One of the largest shuls in Efrat (**NOT** the Central Synagogue as was misreported in the media), Tiferet Avot was desecrated last night by vandals, probably Arabs. The vandals appeared to approached the shul from the west facing the main road (Route 60) from Jerusalem through Gush Etzion all the way to Be'er Sheva. This side of Efrat was generally considered not to be a security problem.

The vandals flooded the main shul from the fire hose, and also sprayed Coca Cola around the Beit Hamidrash, especially the seats. They also pulled a lot of the sifrei kodesh down from the shelves from the extensive Hebrew and English library in the Beit Hamidrash, and sprayed them with Coke as well. It is not clear yet how many of the sifrei kodesh can and cannot be saved.

The vandals also spray painted both Aronei Kodesh and the walls with swastikas, and wrote on the walls in English ("Neess"), Hebrew ("Hitler destroyed germs"). and most extensively in Arabic ("Regards from Jibril Rajub" [the Palestinian Preventive Security Chief]; "The Hizbollah [i.e., the Lebanese Shi'ite terorist group that pushed Israel out of Lebanon] is a bone in your throat"; and an unintelligible hodge podge of Arabic and Persian).

The shul membership, which has a majority of English speakers, is trying to repair as much of the damage as possible prior to Shabbat.

Hershel G.