Oakland's largest menorah found destroyed days after lighting ceremony

Oakland’s largest menorah found destroyed days after lighting ceremony

Oakland's Jewish community celebrated the official lighting of the city's largest menorah at Lake Merritt on Dec. 10.

By Ashley AhnStaff Writer

Dec. 13, 2023 4:25 PM PT

Joined by local dignitaries, more than 100 members of Oakland’s Jewish community celebrated the beginning of Hanukkah with the 18th annual Grand Menorah Lighting at Lake Merritt on Sunday.

Three days later, the giant menorah was found shattered, with parts lying in and beside the lake — and antisemitic remarks scribbled onto the cement block that had served as its pedestal.

Mayor Sheng Thao, who attended the celebration Sunday night, said in a statement Wednesday that she’s asked the Oakland Police to investigate the incident as a hate crime. Oakland Police did not respond to a request for comment.

Rabbi David Labkowski of the Chabad Jewish Center of Oakland said that by 8 a.m. Wednesday, all that was left of the menorah were bits and pieces on the ground and “hateful graffiti all over the area, especially where the menorah once stood.”

“We found the pieces all over,” he said. “It just seemed like somebody destroyed it, literally chopped it up into pieces. This is 350 pounds of steel.”

Thao condemned the vandalism and said the menorah at Lake Merritt is “a long-standing and important symbol of Oakland’s Jewish community.”

“I want to be very clear that what happened was not just an attack on Oakland’s Jewish community but our entire city and our shared values,” she said. “We stand together against hate, against antisemitism and against bigotry in any form.”

California State Senator Nancy Skinner, who represents Berkeley and Oakland, called the destruction of the menorah an act of cowardice and applauded Thao’s call for the Oakland Police to investigate the incident as a hate crime.

“Destroying a symbol of hope and light is a despicable act and is especially hurtful on this sixth day of Hanukkah,” she said in a statement.

The menorah was found Wednesday morning shattered on the ground with parts lying in the lake.

The rise in antisemitic discourse and incidents appears to have lowered attendance at the annual lighting ceremony, which can see upward of 200 people, Labkowski said. The Anti-Defamation League recorded nearly five times more antisemitic incidents between Oct. 7 and Oct. 23 of this year than during the same period last year. Over half of the incidents were directly linked to the Israel-Hamas war.

Rabbi Mark Bloom, the head rabbi at local Temple Beth Abraham, said the vandalism of the menorah is sad but not unexpected, given the rise of antisemitic rhetoric in Oakland.

“I was not surprised when you have that kind of rhetoric happening all over the city: graffiti, vandalism, city council meetings,” he said. “Words turn into actions for some people.”

In an Oakland City Council meeting that went viral on social media in November, the council voted 6 to 2 against condemning Hamas, which some attendees had defended in their comments.

“There’s kind of a general panic [in the Oakland Jewish community],” Bloom said. “We think we’re going to be okay, but it’s really scary.”

“The malicious destruction of a public menorah in Lake Merritt, Oakland, accompanied by hateful graffiti, is just the latest example of rampant antisemitism tearing apart the Bay Area,” Tyler Gregory, chief executive of the Jewish Community Relations Council Bay Area, said in a statement.

The Chabad Jewish Center of Oakland will hold another lighting ceremony Wednesday at 7 p.m., replacing the destroyed menorah with one moved from Piedmont Avenue.

“It’s devastating,” Labkowski said. “It’s really upsetting and it just makes our resolve stronger to want to build bigger.”