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Newington temple reports antisemitic hack of online service

A hateful breach of a Jewish congregation’s recent online worship service included swastikas scrawled on a shared screen.

The hack of Temple Sinai’s service Friday lasted about three seconds, “but it was three seconds too long,” Rabbi Jeffrey Bennett said Monday.

The intrusion came during Mourner’s Kaddish, a remembrance of loved ones who have died, as about 200 congregation members watched on Zoom and Facebook Live, Bennett said. The “Zoom bombers” used the system’s “annotate” feature to post swastikas on the shared screen. They also used the audio feature to play klezmer music (a type of traditional Jewish music) and the chat feature to write inappropriate messages for all to see, according to temple leaders.