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Mordechai Fuchs once asked his mother, a Holocaust survivor, what she had learned from her experiences during World War II.

His mother gave him words of warning. She said there was no such thing as a small incident of bigotry. There was no such thing as a minor incident of hate.

“It’s only the beginning of big,” said Fuchs, recounting her words Monday outside Councilman James Gennaro’s office in Fresh Meadows.

Fuchs, a cantor with the Hillcrest Jewish Center, joined an assortment of political and religious leaders, as well as area residents, to denounce a recent string of unrelated hate crimes in eastern Queens. The crimes include attacks on two Sikh students, the theft of a statue of a Catholic saint and the drawing of a swastika on a vehicle.

In addition, on Tuesday, the director and residents of Carmen’s Place, the nation’s only shelter with a specific outreach to homeless transgender youth, were verbally and physically assaulted by four teenagers.

At the rally, political leaders called on their constituents to exemplify how people of different religions and backgrounds can live together peacefully.

“Queens has to be a beacon,” said Gennaro (D-Fresh Meadows).

That message had yet to sink in one day after the rally when teenagers attacked the residents of Carmen’s Place. According to a statement from the shelter, the four men began harassing and taunting the transgender youth with homophobic slurs and insults. The Rev. Louis Braxton Jr., director of the shelter, attempted to intervene and protect the victims, at which time the incident became violent.

Police arrived and arrested the four individuals. Braxton was treated at Mount Sinai Hospital for his injuries.

In another incident, on July 3, a swastika was found drawn on a vehicle parked on the corner of Jewel Avenue and 161st Street in Fresh Meadows. The NYPD’s Hate Crimes Unit is currently investigating the incident.

“An attack on one of us is an attack on all of us,” said Toby Staviski (D-Flushing) at the rally, reminding the crowd of about 35 that the Holocaust began with small incidents. “Let’s hope this is the first and last incident,” she said.

Members of the Sikh community have also been the victims of hate crimes in recent weeks. On June 9, a student at PS 219 in Flushing cut the hair of 12-year-old female classmate Gurprit Kaur. The perpetrator, who had been previously told not cutting the hair was a Sikh religious practice, had a history of teasing both Kaur and her brother, Talwinder.

Just five days earlier, Jagmohan Singh Premi, an 18-year-old Richmond Hill high school student, was punched in the face by a classmate who tried to remove his patka, or small turban. Again, the perpetrator had a history of harassment and previously made fun of Premi’s patka and religiously mandated beard.

Harpreet Singh Toor, president of the Sikh Educational Foundation, said attacks on the Sikh community have occurred in one shape or another since Sept. 11, 2001.

“We condemn them, but New York City should be the last city where these things should happen, because we see all the cultures of the world,” he said.

Filipino religious center was also the target of a hate crime in May when thieves severed the ankles, then stole a fiber glass statue, of San Lorenzo Ruiz de Manila, the first Filipino saint and martyr. The crime occurred outside the San Lorenzo Ruiz Spiritual Center, in Jamaica Hill.

A suspect has yet to be identified in that crime.

Monsignor Oscar A. Aquino, spiritual director of the center, said he was inspired to be at the gathering amongst people of other races and religions who had come together to rally against these incidents.

State Rep. Rory Lancman said the area’s elected leaders would continue to fight any intolerance in the county.

“We must be unrelenting,” he said.

“We might be out again. I don’t know where, I don’t know when, but that’s OK, because in the end we will prevail.”