A public menorah at Dartmouth College was shot with a pellet gun by an unidentified perpetrator, in a recent anti-Semitic act of vandalism during Hanukkah.
Holes from a pellet gun broke seven of the menorah’s nine lights and were first discovered on Wednesday by Rabbi Moshe Gray when he went to turn on the menorah’s lights for the seventh night of the Jewish holiday.
“They all had the same thing,” Gray said. “Somebody literally stood there at the base of the menorah and shot, with some kind of an air gun or BB gun.”
Rabbi Gray believes the attack on the menorah to be targeted, since a nearby Christmas tree was left unharmed.
‘An Affront to All’
In a letter to the school community, President Phil Hanlon said the incident was more than a mere act of vandalism. “This appalling act of anti-Semitism, perpetrated during Hannukah in the heart of our campus, is an affront to all,” he said.
“A dark act”: Hanover Police are conducting an investigation after the lights of the menorah on the Dartmouth Green were shot out in an apparent act of vandalism. Campus groups and the College have condemned the act as anti-Semitic violence. https://t.co/a2hITfGGia
— The Dartmouth (@thedartmouth) December 17, 2020
Dartmouth’s security staff is working with Hanover Police on the investigation. Since there is no video footage of the area, the authorities are welcoming any information about who may have been responsible for the incident.
Addressing the Jewish community at Dartmouth, Hanlon has offered to “stand with [them] in anger and sadness at this despicable act.”
The incident at Dartmouth is one of the many anti-semitic acts of violence directed at the Jewish community in the last few years, so much so that last year US Department of Education Secretary Betsy DeVos expressed concerns over growing anti-Semitism on college campuses.
