Answers Sought After Mezuzah Torn Down at Northeastern University Hillel Center in Boston

A mezuzah was torn down earlier this week from the back entrance of the Hillel Jewish student center at Northeastern University in Boston, Massachusetts.

Days before @NU_Hillel is set to host reformed neo-Nazi @tmgarret for a conversation about racism and hate. https://t.co/PBx4ZrCwsG

— Melissa Weiss (@melissaeweiss) October 19, 2021

“We are working with university administrators and law enforcement to ensure the matter is investigated and those responsible are held to account,” Northeastern Hillel said in a statement. “We would like to thank Northeastern for their swift response and hope that the perpetrators be held accountable for this despicable action.”

We came to the @NU_Hillel yesterday morning for daily morning services and discovered the mezuzah had been ripped from the entrance.

The Police opened an investigation. pic.twitter.com/lwUSFbnMrP

— Elie Codron (@eliecodron) October 19, 2021

“No form of hatred or discrimination should be allowed on campus,” it added. “We will continue to work with our campus and community partners to ensure all Jewish students feel safe and welcome on campus, and that incidents like this do not happen again.”

Saddening to have come into Northeastern University’s Hillel to find the mezuzah ripped from the building’s entrance.

Authorities have been contacted and an investigation is being carried out.

Hopefully the individual/s responsible for this will be held accountable. pic.twitter.com/HDKluk0vvq

— Yoni Michanie (@YoniMichanie) October 19, 2021

The incident at the Hillel building — located in Boston’s Fenway neighborhood — was recorded by a security camera. Campus police are investigating the incident.

Around 1,000 Jewish students attend Northeastern University.

The targeting of mezuzahs is unfortunately a common antisemitic trend both in the U.S. and across the globe.

Last month, at another Boston-area institution, Tufts University, a mezuzah was stripped from the doorpost of a Jewish student’s dorm room.

At Indiana University-Bloomington, there have been at least four mezuzah-related vandalism incidents since Rosh Hashanah.

And this troubling phenomenon is not limited to college campuses. In July incident in Philadelphia that was later reported to the Combat Antisemitism Movement (CAM), a mezuzah was discovered missing from a Jewish family’s home.

Earlier this year, two similar incidents occurred in a suburb of London, England.

Last December, in an effort to address rising Jew-hatred on campus, the Student Government Association at Northeastern adopted the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance (IHRA) working definition of antisemitism. Northeastern was one of the first large private universities in the U.S. to take this important step.