What was smeared on the walls at the home of a South Florida rabbi has left a community outraged, and police are calling this a possible hate crime.
“We saw, on the window right here, it was smeared all across here,” Rabbi Aaron Rabin said making a sweeping gesture in front of his large picture window at the front of his home. “Dog feces smeared all over this window and on the floor here.”
Rabin was mortified when he returned home Thursday from the Jewish Learning Center, a synagogue on 41st Street. He first saw the remnants of eggs that were chucked at his home, and then he went to his front door.
“This handle over here, somebody had taken the dog feces and covered the entire handle here, where you press to get in, so your hand was automatically going to get covered in the dog feces … and then, on the wall over here all the way down, all over here, smeared.”
Rabin does not own a dog, and so he says someone had to think this out and transport the dog feces. Turning to his young son he holds in his arm, he asked, “Eli, do you remember what you saw on the handle? Was it nice?” The child shakes his head as he lays it on his father’s shoulder. “No, it wasn’t nice.”
How do you explain to your child what happened? Meanwhile, Rabbi Rabin is asking himself who could do such a disgusting thing and wonders if it was not an anti-Semitic attack. “I think so, but I can’t put my money down on it because I don’t know who did it, obviously, and it’s not like they went and put a swastika on my house.”
While the Rabins find this act despicable, it is impossible to know whether or not this was just an act of mischief or a hate crime. In the meantime, this beloved rabbi had to get down on his hands and knees and spend hour after hour cleaning up the feces wondering why. “Such a thing is just not acceptable,” he said.
Miami Beach Police said this crime is “mind-boggling” and promised to get to the bottom of this. If you have any information that might help investigators, call Miami-Dade Crime Stoppers at 305-471-TIPS. Remember, you can always remain anonymous, and you may be eligible for a reward.
(Source: WSVN)
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One Response
Cameras outside the home would help. If anyone is bothered by abuse like this; even faux cameras will help. Hopefully, the words of the Miami-Dade police department are genuine and they will proceed accordingly with the investigation. Sadly, the proliferation of hate groups down in that area is growing, be careful!