Kol Ami News

Bonneville Elementary School principal Karen Holman, like most school principals at this time of year, was looking forward to winter break.

Instead of relishing the slide into the long-awaited vacation, teachers at the Salt Lake City public school were leading delicate classroom discussions Monday morning after their school was defaced with hate-filled words and symbols over the weekend.

“We shared some messages with our students this morning to their age-appropriate level because some kids knew about it and some kids didn’t but we didn’t want to have them hear the playground talk about it,” Holman said.

The fifth graders created and hung a decoration in the school hallway that says “Love is powerful.” Other children, unprompted, colored papers with messages about love, acceptance and dignity.

“It’s amazing to watch these kids turn and be like, ‘We’re not going to lower ourselves to the standard of what was done to us,’” Holman said.

Shortly before 11:30 a.m. Sunday, a community member reported finding hate speech sprayed on school property, according to Salt Lake City police.

Officers found racist, homophobic and antisemitic hate speech and symbols painted on school property. Some of the messages were written with white chalk. Officers also found hate speech directed at people with physical disabilities.

The incident is being investigated as a possible hate crime, according to police.

Rabbi Samuel Spector of Congregation Kol Ami said a family who attends the synagogue also has children who attend Bonneville Elementary. They asked him if they should send them to school.

“It’s unfortunate that here in America and here in Salt Lake City, Utah, people can be made to feel unsafe and wonder if sending their children to elementary school is the right decision,” he said.

As the Bonneville Elementary School community dealt with the vandalism and messages of hate left at the school, three bomb threats were leveled against Congregation Kol Ami in recent days, one on Friday, the last day of Chanukah, and two on Monday.

“We’ve seen a 400% increase in antisemitism in the United States since Oct. 7, when antisemitism has already been at an all-time high each year for the past eight years. What this stuff does is, it’s just trying to instill fear and terror into Jewish communities. Unfortunately, it’s occurring everywhere,” said Rabbi Spector.

In a recent conversation with his wife, Rabbi Spector said he asked, “Where would we go that does not have antisemitism?”

“We couldn’t think of a single place. So unfortunately, this is our reality. Utah is a wonderful place to live, but unfortunately, we’re not immune to the problem of antisemitism here as well,” he said.

In times like these, “just know that your Jewish friends need love and support. They need to know that there are far more people here that love them than hate them. Our Jewish institutions right now are being bled dry because of the amount of money we’re all having to spend on security is beyond some of our means. We’re having to dig deep to find that money and we just need to know that people love us and that you know, that they recognize that we’re going through a challenging time.”

Rabbi Spector said Brown and Mendenhall also reached to him personally, which meant a great deal. In addition, police deployed canine officers to clear the buildings at Congregation Kol Ami.

On the one hand, there is much appreciated support but there is also a lot of misunderstanding about the religious community.

“Regardless of your views on the Hamas/Israel war, your local Jewish community is not the Israeli government or the IDF (Israel Defense Forces). While we stand with Israel, we are not the army, we are not the government. Targeting us because of issues you might have with the Israeli government or Israel’s military operations is a form of antisemitism,” he said.

Neither bomb threats nor protesting outside Congregation Kol Ami synagogue “is going to make an impact on the war on the other side of the world, one way or another,” Rabbi Spector said.

“It’s just going to terrorize innocent American Jews and in this case, with an elementary school, our synagogue and preschool, they’re children who have nothing to do with any of this conflict,” he said.

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SALT LAKE CITY — In downtown Salt Lake City, the Gallivan Center shines with the glow of a menorah, symbolizing the unity and resilience of the Jewish community on the fifth night of Hanukkah.

Leaders from both the Jewish and broader community came together, emphasizing a shared commitment to combatting recent challenges and promoting inclusivity.

Miles away, a new and heartwarming movement “Project Menorah” is gaining momentum on social media, encouraging people of all faiths to extend their love and support to the Jewish community.

“This year has felt uniquely somber,” said Alex Shapiro, executive director of the United Jewish Federation of Utah. “Since Oct. 7, the daily lives of many in the community have been filled with worry, strain, anger, and mourning.”

As the menorah stands illuminated, it becomes a symbol not only of Hanukkah but hopefully one of love and acceptance.

In its second year, Salt Lake City and Jewish leaders have come together for the annual menorah lighting. Rabbi Samuel Spector has stressed the profound significance of the ceremony, especially during these challenging times. He expressed pride in being a part of Salt Lake City, a city that resoundingly rejects anti-Semitism and all forms of hate.

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Update this content.

Rabbi Samuel Spector no longer asks Jewish Utahns how they’re doing. The leader of Salt Lake City’s Congregation Kol Ami already knows.

“Nobody,” he said, “in my community is doing well.”

Since the Oct. 7 attacks by Hamas on Israeli civilians and Israel’s subsequent bombings in Gaza, he said, the east-side synagogue has received a bomb threat and a slew of threatening calls and emails “saying just horribly vile stuff.”

Utah Muslims, meanwhile, are facing “hate at unprecedented levels,” Luna Banuri of the Muslim Civic League said, explaining that the reports of hate incidents to her organization have quadrupled in the past five weeks. This rise in Islamophobia comes despite the fact that the violence occurring in Israel and Gaza represents, she said, “a political war,” not a religious one.

Conversations with her and Spector, as well as other Jewish and Muslim leaders in the state, revealed two minority faiths reeling from the effects of individuals they say have been emboldened in their hate.

Ron Zamir is the vice president of community relations for the United Jewish Federation of Utah. In addition to having family members who were killed or left in critical condition during the Oct. 7 attacks, he and other members of his Jewish community confront a level of fear when going about in public or to worship at the synagogue that they haven’t known in a long time, if ever.

“I’ve lived here 20 years,” he said. “This is the least safe it has ever felt.”

According to Rabbi Spector, some members of his synagogue have stopped attending services out of safety concerns, while others have pulled mezuzahs — a small box containing Torah verses — off their door frames, or stopped wearing their kippahs, also known as yarmulkes, and other outward signs of their Jewish faith.

“At the same time,” Spector said, “we have people coming to the synagogue more now because they need that support and want to support their Jewish community. Some people are wearing kippahs because they don’t want the people trying to scare them to win, and are actually becoming more involved and present here, and are more openly sharing that they’re Jewish.”

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