[Updated] Los Angeles County Supervisor Kathryn Barger announced Tuesday that the county is offering a $10,000 reward for information leading to the arrest and conviction of whoever vandalized the Pasadena Jewish Temple and Center — a site with deep ties to Altadena and still recovering from last year’s Eaton fire.
Barger introduced the reward motion at the Board of Supervisors meeting, where it received unanimous approval, according to a statement from her office. She said the action reflects the Board’s commitment to accountability in cases that threaten public safety and target faith communities.
“This was a deeply disturbing act targeting a Jewish community that is still working to heal and rebuild,” Barger said in the statement. She urged anyone with information “no matter how small it may seem” to come forward, adding that “this community deserves answers and justice.”
The reward announcement follows reporting by The New York Times that anti?Zionist graffiti was discovered Sunday morning on an exterior wall of the Pasadena Jewish Temple and Center.
Synagogue leaders told the Times the finding had shaken congregants already in an “emotionally fragile” moment, coming less than a week after several hundred community members gathered to mark the first anniversary of the Eaton fire.
Rabbi Joshua Ratner told the Times 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 Ratner interpreted as a reference to Renee Good, a woman shot and killed by a federal agent in Minneapolis last week.
A photo 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.
Jewish Federation’s Executive Director Jason Moss said he was appalled.
“For the last several years, we have witnessed an unprecedented rise of hate that has targeted the Jewish world,” explained Moss. “This incident does more than add ‘insult to injury,’ it further illustrates the hate, portrayed in this vandalism, Jews all across the world continue to face. I just don’t think people recognize or fully comprehend what this ongoing hate and targeting is doing to our local Jewish community.”
The Pasadena Jewish Temple and Center, known as PJTC, was located on Altadena Drive just south of Washington Boulevard. It was destroyed in the Eaton fire on Jan. 8, 2025.
The Times article was reported by Jill Cowan.
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