Menorah at Dartmouth shot with pellets in latest Hanukkah attack

• Date: 18 December 2020
• Author: Ben Sales
• Published date: 18 December 2020
• Publication title: Israel National News (Israel)

Rabbi Moshe Gray, who runs the campus Chabad center with his wife Chani, said he discovered the vandalism on Wednesday evening, as he prepared to turn on the menorah's electric lights for the holiday's seventh night. Holes from a pellet gun had broken seven of the menorah's nine lights.

He says he knew it was a targeted attack on the menorah, which stands in a central location on campus, because a nearby Christmas tree was left unharmed.

"Nothing like this has ever happened," in the couple's 17 years on campus, he told the Jewish Telegraphic Agency Thursday. "Dartmouth is pretty quiet when it comes to things like this. It was pretty shocking to come to the realization that somebody, on purpose, shot the menorah."

There are about 400 Jews amid a total Dartmouth student body of 4000, according to the school's Hillel.

In a letter to the school community, Dartmouth President Philip J. Hanlon called the vandalism "an affront to all."

"To the Jewish members of our community, at Dartmouth and beyond, we stand with you in anger and sadness at this despicable act, which is much more than vandalism or a prank, for it seeks to diminish the rich culture and history of the Jewish people," he...