The NYC NYPD's Hate Crime Division is still investigating the vandalism of a synagogue on Friday, where a person smashed windows of a Chabad in Bushwick.
"Despite this attack the synagogue will remain open," CBS 2 News reported on Sunday.
Community members were enjoying Shabbat together and the children were playing when a vandal shattered the front window of the synagogue, Rabbi Menachem Heller, the Rabbi of the synagogue, recalled, according to the report.
The assailant ran away after the attack and there is not yet a description of him. However, Heller said the incident strengthened his determination to continue practicing his faith.
In an emotional Facebook post, Rabbi Menachem Heller said the glass shattered “feet from where my children were playing.”
“Thank God no one was injured, but we easily could have been,” he wrote.
Heller and his community have so far remained resilient in the face of the attack.
“We are facing this unfortunate experience not with discouragement, but with solid determination – to continue celebrating our faith, sharing our rich heritage, and offering our culture in an inclusive and warm environment,” Heller said. “At the same time, we acknowledge the disturbing and increasingly frequent incidents of hate and prejudice in our New York community, and its destructive and divisive effects, especially on young people.”
Heller also encouraged both the Jewish and non-Jewish community to stand up against such attacks, “whenever it occurs, whatever form it takes, and toward whomever it is directed.”
“An attack on one of us is an attack on all of us,” he added.
Ilanit Chernick contributed to this report.