Tombstones toppled at Jewish cemetery in New Jersey
4 graves knocked over but not significantly damaged, in apparent act of vandalism at graveyard in Freehold Township
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Four headstones were toppled at a Jewish cemetery in New Jersey over the weekend.
The toppled headstones were discovered on Sunday at the Congregation Agudath Achim Cemetery in Freehold Township in New Jersey. The headstones were pushed over sometime on Saturday or early Sunday morning, according to local reports.
No other acts of vandalism were discovered in the cemetery, the local Asbury Park Press reported. The headstones were not significantly damaged, according to the report.
One of the headstones belonged to a World War II veteran, Michael Berman, executive director of the Freehold Jewish Center, which operates the cemetery, told local media.
“In terms of it being the desecration of a holy space, it is,” Berman told the Asbury Park Press. “Being Jewish, we’re all connected to our history. Our history, unfortunately, has some difficult times in the past and memories that go back to World War II and much farther than that.”
The local chapter of the Anti-Defamation League called on the public to contact authorities if they have any information about the apparent vandalism of the headstones.
We are disturbed by apparent vandalism in a #NJ Jewish cemetery where four headstones were allegedly knocked over this past weekend. We have reached out to local law enforcement & encourage anyone with information to contact 732-462-7500 or 732-294-2110 https://t.co/hp1juRlcyG
— ADL New York / New Jersey (@ADL_NYNJ) August 29, 2018
Times of Israel staff contributed to this report.
The Times of Israel Community.