Outpouring of community help for vandalized Jewish cemetery
PHILADELPHIA — Dozens of volunteers from various faiths helped clean up a Jewish cemetery on Tuesday after scores of tombstones were toppled by vandals, as people from as far as Boston came to Philadelphia to rake leaves, help document the damage and pray for peace.
Police have not determined who was behind the vandalism at Mount Carmel Cemetery, which was reported over the weekend, or the motive. Various donors have come forward to offer a reward adding up to $50,000 for information leading to an arrest.
The desecration of more than 100 graves in the crowded cemetery came as Jewish Community Centers and day schools around the nation deal with wave after wave of hoax bomb threats. A Jewish cemetery in suburban St. Louis has also been targeted.
Republican President Donald Trump, who has been criticized as lax in denouncing the threats and other anti-Semitic acts across the country, opened his address Tuesday night to a joint session of Congress with his strongest condemnation yet.