Bigotry is a monster, a stupid and heartless beast that emerges from the shadows at random places and random times to cause pain for pain’s sake. This time, it’s Presque Isle.

Someone, make that something, scrawled a pair of swastikas on the door of the Aroostook Hebrew Community synagogue in the dark of night Friday, just before the tiny temple was to hold its Rosh Hashana service observing the Jewish new year. Limited by intellect to words of one syllable, the monster scribbled “Burn Jews” beneath the reviled Nazi symbols.

This act of blind hatred does not, of course, reflect upon Presque Isle. What does reflect upon Presque Isle is that the congregation for Sunday night’s holy service, typically 15 or 20, swelled to more than 50 as clergy and parishioners of other churches, other faiths, joined in. The spiritual light that gathering shed may not expose the monster, but at least it will drive it back into hiding.

Rooting it out is a job for the police, and it appears that Presque Isle Police Chief Naldo Gagnon is up to the task. Recognizing that this is of far greater magnitude than a mere act of vandalism, Gagnon has launched a vigorous investigation, he is putting extra officers on duty during the Jewish holy days and has referred the case to the state Attorney General’s Office as a hate crime.

Gagnon says his department will “turn over every rock until we find out who did this.” Aptly put, since it is under a rock that they will be found.

When he discovered the despicable graffiti Saturday morning, the first impulse of Raphael Gribetz, the Jewish congregation’s lay leader, was to remove it before the Sunday service. Instead, he chose to leave it as an ugly reminder of bigotry’s midnight visit. Now, a vigil and march is planned for 7 p.m. Thursday, starting at the University of Maine at Presque Isle campus and ending at the synagogue, where the entire community can join together to cleanse the doors.

In his Devil’s Dictionary, the great wit Ambrose Bierce defined “prejudice” as a “vagrant opinion without visible means of support.” By its commendable actions, Presque Isle is telling the vagrant to move along, it will find no shelter there.