WASHINGTON — Char Bar, a kosher restaurant in D.C., was vandalized by having two of its windows smashed on Saturday, police say.
No one broke into the establishment. Since the incident, the restaurant’s windows have been boarded up.
“Just the idiocy of people — that was my first reaction,” said Michael Chelst, the owner of Char Bar. “Like, really? You don’t have anything better to do with your lives than to waste energy and time and people’s money to do what? We’re just a restaurant here.”
Chelst said what was most concerning to him was when the crime happened.
The vandalism comes on the 86th anniversary of Kristallnacht.
Kristallnacht is called the “night of broken glass” because thousands of Jewish homes, businesses and places of worship were destroyed by German Nazis. Around 90 Jewish people were killed and around 30,000 Jewish men were arrested and sent to concentration camps.
NBC Washington reached out to D.C. police to see if this is being investigated as a possible hate crime. So far in the investigation, there is no information or evidence that the vandalism was motivated by hate or bias, but that’s something that could potentially change as more information comes to light.
“That’s a disappointing thing to hear because it’s pretty clear that it’s a hate crime,” Chelst said. “There’s seven other places with glass on this street and they didn’t hit any of those.”
Despite the vandalism, customers continued to come to the restaurant, with many saying they decided to dine there as a way to support business.
An online fundraiser was also created to help pay for repairs, which Chelst estimates could cost close to $10,000. He said he’s appreciative of the support.
“Whatever type of hate is out there, we all need to do our part to try and help not let that happen and be supportive of it, and in the meantime, we’re going to go on and we’re going to live our lives and not let people like this change our mission, which is to support our community,” Chelst said.
