On the final days of Hanukkah earlier this week, disturbing graffiti was discovered along Lake Merritt, where Chabad of Oakland had erected a giant public menorah.
“Israelis are the new Nazis!” was scrawled, with an arrow pointing toward the menorah a short distance away.
It was the second Hanukkah in a row that Chabad’s menorah became the target of hate. In 2023, Chabad’s 11-foot menorah was torn apart in the middle of the night, with large pieces scattered across the sidewalk and thrown into the lake. Antisemitic graffiti was left where it had stood.
Zoe Levine Lenhoff, who is active in the Oakland Jewish Alliance, was sent photos of this year’s graffiti on Dec. 30 and reported it to Oakland Public Works. Within a day, the graffiti was painted over. Levine Lenhoff said she didn’t know whether it was a city employee or a private citizen who did so.
Then on Jan. 1, the same graffiti reappeared — even larger. This time, a member of the Oakland Jewish Alliance, JT Mates-Muchin, cleaned it up, Levine Lenhoff said.
Levine Lenhoff, a 34-year-old mother of three, has been leading cleanup efforts for the group, which formed in October 2023 following the Hamas massacre in Israel. According to the alliance’s website, the group seeks to fight antisemitism and safeguard Jewish civil rights.
Levine Lenhoff said she takes her children on daily walks around the lake and regularly spots antisemitic or anti-Israel graffiti. She documents each instance, finds volunteers to paint over the graffiti (or does so herself) and reports it to Oakland Public Works by dialing 311. She said she is concerned about her children seeing the messages, which often use explicit language.
“It feels that it’s just the Jewish community who cares, who feels that this is targeted to them, and it’s only our problem,” Levine Lenhoff told J. “While I appreciate [the city] expediting these requests to 311, it’s clearly not enough. [Antisemitic graffiti] has been showing up now for 13, 14 months, relentlessly, nonstop. So it’s not enough. There needs to be consequences for these vandals.”
Tye Gregory, CEO of the Jewish Community Relations Council Bay Area, wrote on Jan. 2 on X: “Oakland continues to be ground zero for antisemitic hatred in the Bay Area, California, and America –– without exaggeration.” He also referenced the special election for Oakland mayor set for April: “We will be asking candidates how they plan to tackle this endemic problem if elected.”
Jonathan Mintzer, JCRC’s senior director of government affairs, heard about the graffiti through a WhatsApp group of local Jewish advocacy groups.
“It’s very clear that Oakland officials have been ignoring these issues for too long,” he told J.
For Chabad of Oakland Rabbi Dovid Labkowski, the recent incident was, unfortunately, one among many.
“Our center is near the lake,” he said. “We have people in our community who walk [around] the lake every single day. You have anti-Jewish, anti-Israel graffiti literally almost daily. It’s cleaned up, and it’s sprayed again.”
Following the 2023 menorah vandalism, Labkowski said he heard from Oakland neighbors, some of whom identified as pro-Palestinian, who were upset about the menorah getting caught up in the political divide in such an ugly way. A few days later, hundreds of people came to a Hanukkah event at the site to show support and unity, celebrating with a borrowed menorah.
“Ultimately, the menorah is not about Israel, and it’s not about politics.” Labkowski said. “There were a lot of people from all political sides that came together… It was very important to us that this year we continue that.”
For 2024, a new menorah was erected — standing 19 feet tall — and attached more securely with a heavy concrete base. Labkowski coordinated with local congregations to recruit volunteers to monitor the menorah. He told J. he also spoke with an unhoused family living nearby who volunteered to keep watch.
“We had our rabbinical students go every day to light it,” Labkowksi said. “Every time, there were people watching it … walking back and forth, making sure it’s protected.”