Vandals trash Hanukkah yard display

The snowman down the block is inflated, the pumpkins across the street are intact and the Christmas lights next door are unharmed.

But early Sunday morning, someone smashed the three lighted dreidels that Joshua and Cynthia Follick erected in their front yard to celebrate Hanukkah this year.

The Follicks are Orthodox Jews who have lived in their home near 120th and Pacific Streets for nearly four years. Joshua works as a truck driver. They attend Beth Israel Synagogue, about a mile from their home.

They’re a family who committed to Omaha because of its simple charms and lifestyle, Joshua said. Their neighborhood always seemed to be a tolerant one. The Follicks were close friends with a Muslim family who lived nearby, until they moved away. Joshua says he’d walk to Sabbath services in traditional Jewish attire without any issues.

This year, Joshua said the couple wanted to erect their own holiday display “and say, ‘Hey, we’re part of the neighborhood and we want to celebrate with everybody else.’”

They spent several hundred dollars to build a custom set of lighted dreidels — the four-sided tops traditionally associated with Hanukkah festivities — and set them in their front yard near the sidewalk.

“And then you kind of get kicked in the teeth like this,” Joshua said.

Cynthia discovered the vandalism early Sunday morning, when she noticed the dreidels were unlit. Vandals tore the lights from the metal frames and smashed the structures, possibly damaging them beyond repair. The display was only up for about a week.

“We have a bunch of bent poles,” Cynthia said. “That’s what we got — and broken-up lights.”

This summer, arsonists destroyed a $10,000 playground set at the nearby synagogue. At the time, police said they found no evidence the attack was a hate crime.

Joshua is unsure whether there’s a link between that incident and his holiday decorations, but he’s convinced the couple was singled out.

“Based on the way it is so absolutely laser-focused on a Jewish symbol, I gotta say this isn’t just a random case of kids behaving badly,” Joshua said. “This had to be something that was really specifically targeted against Jews.”

Hanukkah this year will begin at sunset on Dec. 11 and last until sunset on Dec. 19.

The Follicks hope to rebuild the holiday display by then. Cynthia, for one, does not want to give the impression that the family is intimidated by the vandalism.

“I’m going to say, ‘I’m sorry, but I have a right to freedom of speech,’” Cynthia said.

Contact the writer:

444-1068, johnny.perez@owh.com

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