Less than a week after hate speech was written on a synagogue wall in Meiers Corners, nearly 100 Staten Islanders, including religious and community leaders, gathered at a unity rally on Tuesday to denounce hate and encourage peace and kindness.
The graffiti was discovered on the side of the building Thursday morning, the eve of Lag B’Omer, a Jewish holiday celebrating unity and freedom from persecution.
The words, “synagogue of Satan,” were written on the Chabad of Staten Island, while across the street, the letters “SOS” were written on the Yeshiva Zichron Paltiel of Staten Island, referencing the aforementioned phrase.
The words “synagogue of Satan” were visible from Bradley Avenue, written on the synagogue attached to the Chabad located on Harold Street.
Residents and members of the Jewish community were joined by local elected officials, NYPD Assistant Chief Kenneth Corey, borough commander of Staten Island, and the Staten Island Hate Crimes Task Force.
Rabbi Moshe Katzman told the crowd that when he first learned of the graffiti on Thursday morning, he wanted to keep the vandalism quiet, and not make it a big deal.
After people started to reach out to him, and photos of the hate speech spread on social media, he made the decision to use this hateful crime as a way to spread kindness.
“For every act of evil, we need to double and re-double our acts of kindness and this is the only way we can continue our life,” said Rabbi Moshe Katzman. “All we want to do is help another person, it doesn’t matter who you are and what you are, what you look like, male, female, black, white, Spanish, Chinese. It’s irrelevant.”
He continued: “It shouldn’t just be, ‘Oh, it’s only graffiti.’ No. This graffiti on the walls is going to show us and teach us that we, a handful of Staten Islanders, the forgotten borough, isn’t forgotten. We woke up. Sometimes they call us the bedroom community. We’re waking up. And we will show the world we can get together. Look at this room. It’s a Tuesday morning, look at this room. And we are going to do the right thing and I don’t know exactly how to do this, but we got to do it.”
Rep. Max Rose, District Attorney Michael McMahon, Borough President James Oddo, Assemblymembers Michael Cusick, Nicole Malliotakis and Michael Reilly, and Councilmembers Joseph Borelli and Steve Matteo, spoke at the unity rally to encourage kindness and push back against hate.
To further condemn anti-Semitism, elected officials painted over the hate speech on the side of synagogue, using supplies provided by Matteo’s Clean Team and Dennis McKeon of local non-profit Where to Turn.
During the rally, Rose said that Staten Island is one borough and one family — defined by the rabbis, imams, pastors and civic leaders of the community.
“It’s important that we condemn anti-Semitism today,” Rose said. “I say that as a Jew, I say that as your congressman. But I also ask, as Rabbi Katzman alluded to, that we carry on with the full knowledge that we as a people are so much better than this.”
We must never let those who seek to divide through hatred win.
We are one borough, one family. We are stronger when we all stand together.
Proud to stand in unity against the acts of anti-Semitism at Chabad of Staten Island. pic.twitter.com/aDkAJ9Cbrq
— Rep. Max Rose (@RepMaxRose) May 28, 2019
ולאחיו יאמר חזק, מחיל אל חיל בטוב הנראה והנגלה