Menorahs across the US are vandalized

(JTA) — In Oakland, California, an 11-foot-tall Chanukah menorah was broken and thrown into a lake. In New Haven, Connecticut, a Palestinian flag was planted in a publicly displayed menorah. In Juno Beach, Florida, a menorah made of sand was destroyed.

As Jewish communities around the United States celebrated Chanukah over the past week, numerous stories of vandalism and destruction circulated online as public menorahs — many of them sponsored by local outposts of the Chabad-Lubavitch movement — were targeted. Some of the incidents are being investigated as hate crimes.

The acts of vandalism c...