Anti-Semitic holiday messages left in mailboxes in Florida community

Marcy Oster

(JTA) — Anti-Semitic messages were left in the mailboxes of Jewish families in a gated community in southern Florida.

The messages left in at least two of the mailboxes in Cooper City in Broward County, Florida over the weekend read: X-mas is not for the Jews.” The words “not” and “Jews” were underlined, the Florida Sun-Sentinel reported Monday.

The notes come on the heels of an anti-Muslim epithet spray painted on the wall of a local Muslim school, according to the newspaper.

“It’s had the opposite effect of whatever they intended because I had an outpouring of support from people of all faiths — it’s turned a negative into a positive,” Greg Popowitz told the newspaper, which described his home holiday decorations as including white lights on the palm trees, a Jewish star dangling from a lantern, and an inflatable six-foot-tall bear holding a dreidel.

The note left in the mailbox of a local rabbi, who drives a van with a menorah strapped on top, read: “WTF is on your Roof? #X-Mas is Better.”

“I don’t know if it’s silly kids or one person who is a hater,” Malky Goodman, the rabbi’s wife, told the newspaper. “There’s people who do stuff for hate for no reason.”

Residents in the Monterra development reportedly have complained about a holiday display which included a Hanukkah menorah next to the Christmas tree.

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