Up to 200 headstones damaged at Jewish cemetery in Missouri

UNIVERSITY CITY, Mo. – As many as 200 headstones at a Jewish cemetery were toppled over the weekend here in a case that is making national headlines.

Anita Feigenbaum, executive director of the Chesed Shel Emeth Cemetery, said officials will be cataloging the damage Tuesday and notifying relatives whose families are affected. A monument company will decide which headstones need to be replaced and which need to be reset, she said.

Feigenbaum was emotional in describing the damage she saw.

“It’s hard to even express how terrible it was,” she said Tuesday morning. “It was horrible.”

Police are investigating the vandalism, which happened sometime over the weekend. No arrests had been made, as of Tuesday. Asked whether the incident is being investigated as a hate crime, Detective Lt. Fredrick Lemons II said police were keeping all options open.

Lemons said police were notified of the vandalism at about 8:30 a.m. Monday. Investigators are looking for clues from video surveillance cameras on the cemetery property and nearby businesses.

According to its website, the cemetery dates to 1893.

The damage was done to an older part of the cemetery, on the southeast end. In one swath, for example, spread across about 40 yards, two dozen stones are toppled but 10 rows of stones nearby are untouched. A semicircle of destruction included stones marked with names of Schaefer, Weisman, Weinstein, Pearl and Levinson, but one headstone in the middle, with the name Levy, was unscathed. The years of death on these stones ranged from about 1921 to 1962.

Karen Aroesty, regional director of the Anti-Defamation League, said she had an emotional reaction to seeing the headstones damaged.

“To see their lives desecrated is horrific,” Aroesty said.

She said she didn’t know if the headstones had been damaged as an act of hatred but questioned motives that would lead to the act.

The league tweeted Monday, “Have not seen desecration like this in region. Will work with law enforcement and community to support. Thanks for the solidarity and support.”

The incident comes on the same day several Jewish community centers around the country received bomb threats, according to the Jewish Community Center Association.

Aroesty said she believes the anxiety that some people may feel over those threats only worsens with incidents such as the vandalism at the cemetery.

People in the St. Louis area have asked Aroesty via tweets and emails how they can help the cemetery, she said. The league intends to work with the community and police to address what happened.

Gov. Eric Greitens denounced the vandalism as a “despicable act” in a post late Monday on his Facebook page.

“Anyone who would seek to divide us through an act of desecration will find instead that they unite us in shared determination,” he said. “From their pitiful act of ugliness, we can emerge even more powerful in our faith.”

A Lutheran church, All Nations Church, was among those trying to raise money for the cleanup. Its pastor, Chris Paavola, said of the vandalism: “This is just intolerable. It’s a hateful act.”

Feigenbaum busily fielded calls Tuesday. It was “tremendous outpouring of support,” both from people wanting to donate money and others volunteering to help clean up, she said.

The weight of the stones might leave the actual cleanup to the professionals, she said, and she is waiting for an estimate on how expensive it will be to reset or replace the stones.