The police department in Melrose, Mass., said on Tuesday that it is still trying to determine the cause of a broken fence and charred Jewish tombstone at the Workmen’s Circle Cemetery on the outskirts of the city, one of several area plots owned and managed by the Jewish Cemetery Association of Massachusetts.
Photos show the corner of the fence caved in with its upper metal beam bent, surrounded by burnt pieces of wood collapsed on top of a grave. One tombstone was found knocked over and burned.
Law enforcement received word of the incident in the predominantly Catholic suburb due north of Boston on Aug. 20.
Rain and a possible lightning strike the evening before may have caused the damage, according to the Melrose Police Department. Out of an abundance of caution, however, it has increased patrols in the area.
In May, Rabbi Moshe Bleich of the Wellesley Weston Chabad in the Boston area told JNS about eight instances of vandalized or stolen pro-Israel signs at his synagogue. In March, police in Newton, Mass., had opened seven hate-crime investigations in the previous weeks.
As a result, the governor, Maura Healey, signed a state budget on July 29 that included funding for a special commission on antisemitism.
