Swastika Spray-Painted on East Hollywood Temple

Congregants arriving at a synagogue in East Hollywood on Saturday were confronted with a swastika and the words “Jews die” spray-painted on the front of the building overnight.

Many of those who attend services at Temple Knesset Israel on Vermont Avenue are elderly Holocaust survivors who were horrified by the act of hatred. Officers from the Los Angeles Police Department’s Northeast station documented the vandalism and notified the department’s criminal conspiracy section.

“I believe its a copycat thing, somebody wants a little press,” said Sgt. Sanford Rosenberg, referring to last week’s shooting at a Jewish community center in Granada Hills.

He said whoever committed the crime would be charged with felony vandalism for defacing a place of worship and would face increased penalties for committing a hate crime. In the temple’s mailbox, officers found a letter that appeared to be anti-British.

“It doesn’t make any sense,” one officer said. The letter was confusing, at times saying the British were going to start interning people, she said.

The temple’s president, Harvey Shield, is British.

Shield said that in light of the incident he will hire a private security guard for the holy days in September. Last week, when congregants suggested increasing security after Tuesday’s shooting, he said he was reluctant to do so. “My initial response was: ‘Let’s not overreact so quickly,’ ” he said. “Now there is no question about it.”

Police said they will step up patrols in the area.

The painted letters, scrawled at the entrance to the preschool, were about six feet high. The doors to the temple have gates in front of them, making it difficult for vandals to reach them, but worshipers could easily see the hateful message as they stepped inside. Shield said about a dozen people saw the swastika.

Police painted over the graffiti Saturday morning, but worshipers were still worried.

“Can we get some protection here for the rest of the morning?” parishioner Frances Miller asked Rosenberg. “I’m afraid to be here now.”

The 61-year-old Los Feliz resident said much of her family had perished during the Holocaust in Poland and her three cousins survived for months by hiding in a hole in a cemetery under a fallen tombstone. She said she broke into tears when she saw the vandalism.

“This could be a warning,” she said, adding that she is always wary of hate crimes. “I don’t like to be in any large groups that could be targeted by a hate group.”