Reform synagogue defaced, movement's leaders threatened

The Kehilat Raanan Reform synagogue in the central Israeli city of Raanana was vandalized Thursday.

Alongside hate graffiti referencing Bible verses saying that evil people have no place in the world to come, were three envelopes bearing the words "Maimonides, the Laws of Murder." A knife and the names of three Reform leaders -- Anat Hoffman, director of Women of the Wall and executive director of the Israel Religious Action Center; Gilad Kariv, executive director of the Israel Movement for Reform and Progressive Judaism; and Rabbi Rick Jacobs, president of the Union for Reform Judaism, the congregational arm of the Reform movement in North America -- were found at the scene.

The Israel Police have launched an investigation into the threats.

The incident prompted a wave of condemnations.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said: "I strongly condemn the graffiti discovered this morning at the Reform synagogue in Raanana. Such acts have no place in our free society."

Kariv said: "The repeated attacks on the synagogue in Raanana prove that we aren't talking about an isolated incident, but a violent phenomenon that must be handled seriously and thoroughly. On the public and educational level, 'price tag' attacks [like this] will not stop us from serving a public of thousands of families in Raanana who are interested in tolerant, egalitarian Judaism."

He called on the Orthodox rabbis of the city and the city elders to come to the synagogue to send a clear message of protest.

"In recent weeks, the Reform Movement headquarters has been contacted by residents of four new communities in the Sharon region who are interested in establishing Reform synagogues there. This is our answer to those terrorists who respect neither the law nor God," Kariv said.

Hoffman called the knife left at the scene "the direct result of the evil winds blowing against the implementation of the Western Wall prayer plaza plan [to build an egalitarian prayer space at the Western Wall] on the part of the heads of the haredi parties and haredi rabbis, who do everything they can against anyone who is different from them. The threat of murder is meant to scare and stop us, but our spirit won't break. We'll continue to protect the women of Israel from the winds of hatred and discrimination that are blowing unchecked in Israel."

Kehilat Raanan Rabbi Tamar Kolberg said, "It's hard to grasp how shocking the sight of the graffiti that has marred the building's facade is. The shock is even worse when you read the quotes on the wall."

The Beit Hillel rabbinical association condemned the vandalism, saying: "Acts like these go against the foundations of the Torah. They do nothing to honor God, they just cause a great desecration."

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