Dozens of cars, homes tagged with anti-Semitic graffiti in San Antonio Jewish community

A Northwest Side community woke Wednesday morning to anti-Semitic vandalism. A Northwest Side community woke Wednesday morning to anti-Semitic vandalism. Photo: Courtesy Of Leslie Komet Ausburn Photo: Courtesy Of Leslie Komet Ausburn Image 1 of / 63 Caption Close Dozens of cars, homes tagged with anti-Semitic graffiti in San Antonio Jewish community 1 / 63 Back to Gallery

SAN ANTONIO — A Jewish community on the North Side woke to widespread anti-Semitic vandalism Wednesday morning that included spray-painted swastikas, “KKK” lettering and other hateful slurs.

“(We are) saddened and outraged,” said Howard Feinberg, a board member of the Rodfei Sholom Congregation, located near Northwest Military Drive and Huebner Road. “When we were finishing our morning prayers around 7 a.m., we became aware that in the neighborhood around our synagogue, there was a lot of graffiti of the anti-Semitic and racial nature.”

More than 30 cars and homes were tagged with hateful graffiti sometime overnight, according to the San Antonio Police Department.

An anti-Semitic crime has not been reported in San Antonio in the past two years, according to the Anti-Defamation League, a national group that tracks such incidents.

“This is where we walk our children for learning, for synagogue, where families congregate and gather to strengthen their relationship with God and with one another,” said Winslow Swart, another board member at Rodfei Sholom, over the hum of a pressure washer cutting through graffiti.

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Video: Video: Dozens of cars, homes tagged with anti-Semitic graffiti in San Antonio Jewish community

Rabbi Arnold Scheinberg said members of the congregation first noticed a car that appeared to have been broken into, then, they noticed the swastikas.

“Right away, we realized we had this vandalism,” he said, adding that at least one vehicle had a large rock thrown through the driver-side window.

Most of the graffiti was found painted on signs, cars, homes, fences and memorials on Sholom Drive and Sholom Place surrounding the Orthodox synagogue, which serves about 300 families, many of whom live nearby.

More graffiti was found in the Oak Meadow subdivision across Northwest Military, Feinberg said.

Dena Marks, associate director of the Anti-Defamation League, said that while anti-Semitic or racist graffiti is not out of the ordinary in the U.S., Wednesday’s neighborhood-wide vandalism seems to be larger in scale than what is normally reported.

The ADL reported a total of 912 anti-Semitic incidents in the United States in 2014, marking a 21 percent increase from 2013, according to the organization’s 2014 Audit of Anti-Semitic Incidents.

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Last year, there were five total incidents in the ADL’s Southwest Region, which stretches from El Paso to Orange and south to the border, said Marks, who is based in Houston.

She said the ADL has recorded five incidents so far in 2015 in the region, which excludes Austin. The majority of this year's incidents occurred in the Houston area.

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While community members work to wash the hateful messages from their homes and property, Feinberg said they already have their eyes on the future.

“We are cleaning up and moving on,” he said, adding that he hopes those responsible will get help.

“We’d be happy to help you find it,” he said. “If you want to learn a little bit more about the people you hate, we could arrange that, too. (You could) learn more about Jews and people of color so you don’t just hate blindly.”

Kalman Drillick, a 19-year-old visiting from New York said youth gather at the synagogue to study religious texts in the morning, and often play basketball in the afternoon.

As he headed to the court, he said that he had never seen something similar happen in the area.

“It was a little disheartening,” he said. “We saw the car broken into, and it was not such a pretty sight to see. But coming out here later and seeing all the support, all the people and all the friends of the rabbi and friends of the community, it was very nice and consoling to see after seeing such horrifying acts earlier.”

Breaking News Coverage in 2015This interactive map visualizes breaking news incidents covered by the San Antonio Express-News in 2015, from fires and car accidents to violent offenses. By clicking on a marker, readers can see a brief description of the incident, location, date and also a link to the full news story associated with that incident. = violent incident = violent incident = traffic-involved incident = traffic-involved incident = fire = fire = other = other

Swart, a board member of the congregation, said that the community is "very committed to tolerance of diversity.”

“For others to attack us with hatred (is) oxymoronic. We actually want to reach out to these people and help them understand something about values and the communities that we all live in and how to build bonds of trust and friendship and respect, versus being destructive out of ignorance.”

Pastor John Hagee of Cornerstone Church made his way to Rodfei Sholom as soon as he heard of the incident.

“I came over immediately because in this city Christians and Jews are united like no other city in the United States of America. An attack on the synagogue is an attack on every Christian church in this city,” Hagee said, urging San Antonio residents and law enforcement to do everything they can to bring those responsible to justice.

"This criminal and cowardice act has no place in any Texas community," said Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick in a statement. "I denounce the religious persecution that has taken place and I am confident the San Antonio Police Department will find those responsible for the delinquency and hold them accountable."

The San Antonio Police Department is investigating the incident, but has not released details on potential suspects.

“There’s only one remedy for hatred and that’s love,” Scheinberg said. “That’s going to override and overpower the hatred that we have seen.”

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mdwilson@express-news.net

Twitter: @MDWilsonSA