Molotov Cocktail Hurled at a New Jersey Synagogue, Police Say

A man wearing a ski mask lit the wick of a Molotov cocktail and hurled it at the front door of a Bloomfield, N.J., synagogue early on Sunday morning, the latest episode in an uptick of harassment and violence targeting Jews and Jewish institutions, the authorities said.

The Molotov cocktail’s bottle broke, and the synagogue, Temple Ner Tamid, was undamaged, the Bloomfield Police Department said in a news release.

The man was wearing black clothing, including a shirt that appeared to have a skull and crossbones design on it, according to the synagogue’s surveillance footage. The police said the man “fled down the driveway,” though it was unclear if he got away on foot or by car.

About six hours after the attack, temple staff members discovered what had happened and notified the police. The synagogue said in a statement that the fire went out on impact and that the door was secure.

All scheduled activities on Sunday were canceled, and the synagogue said it expected an ongoing and heightened police presence in the coming days.

Marc Katz, the temple’s rabbi, said in the statement that the synagogue has and “will continue to do everything in our power to keep our community safe.”

“Everything worked as it should,” he said. “Our cameras recorded the incident, and our shatter-resistant doors held.”

The state attorney general, Matthew J. Platkin, said in a statement that his office was also made aware of a separate “attack on members of a church in Monmouth County” on Saturday.

He did not offer details or say whether the attacks were linked but described the attack on the church as “another incident being pursued as potentially bias-motivated.”

“We are cognizant of the fact that these attacks have occurred while violence continues to erupt in Israel, and while our own nation reckons with violence at home,” he said.

A representative from his office was not immediately available to comment on Sunday.

Michael Venezia, the mayor of Bloomfield, a township about eight miles north of Newark, said on Facebook that “hate and antisemitism will not be tolerated and have no place in our welcoming community.”

The Anti-Defamation League of New York and New Jersey said in a joint statement issued with partner organizations that the attempted arson at Temple Ner Tamid came amid a “spike in antisemitic incidents” and recent threats at synagogues in New Jersey.

In November, an 18-year-old man from Middlesex County, N.J., was charged with threatening to attack a synagogue and Jews that month. The episode prompted a rare warning from the Federal Bureau of Investigation in New Jersey of a broad threat to synagogues in the state.

In 2021, the Anti-Defamation League recorded 370 antisemitic incidents in New Jersey, representing the highest number ever recorded by the organization for the state — and the second-highest total recorded across the country that year.

Figures from 2022 are not yet available, but they will not show a decrease, said Scott Richman, regional director of the Anti-Defamation League of New York and New Jersey.

“Antisemitism is on the rise,” Mr. Richman said. “We are not in a vacuum here. Jews are not alone in this. It’s not just antisemitism. It’s about hate. We are one of the victims.”