Pasadena Jewish Temple and Center Vandalized Amid Ongoing Wildfire Recovery, New York Times Reports

According to reporting by The New York Times, the Pasadena Jewish Temple and Center was vandalized last weekend, compounding grief for a community still recovering from the devastating Eaton Fire one year ago.

The Times reported that a temple member discovered anti-Zionist graffiti on an exterior wall Sunday morning, a finding synagogue leaders said Monday had shaken congregants already in an “emotionally fragile” moment.

Rabbi Joshua Ratner told The New York Times that the vandalism “was devastating in many ways.”

According to the Times, the graffiti—written in black paint—denounced Zionism and included the phrase “RIP Renee,” which Rabbi Ratner interpreted as a reference to Renee Good, a woman shot and killed by a federal agent in Minneapolis last week.

The New York Times reported that photos of the graffiti showed large lettering across several feet of a white exterior wall, behind a chain-link fence lined with hedges..

The Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department confirmed to the Times that its Altadena station was investigating a report of a hate crime and vandalism on the block where the temple had stood before the wildfire.

The vandalism came less than a week after several hundred members of the synagogue community gathered to mark the first anniversary of the Eaton fire.

The PJTC, as it is known, was located on Altadena Drive just south of Washington Boulevard. It was destroyed by the fire on January 8, 2025.

The article was reported by Jill Cowan of The New York Times. The full story is online here.