Incident Videotaped : Temple Solael in West Hills Defaced Again

A West Hills synagogue, which was the site of three vandalism attacks and a burglary this year, was defaced again late Monday, authorities said.

A videotape from an electronic surveillance system installed outside Temple Solael on Valley Circle Drive showed two youths prying off letters from a sign attached to a wall, said Eva Gladstone, office manager.

The brass-lettered sign read: “Temple Solael. Seek Peace and Pursue It.”

A lock on the door of a supply shed was broken and a door leading to an administrative office was also tampered with, said Los Angeles Police Officer Jim Noll. A patrolling security service reported that a newspaper bin had been overturned and newspapers strewn across the parking lot.

Authorities have no leads, but hope to find more clues to the attack from studying the videotape, said Detective Fred Duitsman.

The damage to the temple, which occurred about 11 p.m., was estimated at more than $2,000, Gladstone said.

“I know there are a lot of animals out there, but isn’t it time they go to another cage?” said Rabbi Bernard M. Cohen.

“It’s a very heavy-hearted feeling to come down here and see your building desecrated this way,” Cohen said. “It’s a desecration of the community. This temple belongs to everybody in the community.”

The vandalism occurred less than a week after a tool shed at the synagogue was burglarized, he said. Two Canoga Park youths were arrested about 30 minutes after the midnight break-in Thursday and have been charged with burglary, Duitsman said.

Authorities said they believe Monday’s attack was not anti-Semitic in nature.

“I can’t help but think that if had been some kind of anti-Jewish group, they would have been much more thorough,” Duitsman said. “A racial group would have put a swastika or a hate sign on there and there was nothing like that.”

The synagogue was vandalized in May and June, Gladstone said. The outside walls, doors and signs were spray-painted with obscenities and anti-Semitic slogans. Over the summer, youths slashed the tires of several cars parked in the temple lot, she said.

The four-camera surveillance system, which cost about $17,000, was donated by a non-Jewish family who had heard about a previous attack, Cohen said.