Congregation Mikveh Israel in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Photo: Wikimedia Commons.

Antisemitic slogans scratched outside the Philadelphia house of prayer widely known as the “Synagogue of the American Revolution” are being investigated by local police.

The messages “Jews are Scum” and “Long Live Hitler” alongside a Nazi swastika were scratched onto a sign outside the synagogue. After the scrawls were discovered by an employee of the synagogue, police opened an investigation.

“It very sad that there is hate in the heart of people,” the synagogue’s rabbi, Albert Gabbai, told the local Fox News affiliate on Monday. “I pray to God people will learn how to tolerate each other how to respect each other.”

In a separate interview with the Jewish Exponent, Rabbi Gabbai noted that 20 years had passed since the last act of antisemitic vandalism at the synagogue, when a swastika was daubed on a statue commemorating the fallen Israeli military officer Col. Yonatan Netanyahu.

Dating back to 1740, Mikveh Israel is the oldest synagogue in America. It gained its revolutionary reputation during the War of Independence, when Jewish patriots from cities along the East Coast fled to Philadelphia to escape the British, converging on the synagogue.

It was also during this period that the synagogue adopted the Spanish and Portuguese tradition it still retains.