Lima, Ohio – A synagogue in Lima, Ohio, was shot up with bullets.
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At least two dozen bullet holes were discovered in the windows of Temple Beth Israel-Shaare Zedek on Shabbat, according to the congregation’s part-time rabbi, Howie Stein, who reported the vandalism in a Facebook post.
“Friday night, we prayed in a sanctuary with three bullet holes in its windows,” Stein wrote. “Services followed a potluck supper, in a social hall with a minyan of holes in its windows, brought out from a kitchen with twice as many holes in its window. Shabbat morning we found three more holes in the upstairs classrooms, no longer used because of the shrinking and aging nature of the congregation. Thankfully, nobody was in the building at the time, and the damage, while emotionally and physically extensive, was not more significant.”
The rabbi said he called on the congregation to use Shabbat to “focus inward, on our own rest and renewal. We must not allow those who hate, and those who act on their hate, to deter us from our cherished beliefs and practices.”
Stein travels to the synagogue, a merged Reform and Conservative congregation, twice a month from his home in Pittsburgh to minister to the congregation. His profile picture on Facebook is the Pittsburgh Steelers “Stronger than Hate” logo, created after the attack on the Tree of Life synagogue building that killed 11 worshippers.
Lima is in northwest Ohio, between Toledo and Dayton.
In 1975, there were large swatiskas painted on a synagogue in Bexley, Ohio. Only a few years ago, there was another swastiska painted on a street sign, which was very close to another Bexley, Ohio synagogue. There are a lot of rednecks and anti-semites in Bexley, and the Columbus area, even among so-called educated gentiles.
The local police are describing the damage as coming from a BB gun. No bullet holes.
To #2 - What the hell difference does it make if the damage came from a BB gun, or from a bullet? A person can have his windows shattered by a BB gun, and can also lose his eyesight from a BB! Why do you minimize and downplay such an act of vandalism and hate? If such a despicable crime occurred to a mosque, near where you live, the Saudi authorities, would take swift action against the perpetrators.
So #3, you see no difference between bullets and BBs? That is very odd. You should learn about weapons.
In any case, the local police are saying it is just the sort of random nonsense that happens where the local kids like to shoot at stuff with their toys.