Police in a northern suburb of Chicago are searching for a person who recently vandalized a synagogue with antisemitic graffiti.

Around 8:30 p.m. Aug. 31, an unidentified person spray painted a "phallic symbol" in the parking lot of the Congregation Or Shalom, located at 21 West Hawthorn Parkway in Vernon Hills, as well as the words "hate jews" on an interior-facing wall, police said.

"As the curse of antisemitism has breached our property, we can choose how to respond," Congregation Or Shalom Rabbi Ari Margolis said in a post on Facebook . "Do we meet hate with hate, or to allow this to push us into a cycle of fear? Or do we choose to rise to the moment and meet hate with love and with hope."

Margolis said the "cowardly act" that was meant to make congregation members "feel alone and

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