A vandal was caught on video urinating on a sukkah and trying to kick the Jewish religious structure down on Manhattan’s Upper East Side over the weekend, police and faith leaders said Sunday.
The Chabad Israel Center released partial footage of the hateful incident, which took place at East 92nd Street and First Avenue around 1:20 a.m. Saturday, a day before the start of the Jewish holiday of Sukkot.
A heroic New Yorker intervened and stopped the vandalism, Rabbi Uriel Vigler said, adding that the good Samaritan hasn’t yet been identified.
“We are grateful to the brave New Yorker, who demonstrated what New York is all about, standing up to look after one another,” said Vigler, who co-directs Chabad Israel Center.
“What the public can do to fight back against this is to find a Sukkah, wherever they are, and during Sukkot make a blessing there and shake the lulav and esrog,” he said in a statement. “Sukkot is about unity, and this Jewish year is a Hakhel year, a year of gathering, underscoring the theme of unity, so this presents another opportunity for people to come together and do a mitzvah.”
The Sukkah was built on Friday morning to give Jewish families a place to eat during the week-long Jewish festival of Sukkot, which begins Sunday evening.
The NYPD confirmed it is investigating the incident.