Jewish community, supporters gather in Saugus following hate incident

SAUGUS (CBS) – A large crowd gathered outside Saugus Town Hall Wednesday night to come together following an incident of hate over the weekend. 

“My first thought was, ‘here we go again,'” said 90-year-old Ruthie Berg. “Everybody needs a scapegoat, you know? They blame the Jews for everything.” 

She’s talking about an incident over the weekend. On September 11, members of a known white supremacist group hung a banner over a Route 1 overpass that read, “Jews Did 9/11.” 

“On the scale of outrageous statements, this was up there simply in the brazenness of it,” said Rabbi Yossi Lipsker, who ran the event. “This past Sunday and Saturday was not the free speech that is a beacon of light in this country,” he told the crowd, with emotion in his voice. 

Sadly, many community members said the hateful language didn’t surprise them. “Not so shocked,” said Marc Baker, the President and CEO of the Combined Jewish Philanthropies of Greater Boston. “We know that antisemitism is on the rise right now across the country and I think we all have to have our eyes open to the fact that this kind of hate exists even when we don’t see it all the time.”

While the hateful language may not have surprised this North Shore Jewish Community, the outpouring of support and crowd that gathered on Wednesday sure did. 

“It’s just so moving but I’m just extremely… Extremely emotional,” the Rabbi said. “It was so inspiring. Everything about this was more than I thought it would be,” added Peabody resident Barbara Shapiro. 

The crowd prayed, spoke, and sang together. They were supported by police chiefs from several North Shore communities including Danvers, Peabody, and Salem, and joined by several elected officials as well. All vowed to do more to protect from hate speech and remind the Jewish community: hate has no home in the North Shore.