Numerous Mezuzos Replace One Mezuzah Vandalized at Harvard

After an anti-Semitic thug removed a mezuzah from a Harvard University dorm room, students banded to put up even more mezuzos by recruiting dozens of new Jewish students to affix mezuzos on their doorways.

By Anash.org reporter

After an anonymous vandal ripped a mezuzah off the door of a college freshman at Harvard University’s room. Determined to fight back, the students rallied up dozens of Jewish students in a mezuzah campaign and affixed many more rooms with mezuzos as a result.

In a valiant show of fighting darkness with light and hatred with acts of goodness, the students at Harvard University and their shliach, went to many rooms of Jewish students and proudly affixed a mezuzah to their doorway for the first time.

“We must recognize this incident for what it truly is: a hate crime,” Rabbi Hirschy Zarchi wrote in the college paper, the Harvard Crimson “To tear down a Mezuzah is to send a message of intimidation and erasure,” he added. “It’s not just a matter of vandalism; it is an attack on the very identity of the Jewish community at Harvard.”

“This act didn’t just hurt the student who was attacked; it hurt all of us,” said Ruth, one of the students who joined the mezuzah campaign in the dorms. “We won’t sit idly by while our religious identity is threatened.”

Many took to social media to call out the hate crime and bring light to the new mezuzah campaign instigated, encouraging all students on campus to be proud Yidden and place a sign of their identity at the doorway.

Harvard Chabad posted on social media:

“In light of the shocking incident that occurred last night in Harvard Yard, where the Mezuzah of a Jewish student was ripped off her dorm room sometime after 2 AM, we call on the university and law enforcement, to immediately investigate this hate crime.

“The perpetrator should be prosecuted to the full extent of the law. Harvard Chabad is offering to assist any Jewish student who would like to hang a Mezuzah on their dorm room, a personal house call by one of our rabbis to assist you.

“We have Mezuzahs available for sale, loan, or as gift to you from the Jewish community. The same offer is available to all Harvard affiliates, including faculty and staff. Please reach out, and we will be right over!”