The vigil featured rabbis, government officials, and members of the Jewish community expressing their sadness over the defaced gravestones.
Eileen Sorrentino and her husband John, from a neighboring town, went to see the damaged gravestones for the first time. There were some etched with swastikas and others that praised Hitler.
“It’s much more powerful being here,” Eileen said. “Which is really why we came because we were just so moved by what happened.”
John said he was surprised by the number of people who showed up the vigil.
“To walk in here and see hundreds of people is very heartening,” John said. “That the community comes together and tells whoever did this, ‘We’re not going to stand for this hatred.’”
The cemetery’s manager, Jeffrey Weissman, says the community must continue to come together to combat hatred.
“We as a diversified community are not going to stand for it,” Weissman said. “I am thrilled to see so many members of our community here today as proof that good conquers evil and what happened here will not divide or define us.”
Weissman said the monuments that were knocked over and those defaced will be cleaned and restored to their right positions.
