Royal Oak, MI – A Royal Oak synagogue was vandalized with antisemitic graffiti last Friday.
According to the rabbi of Woodward Avenue Shul, a Jewish community center, a swastika symbol and the letters AZOV were spray-painted on the side of the building. The word “azov” means “leave” in Hebrew but the letters also are linked to a pro-Nazi Ukrainian militia.
Despite the incident, Rabbi Mendel Polter says an act like this will not instill fear into the Jewish people.
“We will not allow this to define us, we will not allow this to instill fear in us, we will move on and continue doing all the goodness and kindness and positivity into the world by being Jewish, by living Jewish and by practicing our religion as we know it to be right,” Polter said.
