3rd Temple Is Defaced in Hanukkah Vandalism : Anti-Semitism: A worker at the Ventura synagogue scares off a man spray-painting slurs on the walls.

In the third attack on a Jewish temple this week, Temple Beth Torah in Ventura was defaced by a nocturnal vandal who spray-painted slurs linking Jews to the Antichrist.

Maintenance manager Roque Sanchez, who lives on the grounds, said he was making rounds in his truck about 10 p.m. Wednesday when he scared off a man painting black letters on the temple school.

“When I put on my bright lights, there he was writing on the walls,” Sanchez said Thursday. The man scrawled “6 Points, 6 Sides and 6 Triangles”--referring to the Jewish star of David--before he fled, Sanchez said. The number 666 sometimes is associated with the Antichrist.

The vandal may have been trying to write the same anti-Semitic slurs that were left on two Thousand Oaks synagogues on the eve of the eight-day Hanukkah celebration, law enforcement officials said.

Ventura Police Detective Jeff Killion, who investigates hate crimes directed against religious and ethnic minorities, said the attack on Temple Beth Torah may have been triggered by the Jewish holiday, which began Tuesday.

“It’s just the kind of thing that stirs up people’s hate,” Killion said.

Buildings at Temple Adat Elohim and Temple Etz Chaim in Thousand Oaks were spray-painted with biblical citations from the New Testament depicting them as synagogues of Satan.

Both synagogues were desecrated with the same phrase painted on Temple Beth Torah, the Jewish Star of David and the words “The Anti-Christ’s Symbol.” On Temple Etz Chaim, the vandal added the message, “Jews are Satan’s Chosen.”

In each case, the vandal chose a dimly lighted area away from streets and parking lots.

Although the markings have since been erased on the two Thousand Oaks synagogues, they have left an indelible impression on Jewish leaders, who condemned such acts as hate crimes committed by racial bigots.

After noting a similarity in the graffiti, Ventura County Sheriff’s Detective Scott Miller contacted the Ventura Police Department on Thursday to get help in identifying the vandal.

Ventura police may be helpful in identifying a suspect if he lives in Ventura but commits crimes in other parts of the county, Miller said. Miller also plans to interview known vandals in the Thousand Oaks area.

“Very seldom do we get any suspect information at the scene,” he said. “We have to work on the leads we have.”

It is the third time that Temple Beth Torah has been attacked this year. In March, bullets pierced a sign at the temple, and in July, a building was spray-painted with the letters “ZOG,” a reference to Zionist Official Government, an anti-Semitic reference used by white supremacists, Sanchez said.

Temple Beth Torah workers said they were stunned to learn that their school was defaced.

“We’re really upset,” secretary Nessa Memberg said.

Sanchez said he will leave the vandal’s markings on the school until Sunday as a lesson for Jewish students who attend religious classes and others who will be at a special Hanukkah celebration that day.

“I’m leaving it until Sunday so they can see what’s going on in the world,” he said.