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We quickly dismissed such concerns. Juneau, we told ourselves, is not that kind of community. We're all neighbors here - a close-knit community where we take care of one another. And while every town has its difficulties, we assured ourselves the occasional outbreak of trouble was attributable to an angry youth or one bad seed. With our new home we took a new name, Congregation Sukkat Shalom, which means "shelter of peace."

But on the last weekend of August our synagogue was vandalized. The attack did not come with stones or shattered glass. It came with a symbol - the symbol under which millions were slaughtered, their lives taken by force only because they were Jews. No symbol evokes the horrors of history for Jews more quickly or painfully than the swastika and someone painted it on our door.

The Holocaust is not a fresh memory. But it is far from ancient history. It began fewer than 70 years ago - the biblical term of a person's life. There are Jews in Juneau today who have no ancestors. Their extended family was all killed during World War II. Many others lost some, if not all, of their family to the evil that marched under the swastika flag.

Of course, the Nazis killed more than just Jews. Hitler's evil targeted nonwhites, homosexuals, trade unionists and his political opposition for extermination. But his greatest goal was what he called a "final solution" to the "Jewish problem." And now his most recognizable symbol was painted on our synagogue door.

Historians mark the beginning of the Holocaust at different dates. For many, it is Kristallnacht - the night of broken glass. On that night synagogues and Jewish homes across Hitler's Germany were defaced with graffiti, their windows broken. The Holocaust began with vandalism and now our Shelter of Peace in Juneau has been vandalized with the same symbol.

Juneau is far from the Europe of the 1930s. Many of our friends and neighbors expressed their outrage at this horrifying act. Civic and religious leaders stepped forward without being asked to offer their support. We appreciate the kindness of our friends and we're heartened to know this shocked so many others.

But some were not shocked. Some remembered the anti-Semitic symbols and slogans painted around the church where we held High Holy Day services in 2001. Some mentioned the swastikas painted on the home of a Juneau family a few years ago - a family whose name "sounds Jewish." These local historians remind us of graffiti targeted at Alaska Natives in our high school and a violent incident in a Juneau store that probably centered on race. Why, they ask us, did we think things would be different?

Our only answer is that we have faith. We have faith in our friends and neighbors to act justly, faith in our community to overcome its darker elements, and our religious faith as Jews.

Clearly, more than faith is needed. Judaism teaches that each of us has a duty to tikkun olam - healing the world. Feeding the hungry, clothing the naked and doing acts of loving kindness are a good beginning, but they are not enough. We must reach back to the neighbors and clergy and friends who have reached out to us, and work to help all of Juneau grow into the welcoming and inclusive community much of it already is.

We welcome the chance to meet with other congregations, with schools, tribes, civic groups or service clubs. We welcome those who want to help heal our community. Together we can strengthen Juneau as a community and as a shelter of peace.

• Jesse Kiehl is a member of the Congregation Sukkat Shalom.