Jewish synagogues, across a number of states, have recieved numerous bomb threats between Friday (Dec 15th) and Sunday (Dec 17th).
Congregations have reported bomb threats in Colorado, Mississippi, Minnesota, Montana, Alabama, Louisiana, Michigan, and The District of Columbia -- resulting in numerous cancelations of religious services.
Luckily, as yet, nobody appears to have been hurt. According to the Baldwin, Alabama Sheriff's office, some of these may be a hoax intended to cause fear among the Jewish community.
Many of these threats appear to be very similar: sent via email, with a threat that there is a bomb placed within the synagogue building that will detonate within a set amount of time.
There are several investigations happening across the country regarding this -- with additional reports appearing nearly every few minutes. No public disclosure has been made as to the presumed identity of those making these threats, other than to say that the messages were clearly antisemitic.
Update: The numbers keep rising. Looking like 200 or more incidents over the course of the weekend -- across more than a dozen states.
On a personal note
My family woke up this morning and began to get ready for our regular Sunday religious school -- when we heard news of the bomb threat. Local police, fire, and hazmat units were called in (along with a bomb sniffing K9 unit). After a careful invetigation, it was determined that there was no bomb planted at our location.
Threats of violence are nothing new to Jewish communities. Our family has experienced many such threats of bombings and other forms of attacks in numerous states over the years -- and with a number of extremely violent attacks on synagogues in recent years, we take all threats very seriously. It is a fact of Jewish life that we always wonder if today is the day our synagogue will be attacked.
Thankfully local police departments -- across the country -- tend to be extremely helpful -- often providing protection at every religious service.
