Barry Morrison

There is a "tolerance of intolerance" in this country and Barry Morrison wants it to stop. Hate-filled rhetoric goes unchallenged, and Morrison wants to know where the responsible leaders are. Barry Morrison, director of the regional office in Philadelphia of the Anti-Defamation League of B'nai B'rith, has been busy with hate lately. First, it was the arrest of two teenage brothers, Bryan and David Freeman, accused of killing their parents and younger brother in suburban Allentown in February.

Vandals sprayed anti-Semitic graffiti on street signs in this area earlier this month, but according to state police and the Anti-Defamation League, there are no signs that hate-crime is increasing in Chester County. Several street signs in the Davis Road area were spray-painted with swastikas, and at least one had the word Jews written underneath, said Uwchlan Police Chief Pat Davis. Cpl. Jack Laufer of the state police said the graffiti appeared to be isolated incidents.

Talk of citizens militia groups forming in Delaware County has stirred worries among watchdog groups that hate crime may follow, despite the fact that militia movement leaders say they are not racists. The Delaware County Community Human Relations Board, which monitors racially motivated crime and violence, will meet Tuesday to assess whether the militia movement should be deemed a threat. Because one report puts the county fourth in the state in the number of white supremacy groups, board director Rae Roeder said, there may be some crossover between militia groups and racist organizations.

A man walks down a Philadelphia street shouting, "All Jews should be burned. " A swastika and the phrase "Jesus Lives" are splashed in paint on a South Philadelphia synagogue. An Aston, Delaware County, high-school teacher returns from vacation to find a note on his bulletin board: "Long live the great holocaust. It's a great day for genocide. " Hate still thrives in this area. Indeed, the number of anti-Semitic acts increased in Philadelphia last year, according to a report issued Monday by the Anti-Defamation League of B'nai B'rith, a human relations agency that fights discrimination.

At Temple Sinai, Burt Siegel of the Jewish Community Relations Council of Greater Philadelphia attempted to define anti-Semitism. "(It's) an irrational hostility to Jews as individuals and to Judaism as a belief system," he explained. But many in the audience of about 70 Monday night were less interested in the definition of the term than its manifestations, of which they had recent, first-hand knowledge. Over the past weekend, about a dozen swastikas were spray-painted on the driveways, cars and streets of various residents of this township, Upper Dublin, which has a substantial Jewish population.

Newtown Hadassah members had their own stories to tell during a talk by an official of the Anti-Defamation League. One woman said her daughter, a fourth-grade student in the Pennsbury School District, found a swastika scrawled in her math book. Another woman said a cashier in a fast-food restaurant remarked, "You must be a Jew" when she ordered a cola with no ice and extra cheese with her meal. A third woman said she felt like an outsider when a religious leader prayed in the name of Jesus Christ during opening ceremonies of an Upper Makefield Little League game.

The proprietor of an Ardmore dress shop that was the scene of anti-Semitic vandalism over the Fourth of July weekend said she was finding comfort in an outpouring of support in the wake of the incident. Nava Antar, whose Bellissima dress shop on Lancaster Avenue was painted with swastikas and anti-Semitic slogans, said people have contacted her from as far away as California. "A lot of people have contacted me and sent in checks and encouragement," she said. "People come in and say, 'Let us help if we can.' " The vandalism occurred sometime between July 3 and last Monday, while Antar's shop was closed for the holiday weekend.

Swastikas and anti-Semitic slogans were painted on the walls of an Ardmore dress shop over the weekend by vandals who also stole thousands of dollars worth of merchandise, Lower Merion Township police said yesterday. Police said vandals broke in through the rear door of the Bellissima dress shop at 17 E. Lancaster Ave. between Thursday and yesterday morning. The store had been closed for the Fourth of July weekend. "We have seen, from time to time, isolated incidents of anti-Semitic vandalism, but something of this nature is unusual," said Lower Merion Township Police Lt. Richard Cordivari.