New York ( CNN ) -- A Brooklyn man was arrested and charged on Thursday with hate crimes after 12 mezuzahs were set ablaze as they hung on door frames outside Jews ' homes . Ruben Ubiles , 34 , was arrested on 17 charges , many of them hate crimes , including burglary , arson , criminal mischief and reckless endangerment , according to the New York Police Department . Police say Ubiles set fire to 11 mezuzahs inside an apartment complex in the Williamsburg section of Brooklyn on Monday , which was also Holocaust Remembrance Day . A 12th mezuzah was discovered burned inside the apartment building next door a day later , police said . `` This was a brazen act of religious desecration , and it is something that is shocking to everyone in this community , '' City Councilman Stephen Levin told CNN affiliate WABC . A mezuzah is usually found attached to a door frame outside some Jews ' homes . It contains specific Hebrew verses from the Torah printed on parchment , rolled up and put inside a case . CNN 's Rande Iaboni contributed to this report .
Brooklyn man charged with hate participated in burning of mezuzahs . Eleven of the twelve were burned in one complex , the rest in another . Vandalism occurred on Holocaust Memorial Day .