Hate is spewed in South Orange
Protesters shout outside shul; local leaders rally to Oheb Shalom

Last Sunday morning, a group of protesters gathered on the sidewalk outside Oheb Shalom Congregation in South Orange.
“They were chanting hateful things, and they were holding hateful signs,” Lorraine Survis, the synagogue’s president, said. “They were shouting ‘baby killers,’ they were calling us ‘Holocaust supporters’ and ‘terrorists.’
“It’s disturbing to be assaulted verbally in that way,” she added. “It was hateful.”
There were a lot of people in the building that morning, Rabbi Abigail Treu, who leads the congregation, said. In addition to the typical Sunday morning happenings — Hebrew school was in session and the morning minyan had just ended — the synagogue was hosting a talk for older teenagers and adults by two people who had served in an elite Israeli Air Force search-and-rescue unit. (Their names had not been publicized.)
“Our sense is that the protesters probably felt interested in coming that morning because of that program,” Rabbi Treu said. “We’ve been flying an Israeli flag outside our building since shortly after October 7, along with a sign that says ‘Bring Them Home,’ and we haven’t had any protests like this outside the building, so that’s what we think precipitated it.”
Rabbi Treu described the protesters as intimidating. “They were loud, they were shouting things at people driving by and at people walking by,” she said. “I think for the congregants coming in, but also for the neighbors in the area — the shul is located in a residential neighborhood — it just felt scary.”
One of the protesters also wrote the words “terrorists this way” at the bottom of one of the synagogue’s driveways, along with an arrow pointing toward the building, Rabbi Treu continued.
The program the group presumably had come to protest was actually about the work that this search-and-rescue unit does, “the lives they save,” she said. “When you read that the IDF has sent soldiers to help with the earthquake in Turkey, or to help after a natural disaster in Haiti, this is the unit that is involved in the rescue efforts. This unit has saved thousands of lives.”
According to the description of the talk on the synagogue’s website, since the terrorists invaded Israel on October 7, the unit has been very involved in hostage rescue operations. It also has rescued thousands of soldiers and civilians. “They are helping save civilians in Gaza,” Rabbi Treu said. “One of the things they talked about was saving Gazan children.”
Both Rabbi Treu and Ms. Survis stressed that the protesters did not present a physical threat to congregants, and that synagogue programming was not disrupted.
“We had proper procedures in place,” Ms. Survis said. “There was security on hand, and the South Orange police department was there managing the situation, so we did not feel physically threatened.
“We need to combat hatred and not give in to intimidation, of course while keeping our congregation safe,” she continued. “We are so appreciative of the South Orange police for quickly responding and to our Oheb Shalom security that helped to control the incident. We have received an outpouring of support from the SOMA town mayors, our neighboring synagogues, and other local clergy, standing in solidarity. Together, we are better.” (SOMA is South Orange and neighboring Maplewood; the two towns share a school system.)
Rabbi Treu also expressed gratitude to the police and to the synagogue’s security team. The protesters were visible from some of the classroom windows, she said, but staff was careful to keep the children inside and changed dismissal procedures to minimize the students’ and teen volunteers’ exposure to the hate.
Thomas Michaels, the chief security officer at the Jewish Federation of Greater MetroWest, agrees that there was no risk of physical violence to congregants. There were about 10 protesters, he said. One was carrying a fake baby, another had red dye or paint, and others carried signs. “One of the signs read ‘Zionism is terrorism,’” he said. But “there was enough security in place to prevent physical violence from occurring.”
Like Rabbi Treu, Mr. Michaels noted the irony of protesting a talk by people who had served in this search-and-rescue unit. “They were lifesavers who not only saved the lives of Israeli soldiers but saved the lives of Palestinian civilians who were injured,” he said.
On Tuesday, Ernesto Morillo, South Orange’s chief of police, met with Mr. Michaels and executives from the town’s three synagogues to brief them on “what happened, where we are, and what we’re going to be doing moving forward,” Mr. Michaels said. “They are instituting procedures for quicker and better communication amongst the synagogues in South Orange.”
Mr. Michaels described the meeting as very positive. “The town is blessed with a very caring police chief,” he said.
Oheb Shalom has two one-way driveways – for entering and exiting –on opposite sides of the building, Mr. Michaels continued. When the demonstrators arrived and the synagogue notified the police, the police responded quickly. An officer was posted on the entrance driveway. “When they saw the police officer, they meandered down the sidewalk” to where the exit driveway met the sidewalk “and that’s apparently where they scrawled ‘terrorists this way’ in chalk on the ground,” he said.
“The person who scrawled the graffiti has been identified by the police,” he added. “The police know who she is and that case has been referred to the Essex County prosecutor’s office and is being investigated as a bias crime.
“In another incident, a passerby — someone who was just driving past these demonstrators, she wasn’t going to the shul, she wasn’t going to the event – took it upon themselves to stop, exit their vehicle, and engage the demonstrators. This woman apparently got into an argument with the demonstrators, and as they were arguing, a female demonstrator splattered some red dye or paint on the woman’s vehicle.
“The demonstrator who splattered the paint has also been identified and is also being investigated by the prosecutor’s office.”
Mr. Michaels is anticipating “some swift action from law enforcement. An arrest, or charges at least, could be leveled in the near future” against two of the 10 demonstrators. “The investigation is still ongoing, and names haven’t been released,” he said.
“This type of blatant antisemitism is unfortunately becoming more commonplace since October 7,” Mr. Michaels said.
Hillary Goldberg, a member of Teaneck’s town council, also saw the protest as antisemitic. “As a Jew in America, I have never felt more urgency,” Ms. Goldberg said in a speech at the South Orange council meeting on Monday evening. “Antisemitism is no longer whispered, it’s shouted.
“In South Orange, protestors chalked the words “terrorists this way” with an arrow pointing to the synagogue,” she continued. “This isn’t just rhetoric; it’s targeted hate, meant to dehumanize and terrorize. It’s what globalizing the intifada looks like.”
Like Ms. Survis, Rabbi Treu was heartened by the community support the synagogue received. “Both the townships of South Orange and Maplewood have put out beautifully supportive statements,” she said.
In a statement issued on Sunday, South Orange Mayor Sheena Collum described the protest as “unsettling” and noted that members of the group of protestors had gone beyond protected speech, trespassed onto private property, and defaced it. “This act of intolerance is deeply disturbing and has no place in our community,” the statement continued. “We must come together, united in our commitment to stand against hate, bigotry, and discrimination in all forms. This is not just an attack on one group; it is an attack on the values that bind us all as neighbors.”
The South Orange police department is working with the prosecutor’s office special victims unit to investigate the matter, Mayor Collum added. “The incident is being treated as a bias crime, and the authorities have already identified an individual(s) of interest.”
Maplewood Mayor Nancy Adams issued a statement on Sunday on behalf of the entire Maplewood Township committee. “Maplewood stands in solidarity with Oheb Shalom Congregation and our entire Jewish community, which was targeted by protesters on Sunday with hateful anti-Semitic graffiti on the synagogue’s property,” Mayor Adams wrote. “We join with the elected officials in South Orange and with the clergy of all our synagogues to strongly denounce these acts, and to offer our support.
“Rights of free speech and protest do not give anyone the right to deface property or make threats against the Jewish community,” the statement continued. “Whether these acts were committed by residents of South Orange or Maplewood or people outside of our community, our message to you is clear. We stand together to resist and reject your intimidation and disrespect of the Jewish residents in our towns. An act of hate toward one is an act of hate toward all of us.”
State General Assembly Speaker Craig J. Coughlin issued a similar statement about “the anti-Semitic graffiti defacing Oheb Shalom Synagogue” on Monday. “This kind of behavior is not only an attack on a religious community, but an assault on the values of respect, kindness, and tolerance that we hold close here in New Jersey,” Mr. Coughlin wrote. “The fact that this incident occurred while students were attending school makes it even more egregious. No one, anywhere, should ever face hate or intimidation because of their faith or their identity, especially in places where they come to learn, grow, and feel safe.
“We cannot let intolerance take root here,” the statement continued. “I encourage everyone in New Jersey to reject hate and division, embracing instead understanding, peace, and unity.”
“We have very nice relationships with neighboring clergy of other faiths,” Rabbi Treu said. “And we heard from our friends at the school district lending support, as well as neighboring synagogues.”
Of course, the support the synagogue received was not universal. A Facebook post on Sunday by a group called “SOMA for Palestine” read, “Today a local synagogue in South Orange, Oheb Shalom, hosted a soldier who participated in a genocide. Multiple respected human rights organizations: Amnesty International, Human Rights Watch, Doctors Without Borders, preeminent Holocaust scholars and institutes: Lemkin Institute for genocide prevention, as well as the International Court of Justice have all said what is happening in Gaza is genocide. Shame on the organizers of this event. Shame on those pretending that people protesting this event were there to persecute the local Jewish community. Genocide is not a Jewish value. Religious institutions should not be used to provide political cover for a potential war criminal — that is the crime Sheena Collum. Where’s the outrage about the genocide, war crimes.”
In an email to the congregation on Sunday, Rabbi Treu talked about the protest, the graffiti message that had been sprayed on the driveway, and the presentation the synagogue hosted about the search-and-rescue unit. The unit’s “sole mission is search and rescue,” she wrote.
“This unit has saved the lives of people in Israel and around the world, including from natural disasters in countries such as Turkey and Haiti. Ironically, as protesters outside were calling those driving past ‘baby killers,’ those attending the program were hearing firsthand accounts of infants and children rescued around the world — including civilians in Gaza during this war.”
The email also discussed the congregation’s ties to Israel. “We are connected to Israel in a myriad of ways and are deeply bound up with the fate of am yisrael, Jewish people living in Israel and around the world,” Rabbi Treu wrote. “We continue to pray for the safe return of all of the hostages, for the safety of the troops protecting Israel, and for the sagacity of the leaders of that nation as well as our own. More than anything we pray for peace between Israel and its neighbors.
“As in all things, we are a diverse community,” the email continued. “We do not insist that we all keep kosher the same way or have identical prayer lives or ways of celebrating Shabbat and holidays. So too we do not require a set of beliefs around Israel, domestic politics, or any other issue. Since October 7 we have offered an array of programs that seek to reflect the diversity of the Oheb community in how we hold our connections to Israel. We have held Listening Circles to hear from each other, heard from West Bank Palestinians and Israeli settlers speaking together on our bimah, and we pray daily for Israel and for peace.
“[W]e are committed to the Jewish people and to holding our diverse community with safety and curiosity, with calm and respect, and, of course, with security and safety,” Rabbi Treu added. “There is room for lots of questions, grappling, ideas and opinions. However, there are limits to even the widest of tents. People who stand outside our building, calling us terrorists, making us feel threatened or on the defensive as we undertake the peaceful work of joining in local community, do not have a place here. Not at Oheb, and I know not at our neighboring synagogue partners, either. Our tent is a large one, but it has walls.”
Rabbi Treu traveled to Israel on Monday with a group of interfaith clergy from the Greater Metrowest area. The trip, which, of course, was scheduled long before Sunday’s protest took place, was designed to “foster inter-faith understanding, to facilitate working together, and to give us an opportunity to explore our shared connection to Israel,” she said. Now, “the trip feels like the exact right response to this kind of a protest.”
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