Kiev Jewish School Again Forced to Deal With Anti-Semitism

A Jewish school in Kiev, Ukraine, is being forced to once again upgrade its security systems after unknown vandals spray-painted anti-Semitic curses and images in the middle of the night.

According to Devorah Levenharts, a Chabad-Lubavitch emissary whose husband, Rabbi Mordechai Levenarts, serves as principal of the Simcha School, staff arrived Tuesday morning to find the blue-colored graffiti on three exterior walls. The discovery came two-and-a-half years after an arsonist set fire to the school’s entryway, and two years after stones were thrown into classrooms and an on-site synagogue.

Local police opened a joint investigation with Israeli security officials, and Levenharts said that administrators will be expanding security measures in an effort to further protect students. She said that the children have been adjusting to the latest incident.

“We asked them to prepare posters to portray their reactions to what they saw,” said Levenharts, who oversees the Jewish studies’ curriculum and sends two of her children to the school. “Unfortunately, this is not something new.”

Last week, a group of neo-Nazis entered Kiev’s Jewish museum and shattered displays before continuing on to the Israeli embassy where they protested outside of the building, she added. “It is so important that people understand that the ideas we read about in history books are very much alive, right here.”