The email landed in Mayor Arlene Burgos’ inbox at around 6:35am on March 23rd. It was from a distressed Irvington resident who had run into some concerning graffiti at the local train station. Unaware of what she was about to encounter, Mayor Burgos rushed down to the scene. She was shocked to come face to face with an anti-semitic message scrawled on the wall, visible for all to see. It read: F*ck the Jews.
Naturally, her first instinct was to remove the graffiti. The next? To act as a community and counter the act of hate. When Rabbi Benjy Silverman, co-director of the Chabad of Rivertowns, reached out to her later that night to rectify the wrong, Burgos eagerly accepted his help and they started planning a ceremony at the Irvington Train Station. Their goal, as Burgos put it, was to “bring light into a space of darkness”.
The ceremony took place on March 24th at 7pm.
I stood in the chilly spring evening, and watched two young children with kippah’s pulled their father towards the tracks, desperate to see trains rush by. An old couple shuffled across the sidewalk and disappeared into the train station tunnel. I followed behind them.
The scene of the crime had been covered with a large white canvas, dubbed the “Wall of Light”. On it were words of support to the Jewish community, such as love wins and we are proud.
As more people trickled in, a sense of community blanketed the group. Dozens and dozens of people had shown up for one another, which truly exemplified town pride and unity.
Legislator David Imamura said, “I am thrilled to see that the community that I grew up in, the community that I’ve chosen to raise my kids in, is rallying against hatred.”
After writing on the “Wall of Light”, the crowd made their way to the train platform, and the ceremony commenced with Rabbi Silverman leading us in songs of unity and peace. Voices wound together to create a unified— although slightly out of pitch— melody, not even drowned out by the roaring trains and blaring announcements.
Rabbi Silverman followed the singing with a speech about community strength. “We don’t just respond with words,” he said. “We respond by bringing more light into the world than there was yesterday.”
But although the sense of unity was prevalent, there was an underlying darkness. The reason everyone was there could not be covered in cobwebs.
“I never thought we’d see it here,” said Irvington resident Lori Sloane. “I always thought that all of the precautions we took were sort of silly living in this small town.” Many other residents expressed similar sentiments: they couldn’t believe their home had been targeted.
Although the attack evidently shook Irvington residents, it was not at the forefront of anyone’s mind by the end of the night. Instead, everyone was appreciative of their community, and proud to live somewhere that took immediate action to protect them.
As for the perpetrator, they have not been caught yet, and the MTA has been given jurisdiction of the case since it happened on their property.
All photos by Clara Stern.
