A second case of mezuzah removal, evidently driven by antisemitism, has rattled residents of the North York suburb in Toronto, Canada's largest city.
The Jewish news site CJN reported that police confirmed they responded to the Paplas Gate apartment building around midday Thursday, with officers and investigators arriving at the scene.
Luxury condo on Bayview Avenue vandalized, with an unknown person tearing mezuzahs from around half a dozen doorframes.
Police are investigating.
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Three apartments sustained damage, according to Toronto police. Ashley Weiser, a public relations officer with Toronto police, confirmed damage to three units. All were located on the same floor, which police learned was the penthouse level. One resident was traveling abroad when the incident unfolded.
Sources informed police that at least one mezuzah was ripped off and discarded on the ground. Officers were summoned after a caregiver discovered a mezuzah missing from her client's apartment door, sources told police. Toronto police disclosed that the hate crimes unit has also been briefed on the incident.
The apartment tower is home to numerous Jewish residents and sits just over a kilometer north of Beit Tikvah synagogue, which endured multiple antisemitic attacks throughout 2024, including arson.
The case arrived just two and a half weeks after roughly 100 mezuzahs were stripped from doors at a seniors residence in North York. Toronto police labeled the first incident on December 7 at 6250 Bathurst a hate-motivated theft. The two buildings stand approximately six kilometers (3.7 miles) apart. The Bathurst facility operates under Toronto Seniors Housing, a division of Toronto Public Housing.
"This case of vandalized mezuzahs, again, serves as another example of the hatred that has poisoned our city, frequently a consequence of incitement by the mobs in the streets and online vitriol," City Councilor James Pasternak declared in a statement to CJN Thursday evening. The antisemitic mezuzah incident on Bathurst occurred in his district.
"There must be universal condemnation of these acts. And there must be repercussions. The calls in the streets and the atmosphere of lawlessness are dragging Toronto into the abyss," Pasternak added.
Residents of the apartment complex received a notice from the Paplas Gate property management company urging anyone with information or who witnessed anything to step forward, CJN learned. The letter also implies that someone within the complex perpetrated the vandalism.
"In the current climate of the world, this is not considered a random act of destruction, it is considered a targeted antisemitic act," the letter from Paplas Gate property management company stated. "In the 30 years of our residential complex's existence, we have never experienced, not even for a single second, any kind of hatred toward our community residents from people in our community," the company declared.
One resident, who requested anonymity and was not among the victims, spent Sunday fielding phone calls from owners asking whether their units were targeted. The resident has lived in the building for more than 25 years. "A lot of people are very frightened," they told CJN in an interview. "I'm not so much afraid, as angry and troubled that this could have happened. They don't have cameras in the hallways or stairwells, so police are examining fingerprints, doing everything they can," the resident said.
When asked whether they believed the latest incident was a copycat of the far larger antisemitic mezuzah thefts earlier this month at the other building, the resident had previously considered that as well. "Maybe they drew inspiration from that. It was someone who was angry at the Jewish people."
