‘A painful thing’: Rabbi finds anti-Semitic flyer in Raleigh neighborhood

Walking through their Raleigh neighborhood on the Sabbath last week, Rabbi Eric Solomon of Beth Meyer Synagogue and his teenage daughter found a strange, plastic bag filled with a handful of rice and a piece of paper.

Solomon later discovered the paper was one of several anti-Semitic hate flyers strewn across his neighborhood last week.

At least four different flyers were found in the neighborhood with many Jewish residents. They displayed what the rabbi described as “Holocaust imagery” alongside a list of political figures of Jewish descent.

“It was shocking,” he said. “Deeply upsetting.”

Solomon said some neighbors brought similar flyers to his door after finding them at the foot of their driveways.

“My impression was that it was intentional,” Solomon said.

Law enforcement has been “very sympathetic and very helpful” throughout this matter, the rabbi said.

However, according to spokesman Lt. Jason Borneo, the Raleigh Police Department is no longer actively looking into the flyers.

“These cases were investigated, but they are no longer active cases as they did not rise to the level of a crime,” Borneo said. “However, we understand the community’s concerns regarding these types of incidents and encourage people to contact the Raleigh Police Department when these events occur.”

Solomon said the flyers remain a concern.

“The flyers imply a kind of violence to them,” he explained. “What starts with language leads to violence and real threats.”

For a religious congregation that includes Holocaust survivors and their descendants, this imagery is particularly unsettling. It “reverberates in the soul” of Solomon’s congregation, he said, as anti-Semitic violence climbs nationwide.

Solomon said he struggles to comprehend why the Jewish community must continuously defend its existence in a country he deeply loves.

“When’s the day going to come when we don’t have to play this role?” he asked.

Although Raleigh and Solomon’s neighborhood are welcoming communities, these flyers show hatred exists even in the safest communities, Solomon said.

“It’s a painful thing to have to turn to one’s child in 2022 and explain anti-Semitic lies that have been so pervasive for so long,” he said.

This story was originally published August 20, 2022 at 6:30 AM.