Residents of Highland Park, a small New Jersey community with a sizable Jewish population, awoke this morning to find the front windows of five Jewish-owned businesses dotting the city's mile-long main street broken and shattered. The Middlesex County town has had an eruv since 1978, designed to accommodate observant Jews during Shabbat, which now encircles the neighboring towns of Edison and New Brunswick.
At 1 a.m. Wednesday morning, Avi Reiss, owner of Trio Gifts, a Judaica shop on Raritan Avenue in Highland Park received a phone call from the police saying a window of his shop had been broken. Someone launched a piece of pavement through the store's large front window, shattering it entirely, Reiss—who had been manning the store since that early-morning call—explained over the phone as the wind tore through the gaping hole.
Rabbi Ed Prince, the mashgaich responsible for overseeing the kosher cooking at Jerusalem Pizza, arrived at the Raritan Avenue pizzeria at 7:30 a.m to a broken window, and noticed several other damaged storefronts over a five-block commercial stretch. Also hit was kosher restaurant Park Place and Judaica Gallery. Jack's Hardware, which is Jewish-owned, sustained a broken window. Other visibly Jewish establishments, such as a kosher Chinese restaurant, kosher butcher, and jewelry store, were not damaged.
The Wednesday morning attacks occurred only days after a brick was thrown through the window of the nearby Rutgers Hillel Saturday night, which Hillel executive director Andrew Getraer—who lives in Highland Park—said broke a computer and shattered glass across the office, and which is being investigated by the police. Further troubling for Getraer, who saw the Raritan Avenue damage on his way to work Wednesday, a Rutgers student active in the Jewish student community, who wears a yarmulke, was allegedly confronted in Highland Park's kosher Dunkin' Donuts Tuesday night by a man who identified himself as a neo-Nazi and referenced Kristallnacht—the night the Nazis destroyed Jewish-owned shops—while being thrown out by employees. The incident was reported to the police, as well as the university and the Anti-Defamation League.
"We are appalled by the targeting of Jewish stores and Jewish campus institutions at Rutgers," said an ADL regional leader. "These shocking crimes target the entire Jewish community as these locations appear to have been selected because of their Jewishness.
I reported this to the press and have the police actively protecting Jewish institutions in Edison and Highland park.
Some people feel the need to distract from the subject and point to Israel instead. Deeply ignorant.
Deeply dismally cyclical…your failure to notice shows shallowness and thus a depth of ignorance, so of and on that aspect there is little difference of opinion.
Anti-semitism is up 28% since last year in the New York area. Bad economic times unleash the crazies-but as my late father always said, "Don't kid yourself, it can happen here". The religious right, which claims to love Israel is also a hot bed of gun toting lunatics. Maybe its time that Jews also armed themselves.
This is small potatoes compared to what the Israelis are doing to the Palestinians. And yes, Jews that support the policies of the Israel government are guilty of the same crimes.
high unemployment, high prices, recession, of course anti semitism is next. what was germany like just before the nazis took over. Jews prepare and beware. Do not be shocked or surprised read our history.
David-do you have a copy of your local yellow pages?-check the listings for psychaitrists What does this have to do with Israel and Palestinans and whom Jews support? Jews are as free to express opinions as anyoine else. Do you have a problem with that? I don't know if you are Jewish or not but I do know that you are a fool at best and a hater at worst.
Jules is an Iranian paid blogger. The moderator should take care and throw him out from this blog.
Report Jules the paid Iranian blogger. Ask the moderator to throw out his comments.
Israel is giving 100 million dollars to the Palestinian authority to keep them alive. Is that you refer "Israel doing to the Palestinians"? Giving them jobs and money.
I do keep close abreast of cultural and political world affairs, thank you for your friendly concern Phillip.
Not a hate crime A mentally challenged soul Who needs help Mr. Green is a poor Jewish male with a long history of mental illness. his serious mental illness are not made public. He needs help and perhaps there is a mental institution where he can get help. This is the second day that the media intentionally or unintentionally misinform people by omitting critical facts from the story.