Mezuzah Burnings Probed as Possible Hate Crime: Sources
Police are investigating a possible hate crime in Brooklyn where mezuzahs were burned off the doorframes of at least a dozen apartments inside a public housing building, according to law enforcement sources.
Police received the call at 85 Taylor St. in Williamsburg Monday afternoon, and hate crime investigators joined officers at the scene. They are reviewing security video as part of the probe.
“The mezuzahs appear to have been burned with either a lighter or perhaps a lighter with accelerant, or some type of blowtorch,” said City Councilman Stephen Levin. “They were severely burned.”
A mezuzah is an object inscribed with Hebrew verses that is affixed to doorways outside Jewish homes.
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