More Than 100 Headstones Toppled at Philadelphia Jewish Cemetery
July 31, 2015More than 100 headstones were toppled at a historic Jewish cemetery in Philadelphia, NBC Philadelphia reported on Friday.
According to the report, the groundskeeper of the Adath Jeshurun Cemetery arrived around 6:00 a.m. Thursday to the burial ground to find dozens of grave markers knocked down.
“The thought went through my mind, ‘this is a disgrace for somebody to do something like this,'” the groundskeeper, Johnny Gibson, who has worked at the cemetery for 44 years, told NBC Philadelphia.
The vandals knocked down 124 headstones, but didn’t leave any marking or graffiti, Gibson said.
Some graves on the 12-acre property date back 160 years and there are only a few new burials each year now, he added. On many days, neighbors use the cemetery as a shortcut.
Gibson said that he can’t recall anyone ever desecrating grave sites over the past decades.
“I don’t know who would do it,” he told NBC Philadelphia. “Were the people on drugs? Were they drunk? I don’t know. But you wouldn’t be in your right mind, I don’t think, to do something like this.”
While the nature of the incident is not yet clear, anti-Semitism has been on the rise in the United States, with a 21% increase overall in 2014, according to a damning Anti-Defamation League (ADL) report released in March.
In April, shots were fired outside of a synagogue in Nashville, Tennessee. No one was hurt.
In late March, two Jewish teenagers were attacked with paintballs in Brooklyn as they were coming home from synagogue with their grandfather. Several weeks earlier, the car of a rabbi in the city of Dallas was vandalized with a swastika.
Earlier in the year, some 30 homes were spray-painted with swastikas and anti-Semitic expressions in Madison, Wisconsin.
And in an incident in Texas, a judge was reprimanded in May for offensive comments against a Jewish attorney
(Arutz Sheva’s North American desk is keeping you updated until the start of Shabbat in New York. The time posted automatically on all Arutz Sheva articles, however, is Israeli time.)
Similar posts
-
Israel Is Held To A Higher Standard Than Any Country
April 25, 2024In the intricate tapestry of global affairs, one nation stands out for enduring scrutiny and condem...
-
Israel Has The Most Moral Military In The World
April 10, 2024In the heart of a region often riddled with conflict, Israel stands out not only for its technologi...
-
The Resilience of the Israeli People
April 2, 2024Visitors from around the world have seen Hamas's October 7th Massacre's destruction in southern Isr...
-
Israel: Small Size, Big Impact
March 21, 2024Nestled along the eastern edge of the Mediterranean Sea, Israel is a land of immense historical sig...
-
Israelis Are Fighting For Their Lives
February 21, 2024By Jonathan S. Tobin The world looks a lot different from Kibbutz Kfar Aza than it does in the U...
-
Over 2 Million Arabs Live In Israel
January 23, 2024In the complex landscape of the Middle East, where diverse cultures and identities intersect, Israe...
-
'Fauda' Star Idan Amedi Injured Fighting in Gaza
January 8, 2024Despite the severity of his injuries, Amedi's father assured Israeli news channels that his life is...
-
Israel Is A Great Country To Live In
December 28, 2023Nestled at the crossroads of the Middle East, Israel stands as a vibrant and dynamic nation, offeri...