Even though the walls on the surface of the Kerhonkson Synagogue are now blank and clean, hidden underneath a newly-applied coat of paint rests a loaded symbol of hate, which has brought dismay and disgust to a local Jewish community. On August 30, members of the Kerhonkson Synagogue discovered that swastikas and the numbers "666" had been spray painted on the outside of their place of worship, says Synagogue President Goldie Goldberg.

"Someone called me on Saturday morning," she says, leading her to believe that the crime occurred on the Friday night prior. "The voice message said that someone walked into the post office and said there were swastikas on the door of the synagogue."

"I was down with the police for a couple of hours, and then we painted them over. I don't know what the progress of the investigation is…I came down there with a can of paint — I wanted to get rid of it, period, that's it.

"It's very distressing," she adds.

Goldberg has also heard of this kind of hate crime happening to another synagogue in the area.

"It was particularly offensive — I hope they catch the people," she says. "I understand that this is not an isolated incident. I understand there was an incident in Liberty, that they painted the Liberty Synagogue with swastikas."

Synagogue Vice President David Winograd discusses the initial decision to keep the incident from the press, and how after congregants vocalized their wishes to make the public aware of the situation, the information became publicized, ensuring that members of the local community know about the crimes that have been committed, and to remain vigilant in terms of watching out for repeat instances.

"Goldie's thought was that we should keep it quiet and out of the papers, because of the copycat syndrome," he says. "However many, many congregants said, 'we definitely want to see this in the community; we want people to know about it.'"

Apparently, such vandalism has been visited on the walls of the Kerhonkson Synagogue in the past.

"The same thing happened eight years ago…nasty words and swastikas painted on the wall," recalls Winograd. "At that time, I believe that a couple of teenaged kids ended up being caught."

The Ulster County Sheriff Department's Captain Mike Freer offers some information about the procedure the police conduct in cases like this.

"We did a neighborhood canvas, and talked to people at the synagogue," he says. "There's nothing promising yet, but we think that possibly it was kids. There's been no other communication with the synagogue from any group or anything like that… no one has reported receiving any other discriminatory literature or anything like that.

"There's not really too much else we can do," he adds.

Captain Freer says that oftentimes cases such as these don't progress "unless you get an eyewitness or you hear chatter while you're investigating something else."

"These are tough, unless you have a witness or if you get information later," he says. "Like if they brag, or if somebody says, 'I know who did this.'"

If you have any information about the incident, call the Ulster County Sheriff's Department at 338-3640 and ask to speak with Detective Debra Montgomery.

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