ORANGE COUNTY, N.Y. -- There was singing, praying and words of encouragement at the Beth Shalom Cemetery in Warwick on Sunday.
Temple Beth Shalom held a service of solidarity and healing for the community after its cemetery was vandalized last week with anti-Semitic graffiti.
"It was an incredibly uplifting morning," said Rabbi Rebecca Shinder. "There were Jews whose family members were buried here that I never met and I've been the spiritual leader here for 11 years. People came home."
Family members of those buried in the cemetery painted over the graffiti. Wendy Cedar’s mom was buried there.
“It was very powerful to feel that I had a hand in reducing the hate and turning the hate into love,” she said.
Rabbi Shinder said she originally left the vandalism up to let people know about the hateful graffiti. But she said now that the message is out, she wants the community to move forward and has plans to have the wall rebuilt.
“It will be a process that we’ll do together as a community and we will ultimately bring even more healing,” said Shinder.
The Jewish Federation still considers the incident a hate crime and are asking anyone with information to contact the town of Warwick Police Department.