be known that the Jewish community will NOT cower in fear. We stand strong, united and proud,” Bal Harbour Mayor Gabriel Groisman tweeted.
Just a day earlier, an 68-year-old Jewish man was shot multiple times in front of the Young Israel of Greater Miami, in North Miami Beach.
The victim, Yosef Lipschutz, has had multiple surgeries and is in stable condition. The perpetrator is at large, and police have yet to determine if the shooting was an antisemitic hate crime.
The e shooting has shaken the close-knit, Orthodox community of North Miami While Rabbi Mark Rosenber of the Young Israel of Greater Miami said the shooting isn’t comparable to the fatal attacks on synagogues in Pittsburgh and Poway, California this year, he can’t help but see a pattern.
“Because it was a shul, and because of all the antisemitism going on in the world today, we almost got used to it that we no longer feel comfortable in our own shul,” said Rosenberg, who is not Young Israel’s pulpit rabbi. “People are having these thoughts: Look how easy it is for it to happen. Look how simple it is for someone to come with a gun and start shooting up people.”
Police have tried to find all possible security camera footage of the shooter. On Monday, a team of 10 to 15 detectives went house to house asking if people had tapes of the attack. And even though it has not officially been classified as a hate crime,
Rosenberg said police are treating it like one: Police have stepped up patrols around all of the neighborhood’s synagogues, and have stationed a police officer outside the Young Israel whenever it is having services. Police have deployed a specially trained team to deal with the shooting’s aftermath.