Wilfrid Laurier University in southern Ontario is investigating after two Jewish prayer scrolls were smashed and torn from residence doors during the Jewish New Year holiday of Rosh Hashanah.
“It’s just an annoying distraction from the positive work we’re trying to do,” Rabbi Moshe Goldman, director of Waterloo’s Rohr Chabad Centre for Jewish Life, told CBC News.
“We’re not dealing with somebody very mature. We’re not dealing with somebody very kind. This person needs help.”
The scrolls, called mezuzahs, are small cases containing parchment inscribed with passages from the Torah. They are traditionally attached to the doorways of Jewish homes.
Waterloo Regional Police Service told CBC News they are aware of the incident and have reviewed information gathered by Laurier’s Special Constable Service, but the investigation remains with the university.
“We take the safety of our students very seriously. We strongly condemn acts of antisemitism, and have zero tolerance for hate speech, racism, threats and harassment,” the university said in a statement to CBC News.
The two affected students reached out to Goldman through social media over the weekend. He said that when he saw the vandalism on Sunday, he immediately took action.
“I told them, ‘I’m coming tomorrow, and we’re going to put them back up. Get your friends together. We’re having a party.'”
On Monday, Goldman and Laurier dean of students Adam Lawrence replaced the mezuzahs and reattached them to the residents’ doors. About 25 students attended, along with members of the Jewish fraternity AEPi.
“It was great. A lot of hugs, a lot of smiles and a fair amount of relief,” Goldman said. “Even if there might be a rotten apple, there’s far more people of goodwill who will push right back.”
While Goldman may never truly know what motivated the perpetrator, he said the impact on Jewish students is clear at a time when concerns about antisemitism on university campuses are growing.
“I don’t know what the intent was. The effect, I know what it was,” Goldman said.
“The effect is intimidation. The effect is fear. The effect is being shaken and being unsure — can I live my life as a Jew in this part of the world?”
A national report released in August found that 95.7 per cent of Jewish students had experienced or witnessed at least one antisemitic incident.
Outside of post-secondary institutions, the region’s annual Snapshot of Hate Report documented 172 hate incident reports connected to Waterloo region in 2025, up from 79 the previous year. The total number of documented incidents is 289.
In Guelph, a Jewish place of worship near that city’s university has been vandalized with antisemitic graffiti twice this year.
“There’s no justifying it, there’s no whitewashing it, there’s no excuse for it,” Goldman said. “The only thing that the Jewish community wants from anyone out there is just to be left alone.”
Since the weekend vandalism, Goldman said, more than 50 students have requested a mezuzah for their rooms. An anonymous family of a Laurier student also donated $3,600 toward new mezuzahs, which cost $88 each.
“It’s almost like the silver lining is greater than the cloud,” Goldman said. “Certainly for our community, we’ve seen much worse and we’re not going anywhere.”
