the Bloomfield Community is on edge as authorities search for the suspect who threw a Molotov cocktail at the entrance of a synagogue over the weekend Bloomfield Police say the bomb failed to go off and caused no damage fortunately but the psychological effects are being felt by residents terrified at what other threats could be ahead Ted Goldberg reports as part of our ongoing series exploring hate focusing on anti-Semitism racism and extremism you hear about all these anti-semitic incidents and you never think it's going to be your synagogue Wendy Grossman has attended Temple Ner Tamid in Bloomfield for more than 40 years she was horrified to hear that someone threw a Molotov cocktail at the synagogue on Sunday morning I am very proud of who our dad for any the person that at three in the morning they have nothing better to do than to try to destroy your damage a structure luckily for all the bomb did not go off we've got a huge challenge in the country right now with anti-semitic incidents and more anti-Semitism and hate writ large as we saw you know in recent days Congressman Josh Gottheimer visited the synagogue today which is now the focus of Investigation by local and state authorities along with the FBI this is the latest attack on the Jewish Community which has faced a sharp increase in anti-Semitism across the country a few years ago it was on there's a lot of negativity and anti-Semitism and and racism and you know and xenophobia under the surface like in like a Boiling Pot and social media and some obviously some national leaders took the top off the pot and just everything has flown over other people hear those things and then I I'm not truly understanding they get angry or they hear false things get angrier and then incidents like this happened back in the day if you hated Jews blacks the aapi Hindu Muslims whatever it was that you hated you might have felt alone and isolated you didn't have the outlet to go out and find others to comfort you and make you feel better it's pretty easy today if you hate someone to find yourself more feel more mainstreamed and if you feel more mainstream you're going to feel more empowered to do things like this Jason Shamus leads the Jewish Federation of Northern New Jersey he's pleased that the synagogue's cameras caught the suspect in the act and that the synagogue's defenses held strong there was no damage done that synagogue had received Homeland Security grants had fortified itself they had the shatterproof facade protecting glass and so the effect of the molotov cocktail was nil even with the fact that he didn't do any damage it terrorizes a community that's the nature of such hate crimes uh it terrorizes a community who all worry uh you know what's what's coming next Scott Richmond works with the Anti-Defamation League a Jewish non-governmental organization that tracks anti-Semitism and other forms of hate he says people can fight anti-Semitism with education a lot of these issues with anti-semitic attitudes are about the hearts and Minds hearts and minds of new jerseyans hearts and minds of all Americans and changing those hearts and Minds uh if they if they need to be changed if they believe in these conspiracy theories and tropes Rabbi Mark Katz put out a statement which reads in part everything worked as it should our cameras recorded the incident and are shatter resistant doors held but what I cannot do is convince our community not to grow despondent there is hate everywhere and hate wins when we let it penetrate our religious Traditions continue no Act of hate can stop the power of religious freedom the Bloomfield Police Department released this video of the suspect and is asking for anybody to help that might identify who the person is in Bloomfield I'm Ted Goldberg NJ Spotlight news leadership support for exploring hate is provided by the Sylvia a and Simon B poyda programming endowment to fight anti-Semitism with additional major funding from Sue and Edgar wachenheim III the Peter G Peterson and Joan Ganz Cooney fund and Patty Asquith Kenner additional support is provided by Nancy and Morris W Offutt and Josh Weston