A vandal torched a mezuzah outside a Jewish family’s home in Brooklyn on Tuesday, a day after several of the sacred religious objects were burned inside an apartment building just a block away, police sources said.
Cops were called to the Clymer St. building, part of the Independence Houses in South Williamsburg, about 1 p.m., after a caller reported the charred mezuzah.
A mezuzah is a small canister, containing parchment paper inscribed with Hebrew verses from the Torah, that is fastened to a home’s front door or entryway to fulfill a commandment to display a sacred prayer outside one’s residence.
It was too early for investigators to determine if the fire was set by the same suspect cops say scorched eleven mezuzahs in the nearby Taylor-Wythe Houses on Monday, as Orthodox Jewish residents observed Holocaust Rememberance Day. In those incidents, the hate-filled firebug started on the thirteenth floor and worked his way down a stairwell, hitting at least one apartment on each floor, police said.
In Tuesday’s single incident, police sources said, the perpetrator chose an apartment on the 13th floor, but then fled after lighting the mezuzah on fire.
At about noon on Tuesay, NYPD Commissioner Raymond Kelly told repoters the investigation is being handled as a possible hate crime. Cops were trying to identify the suspect in Monday's fires, who was caught on surveillance video inside the Taylor St. building.
“This was an attack at the heart of the community,” said City Councilman Stephen Levin (D-Brooklyn) at a press conference Tuesday before cops were called to the second incident.
“The mezuzah is a sacred object in the Jewish religion. It’s a blessing at the home and we can’t allow an act like this to be tolerated.”
By Edgar Sandoval AND Joe Kemp / NEW YORK DAILY NEWS
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