fbpx

Grand Rapids, Michigan Synagogue’s Doors Plastered With Hate Posters

[additional-authors]
October 16, 2019
Photo from Wikimedia Commons.

(JTA) — The doors of a synagogue in Grand Rapids, Michigan were plastered with posters described by police as anti-Semitic.

Rabbi Michael Schadick of Temple Emanuel discovered the posters on Sunday morning, prior to the start of Sunday School at the synagogue.

Local media did not report the contents of the posters. But photos of the posters were disseminated on social media and reported by the Jerusalem Post. One of the posters features an image of Adolf Hitler with the words “Did you forget about me?” A second calls for a “crusade against Semite-led subhumans.”

The synagogue is holding its regular activities, including Sunday School and programming for the Sukkot holiday.

“Standing in solidarity with our Jewish friends and neighbors. And standing united in rejecting these acts of hatred and anti-Semitism,” Grand Rapids Mayor Rosalynn Bliss tweeted.

A Facebook message from the synagogue read in part: “Today, we need your compassion, caring, strength and protection. Today, please stand united with us and ensure hate crimes end in our city. Love must win.”

Grand Rapids Police are investigating the incident as a hate crime.

Less than a month ago, swastikas and the symbol of the Nazi SS were painted on the outside of a historic synagogue in the northern Michigan city of Hancock.

Cary Fleischer, Michigan Democratic Jewish Caucus Grand Rapids chair and member of Temple Emanuel, said in a statement issued by the group, that “it is high time that all of us, as Americans, come together and speak out against these acts of hate, which afflict so many of our communities. We must work together to bring kindness and respect for our differences back to our country.”

Did you enjoy this article?
You'll love our roundtable.

Editor's Picks

Latest Articles

Doubling Down on Who We Are

There is something in this people, covenanted to justice, to memory, to one another, that is impossible to extinguish.

We Are Upset Because We Can Read

Americans – and Israelis in particular – are not reacting to spin, or to partisan framing, or to media distortions. They are reacting to the text of the agreement itself, and to what has followed it.

Print Issue: A Time-Out for Gratitude | June 26, 2026

America’s 250th birthday arrives at a time when things have been especially lousy for Jews. But gratitude is a great Jewish value, so we’ve created a very special birthday present: an e-book with 250 reasons to be grateful for America.

Bye-Bye Bluebird: A Greek Summer with an Israeli Twist

Wandering through narrow streets filled with cafés, restaurants and small boutique shops, it was easy to understand why so many Israeli visitors fall in love with Greece and keep coming back or simply stay permanently.

Did Hamas Accomplish Its Oct. 7 Goal?

The Hamas supporters have managed, at least for now, to turn American elected officials and a large portion of the American population against one of its foremost allies.

The Politics of War

Trump’s biggest headache will be Netanyahu, his erstwhile ally who now recognizes that continued loyalty to the American leader would cost him his own reelection this fall.

There Would Be No America Without Jerusalem

America is not modern Israel’s creator, and Israel is not America’s dependent. The two nations have influenced one another and benefited from one another, but the deepest roots of that relationship predate them both.

More news and opinions than at a Shabbat dinner, right in your inbox.