SEATTLE — According to the nonprofit The Anti-Defamation League (ADL), hundreds of Jewish-American places of worship, including some here in Washington, received anti-Semitic bomb threats via email over the weekend.
FBI and police investigated and the threats were deemed a hoax. Even still, their impact was felt broadly: at least seven Jewish institutions were threatened all across Puget Sound, according to the ADL, including Temple De Hirsch Sinai in Seattle's Capitol Hill.
"A lot of times, we're not looking on Saturday mornings for email, but I think we've been more monitoring of it lately because of everything going on in the world, and we received a bomb threat that, you know, was pretty explicit and nasty," said Rabbi Daniel Weiner of Temple De Hirsch Sinai. "It's some terrible email name.”
The ADL said at least 400 Jewish-American facilities across the U.S. received a similarly worded threat over the past several days.
At Temple De Hirsch Sinai, they did not take any chances.
"We did have to cancel our worship service that morning," he said.
They decided to shutter their Capitol Hill location on Saturday while authorities searched the buildings and looked into the credibility of the threat.
"I wanted to-- out of an abundance of caution-- take it seriously," the Senior Rabbi told KING 5. "Sadness, disappointment and frustration that we have to even deal with this.”
Miri Cypers, the director of the ADL's Pacific Northwest region, said hate crimes and threats have been on the rise lately.
"We know now that it was a hoax, and it was most likely sent from abroad, but the FBI and local law enforcement, of course, took it very seriously as well as the recipients," said Cypers. "There was an email that was fairly similar language that was sent to hundreds of Jewish institutions, from schools to synagogues, across the United States, including seven in the Puget Sound that we know of.”
This, after a particularly tough couple of months for members of the Jewish community, given the current events.
"Words matter," said Rabbi Weiner. "And while it may seem appropriate or exciting in the moment online, or at a rally to chant extremist statements that suggests that certain people should be eradicated or should be expelled out of a land, those words have consequences, and those words can trigger and incite particularly disturbed individuals in the community to act out."
He continued, "And so I think it's really important that people understand that there are consequences to their words. Even if they feel exciting or evocative in the moment, those words have consequences and can potentially do some pretty devastating, devastating ramifications.'
He said they’re actually seeing a bigger turnout at their services nowadays.
"We are not going to let those who would seek to intimidate us and deny us our practice of our faith to be successful in doing so," he said.
During these tough times, both Cypers and Weiner told KING 5 that the best thing non-Jewish allies can do for their Jewish friends is simply just to check in on them and tell them you care about them and that you care about standing against anti-Semitism and hate.