ADL chief pays solidarity visit to Jerusalem Reform synagogue targeted in repeated attacks

The CEO of the Anti-Defamation League attended Friday night services at Kol Haneshama, a Reform synagogue in Jerusalem, and spoke out against the repeated attacks on the synagogue in recent weeks.

Jonathan Greenblatt, who was visiting Israel on the occasion of the third anniversary of the Hamas-led October 7, 2023, onslaught, called the vandalism and harassment of the congregation over the past month “indefensible.”

Kol Haneshama, a synagogue in Jerusalem’s Baka neighborhood, has been attacked four times over the past two months, including during the High Holidays. Three minors have been arrested in connection with the attacks, which have drawn outcry from President Isaac Herzog and Diaspora Jewish leaders.

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Promoted: Identity/Crisis, Oct 7 

On Rosh Hashanah, the synagogue was pelted with eggs, a month after an LGBTQ pride flag was torn and one of the synagogue’s windows was smashed. More attacks occurred surrounding Yom Kippur, when vandals threw a glass plate into the building, where it shattered, and later ripped down a pride flag. Intruders also reportedly brought a dog to the sanctuary and mockingly asked whether it could be given a bar mitzvah ceremony.

Attacks have also been reported recently at other Reform congregations in Israel, raising alarm among community leaders. The incidents have prompted Reform leaders to warn of escalating hostility toward their communities. Haredi politicians also frequently make derogatory comments about Reform Jews.

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Greenblatt attended Friday night services at Kol Haneshama in solidarity with the congregation, along with his son and other ADL employees. He was invited to speak from the pulpit during the service.

After speaking about the pain of the October 7 onslaught, and the subsequent rise in antisemitism around the world, he turned to the vandalism of the synagogue.

“The idea that Jews practicing our faith would be harassed inside the Jewish state, I must confess, it is almost inconceivable to me,” he said. “It is, by any measure, and by any standard, indefensible.”

The US-based ADL, whose focus is combating antisemitism, has an office in Israel and has regularly spoken out in favor of religious pluralism reforms in the country, in addition to condemning physical and verbal attacks on non-Orthodox Judaism.

“No Jew should feel unsafe because of the way they practice Judaism, full stop,” he said. “And I don’t care whether that’s here, or in America, or anywhere else in the world. No congregation should be targeted because it chooses to be inclusive. Full stop. No people should understand more the necessity of inclusion than the Jewish people.”

Later, Greenblatt tweeted a photo of himself at the synagogue, writing, “Your Judaism belongs here. Your community belongs here. You are not alone.”

Last month, Rabbi Rick Jacobs, the CEO of the Union for Reform Judaism, called on Jerusalem Mayor Moshe Lion to condemn the attacks.

“Any single attack should be enough to spur vocal condemnation from you and other authorities,” he wrote in an open letter. “The fact that four such attacks have happened without a single public expression of concern or opposition from you is simply and terribly wrong.”

Zev Stub contributed to this report. 

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