By: Randolph McNally
Pigs don’t fly, but pork chops can, and did, in the direction of an upstate synagogue.
Tara Rios, 47, of Hudson, was arraigned in Livingston Town Court two days ago. She was charged with first-degree harassment as a hate crime for allegedly pitching the pork.
Rios showed up at Congregation Anshe Emeth in Greenport on January 19th and tossed a package of pork chops on its front steps, CBS 6 Albany reported. She returned to the synagogue at 3 a.m. to photograph her actions, police said. She was released on her own recognizance and is scheduled to return to court on Monday.
“These acts caused the membership of Congregation Anshe Emeth to be in reasonable fear of further anti-Semitic acts which could result in physical injury,” according to the criminal complaint filed by state police, Columbia-Greene Media reported.
Though the pork tossing is among the more benign anti-Jewish acts, it remains indicative of a very troubling trend. As Governor Andrew Cuomo recently said, “This is a national phenomenon that we are seeing and it’s frightening and it’s disturbing. If anyone thinks that something poisonous is not going on in this country, then they’re in denial.”
New York City Police Commissioner Dermot Shea said publicly weeks ago, “It is truly to me surreal to be having the same conversation about hate, a conversation about intolerance. This affects us all.”
Rios’ brainless act is part of the phenomenon that led to the early January march across the Brooklyn Bridge by thousands who came together to combat the rising tide of antisemitism. “Today we are all Monsey,” activist Devorah Halberstam told marchers. “Today we are all Crown Heights. … We will not tolerate being attacked in our shuls, in our homes or walking down the street.”
Another responses to the recent hate crime spree came, interestingly, from the National Basketball Association. In light of the numerous anti-Semitic attacks that have taken place in Brooklyn over the past few months, during pre-game last night the Brooklyn Nets wore a specially created “No Place for Hate” shirt, in collaboration with ADL (the Anti-Defamation League). No Place for Hate ® is ADL’s signature education program for combating bias, bullying and hatred in public schools.
“In 2018, 13 out of the 17 reported anti-Semitic assaults in New York City took place in the borough of Brooklyn, and in 2019, ADL and the NYPD tracked an alarming increase in the frequency and aggressiveness of anti-Semitic hate crimes,” the organization said in a release. “During the five-week period from Dec.1, 2019 through Jan. 6, 2020, ADL counted 43 anti-Semitic incidents statewide, up from 30 incidents during the same five-week period a year ago. Nine of the incidents during this five-week period were in Brooklyn. This data represents a more than 40 percent increase year-over-year.”
The Brooklyn Borough President’s Office recently contributed additional funding to the ADL’s No Place for Hate program, bringing the program to as many as 40 Brooklyn schools — with an emphasis on public schools in Crown Heights and Williamsburg, where there are large Jewish populations.
