Vista, CA (special) -- A building that houses both Temple Judea and the Tabernacle of Praise church was desecrated Friday evening, Oct. 15, by vandals who covered an exterior wall and nearby water heater with swastikas and other nazi symbols.

Besides the code "88" which stands for "Heil Hitler" -- H being the 8th letter of the alphabet -- there was the name "Hitler" along with references to the SS (Gestapo), as well as an inscription described by Morris Casuto, regional director of the Anti-Defamation League as "something we've never seen before." That inscription said "Weice Macht" which appeared to be a misspelling of a German slogan "Weiss Macht" meaning "White Power."

The graffiti also included the words "Jew" and "Niger" -- the latter apparently another misspelling of a racist epithet. 

A neighbor who reported that dogs started barking at 10:15 p.m. Friday night telephoned the San Diego County Sheriff's office the next morning after going outside his house and seeing what had been done to the religious building at 1930 Sunset Drive in Vista.

"This example of hate is unfortunately all too typical of much of our society," commented Rabbi Mel Libman of Temple Judea. "It is precisely the antithesis of what takes place in our building where two different faiths peacefully and amicably share the same facility."  Lisette Semel, the temple president, said the Conservative Jewish congregation recently sold the building to the Tabernacle of Praise church, then arranged to lease it back for such time as it takes to locate and rent a new site for the synagogue in neighboring Carlsbad. The two congregations use the facility on different days.

SMUDGES--Pro-nazi at church and synagogue building in Vista were quickly painted over.

After sheriff's deputies took photographs of the graffiti for evidentiary purposes on Saturday, it was painted over by a contractor who only the day before had given the building a fresh coat of paint, Semel said.

David Pimentel, a licensed minister for the Tabernacle of Praise church, said that as the painting crew was planning to come anyway on Saturday to do touch up work, the vandals "didn't achieve anything, except to irritate people."

"To overcome these cowardly acts is no great feat for us to do," he added in an interview. "We're not afraid of them. They are idiots. They act under the cover of darkness. I don't believe they have enough guts to face us in the light."

Pimentel said that the church includes members of every race and many national backgrounds. There was, of course, no way to tell whether the racist epithet knowingly was directed at specific African-American members of the church but several people noted that an African-American family resides near the building.

Tabernacle of Praise is part of the United Pentecostal Church which Pimentel described as distinct from other Christian faiths in that "we are not trinitarians; we are a monotheistic faith." He explained that his religion teaches that Jesus "was God Almighty come into the flesh. He was completely and solely God. He was not a third. He was not the son."

Semel said initially when she heard about the vandalism, "I was angry, upset, and when I went down to see it, it was just upsetting to visually see this. But after I was done with being outraged, angry and upset, it turned to sadness and just being disappointed, partly because I see so many positive things in the community and to have something like this is very sad."

Rabbi Libman said that since the church purchased the property from the synagogue last March, there have been three separate acts of vandalism, with the other two being quite small-scale.

Casuto said the ADL now is weighing whether a reward should be offered for information leading to the arrest and conviction of the perpetrator or perpetrators. 

In the meantime, the ADL regional director issued the following statement:

"Once again the faces of anti-Semitism and bigotry have been placed on the walls of a synagogue. Those who committed the despicable act of vandalizing Temple Judea are presently being sought by the sheriff's office as well as law enforcement from other jurisdictions in San Diego County.

"They work in the dark of night for they understand how despised their actions are and how reviled is their philosophy of hate which seeks to set group against group in San Diego.

"They will fail in their attempt to sow the seeds of division and, in fact, by their despicable action, bring people of good will and faith communities closer together as we join to battle these bigots.

"The Anti-Defamation League applauds the rapid and thorough work of the Sheriff's Vista office and hopes for a speedy closure to this crime."

Last December, vandals similarly struck Temple Adat Shalom in Poway. Although $20,000 for a reward was put up jointly by the ADL, Temple Adat Shalom and an anonymous donor, no arrests were made in that case.

Casuto said photographs of the desecration at Temple Judea will be closely compared with those showing the vandalism at Temple Adat Shalom to see whether the same perpetrators were involved.

Capt. Scott McClintock of the Vista sheriff's station said a crime prevention specialist was sent to the synagogue-church complex on Monday, Oct. 18, to offer suggestions on how to prevent a reoccurence of the vandalism.