Members of Baltimore synagogue speak out after finding swastika

A vandal drew a swastika on a sign belonging to the Jewish Museum of Maryland in Baltimore last week, officials said, the latest in a nationwide series of hate crimes against Jewish centers — this one less than two weeks after the museum opened an exhibit called "Remembering Auschwitz: History, Holocaust, Humanity."

More than 50 people linked arms to pray and to speak out against the act Sunday morning near the sign at B'Nai Israel: The Downtown Synagogue. Rabbi Etan Mintz organized the event and invited several local officials, including City Council President Bernard C. "Jack" Young, council members Zeke Cohen and Robert Stokes, and Delegate Brooke Lierman.

"While it's only a small piece of defamation, we felt as a community that it was important to come out and to raise a voice and to say that love will overcome hate," Mintz said. "Words are words, whether they're written, whether they're spoken, but ultimately they lead to deeds. We have to make sure voices are heard saying this is not OK."

It wasn't lost on Mintz that the swastika appeared shortly after the museum opened its Auschwitz exhibit.

Read more: http://www.baltimoresun.com/news/maryland/baltimore-city/bs-md-ci-synagogue-demonstration-20170318-story.html