A large plate glass window was shattered at Chabad of Bushwick on Flushing Avenue, NBC News reported Saturday night. Rbbi Menachem Heller, the emissary to Chabad Of Bushwick – East Williamsburg, walked across the street and asked people to call 911 because, as an observant Jews, he didn’t have his phone on his person on Shabbat. He finally flagged down police officers.
“Last night we experienced a painful attack on our Synagogue and our Bushwick community,” Rabbi Heller wrote on his Facebook page early Sunday morning. “Our community was seated around the table, enjoying each other’s company and the peace and joy of the Shabbat, when our front window was shattered and destroyed by attackers, [only a few] feet from where my children were playing.”
“Together with my wife, children, and our members, we’ve built a strong and diverse congregation in Bushwick that unites Jews of all ages and backgrounds in celebrating our faith and spreading the warmth of our traditions. Last night was a wonderful example,” Heller explained. “Thank God no one was injured but we easily could have been. We thank the police department for their quick response and their ongoing investigation.”
The city has seen a sharp increase in reported hate crimes so far in 2019, the NYPD said.
Police reported it had investigated 42 hate crimes, most of them anti-Semitic, through Feb. 4, compared with only 19 over the same period last year.
“Despite the intentions of this attack to divide and intimidate, our doors will remain as open as ever, welcoming visitors to join our growing Bushwick family,” Rabbi Heller wrote. “We are determined, God willing, to share many years of celebrations and achievements together with the wider Bushwick community.”
