Congregants and Officials Gather at Vandalized Pasadena Synagogue to Reject Hate

Congregants, elected officials and neighbors gathered Thursday evening at the fire-scarred campus of the Pasadena Jewish Temple & Center, six days after swastikas and an antisemitic message were discovered on a community mural that had itself been created to cover earlier antisemitic graffiti.

The July 30 gathering at 1434 N. Altadena Drive drew civic leaders, clergy and community partners to the site where the Eaton Fire destroyed the synagogue in January 2025, leaving just the last major exterior wall standing.

It was the second time in roughly six months that the surviving wall had been defaced with antisemitic graffiti. The Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department is investigating both incidents as hate crimes.

Rabbi Joshua Ratner, PJTC’s senior rabbi, told those assembled that the congregation had “marked one week since our spiritual home was desecrated by a despicable act of antisemitic graffiti,” and said the community “will not be intimidated by this or any other deplorable act of vandalism.”

Los Angeles County Fifth District Supervisor Kathryn Barger said an attack motivated by hate against one community is an attack against everyone present.

“That is why I introduced the motion for $20,000 reward for information to help us find whoever is responsible for these horrific acts of vandalism,” she said.

Pasadena Mayor Victor Gordo, who attended along with councilmembers Gene Masuda and Rick Cole and school board member Scott Harden, recalled going to look at the synagogue’s damage the morning after the Eaton Fire and stopping at the temple site.

“But at that moment in time, we made very clear that the impact was not just to Altadena and Pasadena, not just to structures, but to people,” Gordo said. “When we see hate, it’s a human emergency.”

Gordo said the perpetrators had actually brought the community together.

“We’re going to rebuild not just a center, but we’re going to build a beacon of hope for all,” he said.

U.S. Rep. Judy Chu also attended, along with PJTC Cantor Ruth Berman Harris, temple President Clark Linstone and Elizabeth Goldhirsh-Yellin of the Sparks of Kindness Youth Fund.

Altadena Sheriff’s Station Capt. Ethan Marques said detectives “are conducting a thorough investigation.” He added: “We will follow every lead, utilize every available investigative resource, and are working diligently to bring those who are responsible to justice.”

The mural was painted in spring 2026 by scenic painter Miriam Hellmann, working with the group Art Over Hate, after antisemitic graffiti attacking Zionism appeared on the wall in January 2026. Religious school students, youth members, volunteers and other community members painted sections of the work under Hellmann’s direction.

High school seniors Caleb Yellin and Audrey Farahnik helped initiate the project and raised roughly $30,000 through the nonprofit Sparks of Kindness Youth Fund.

The design featured a large, bright orange California fire poppy for regrowth, along with a peacock, a butterfly and other floral and animal symbols. It was divided like stained glass, with Stars of David in the corners and a border incorporating animal symbols associated with the tribes of Israel. Across it ran the message “We are all responsible for each other,” described in some accounts as a rendering of the Hebrew phrase “Kol Yisrael arevim zeh bazeh” — all Israel is responsible for one another.

That mural was found defaced on July 24, 2026, with multiple swastikas and the phrase “Zionzim [sic] is not welcome,” misspelled in the original.

The Sheriff’s Department’s Altadena Station and its Major Crimes Bureau Hate Crimes Task Force opened the investigation and asked the public for information, listing Detective Hodaya Doherty among the investigators assigned to the case. Anonymous tips may be submitted to Crime Stoppers at (800) 222-TIPS (8477) or at lacrimestoppers.org.

Jewish communal organizations and interfaith and civil-rights groups, including CAIR-LA, publicly condemned the vandalism and described it as part of a wider rise in antisemitic incidents.

The congregation, now worshiping at First United Methodist Church, says it plans to rebuild on the North Altadena Drive site.

Among those who spoke were the teenagers who helped bring the mural into being.

“Storms are terrible, but rainbows only come after them,” Yellin said. “Whether we get knocked down once, twice, or a hundred times, this community’s going to rise back 101 times.”