Poway, CA (special) -- The reward has been increased from $5,000 to $20,000 for information leading to the arrest and conviction of whoever desecrated Temple Adat Shalom in Poway the evening of Dec. 27 or the early morning of Dec. 28.

Anonymous donors pledged the additional amount after watching and reading news accounts of anti-Semitic vandalism, according to Gail Littman, president of the Reform congregation.
St. Michael's Catholic Church, in a gesture of interfaith solidarity, contributed $1,000 to Temple Adat Shalom to enhance its security systems, announced Rabbi Deborah Prinz at Kabbalat Shabbat services Jan. 1.

"Many Christian churches and civic organizations...and colleagues...sent messages," Prinz told more than 300 congregants and friends who gathered for the first Friday night service to be held following the desecration. 

On a secular New Year's Day, one ordinarily wouldn't expect to see so many congregants, but the crowd approximating that seen on a Jewish New Year's Day came not only to pray but also to demonstrate that the vandals did not and could not deter them from living openly as Jews.

Prinz expressed sympathy to Holocaust Survivors in the congregation whose memories were wrought up by the spray-painted swastikas and such slogans as "Jews out." She also expressed her concern for Morris Casuto, whose last name was painted on the building in what might have been an attempt to intimidate the regional director of the Anti Defamation League. 

The fact that the vandals spelled 'Casuto' correctly was remarked upon by Prinz, who said she always has to check whether the name has one or two 't's, or one or two 's's.' The day that the vandalism was discovered, San Diego Police also remarked upon the fact that the vandals knew Casuto's name. In one officer's opinion, that seemed to point to an organized hate group, rather than to youth simply engaged in malicious mischief.

The rabbi said while some congregants might think to themselves that it is "the same old thing all the time: they hate us and it won't get better," she believes just the opposite. "What happened here is not a deeply rooted theologically based anti-Semitism," Prinz said. 

"It's true, the graffiti said 'Jews out,' but our neighbors spoke in opposition. The paint read 'Jews back 2 Israel' but local organizations and Christian clergy of all denominations protested. Yes, somebody or some group came after us last weekend, but the Christian clergy and local civic organizations said no; and our neighbors spoke out and strangers called.

"Our people have survived the destruction of two Temples, the Crusades, forced migrations, Inquisition, pogroms, the Holocaust and more, and we certainly are not going to allow some white paint to scare us. A few swastikas will not deter us from our faith or our commitments or our vision or our values. They are not going to get at our kishkes, at the very core of who and what we are."