This Sunday’s reading from the Book of Genesis speaks of the Garden of Eden as a tranquil first home for humanity—until evil entered the picture. Cemeteries are to be tranquil final resting places for beloved ancestors, but a recent wave of anti-Semitic attacks around the country has included the desecration of at least two Jewish cemeteries, as well as countless bomb threats against Jewish community centers around the nation. 

“This is not normal, when pre-schoolers are evacuated from schools, when relatives have to wonder whether the graves of their loved ones are destroyed.”

The number of violent anti-Semitic assaults taking place in the U.S. is steadily rising, according to the Anti Defamation League's latest Audit of Anti-Semitic Incidents.