“Even if it takes a village to outshine one bad egg, I hope enough people will follow and help”
The vandalism at Camp Eitz Chaim, located in Dingmans Ferry, a town in the Pennsylvania Catskills, was a minor blip in a spate of anti-Semitic acts that has included beatings and harassment in Brooklyn and hate graffiti in Manhattan and Coney Island. All of these acts have served as a painful reminder that Jews are still not welcome everywhere.
Except that the Dingmans Ferry story has a surprise happy ending. Eitner was so disturbed at seeing the sign that she organized a GoFundMe fundraising campaign among the city’s non-Jewish residents to buy the camp a new one.
“It is extremely sad to see how neighbors treat fellow neighbors,” wrote Eitner, a lifelong resident of the area, on the GoFundMe campaign page. “I would like to restore faith in humanity and help them come up with the money for a new sign and show them that Dingmans Ferry is still a safe place to visit. They shouldn’t feel ashamed or fear residing here because some stupid [person] decides to do this. We are better than this, and even if it takes a village to outshine one bad egg, I hope enough people will follow and help.”
Eitner said in an interview that she expected two or three people to respond. Instead, she was surprised that donations surged past the initial $200 goal to reach $335.
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