On Sunday, the Martha’s Vineyard Hebrew Center was the target of a bomb threat made through an email that was sent to approximately 20 other synagogues around Massachusetts.

After searching the Hebrew Center, local and State Police found no dangerous materials, and Rabbi Caryn Broitman considered the threat a hoax. 

Broitman and four others were inside the building around 9:30 Sunday morning when they received the email. The rabbi says they promptly evacuated the center and called police.

Broitman says that local police responded immediately, swept the building, and found nothing of concern. Massachusetts State Police came shortly after, with a bomb-sniffing dog, and also found nothing. “It was very heartening how quick and responsive they were, and that nothing was found,” Broitman said.

According to Broitman, the other 20 or so recipients of the email were synagogues. Most were in the Boston area, and in the eastern part of Massachusetts.

This is the first time Broitman can recall any notable threat being made to the Hebrew Center. Broitman adds that she is very confident about the center’s future safety and awareness. 

“I think that these kinds of things are disruptive. I understand that they can be scary … We’re in a national group called the Secure Community Network that monitors the threats to synagogues,” Broitman said. “We’re very plugged into threats that are happening. Our leadership is really doing everything we need to do for security for the synagogue.”

Broitman states that during the ongoing Israel-Hamas war, Jewish centers have been more concerned about safety overall: “It’s a hard time. There’s a very tragic war, and those things tend to increase these kinds of hoaxes.”

On Saturday, the nonprofit Secure Community Network, which works to protect the U.S. Jewish community, reported a record 199 “swatting” incidents and false bomb threats to U.S. Jewish institutions over a 24-hour period. “Swatting,” named after police SWAT teams, refers to a type of criminal harassment in which an emergency service is deceived into sending a response team to an address.

Threats were detected against institutions in 14 states, not including Massachusetts.

Jewish centers nationwide, including the Martha’s Vineyard Hebrew Center, have increased police security after the 2018 terrorist attack at Pittsburgh’s Tree of Life synagogue.

Elsewhere on the Island, Chabad on the Vineyard received no bomb threat, says Rabbi Tzvi Alperowiti. “I was horrified to hear that the Hebrew Center received such a threat, [made] to synagogues and Jewish houses of worship across the country,” said Alperowitz. “We stand hand in hand with the Hebrew Center in unity.”

Alperowitz is staying vigilant, and in contact with local authorities regarding Chabad’s overall security: “Thank God, we’ve not had any incidents, but we do take necessary precautions … We’re constantly monitoring the security situation. Should the need arise, we will take care of it.”

Alperowitz adds that some Chabad community members have told him that they feel safe on-Island, but less so while traveling off-Island or overseas. 

“The Vineyard is a beautiful place, a safe place. People are sharing with me that they’re being hesitant about regular trips. There have been quite a few of those calls, actually … Ultimately we’ll come through this, and we’ll be stronger,” Alperowitz said.

Broitman said the Hebrew Center is preparing a letter to its members regarding the threatening email.

25 replies on “Hebrew Center threatened amid nationwide bomb hoax”

  1. Definition of HATE CRIME:
    “A hate crime is any criminal act or attempted criminal act directed against a person or persons based on the victim’s actual or perceived race, nationality, religion, sexual orientation, disability or gender.”

    Definition of HOAX:
    “A humorous or malicious deception”

    You’ll notice that a hoax is not directed against anyone based on race, nationality, religion, sexual orientation or gender, while a hate crime is.

    1. I read the headline and thought nothing of it, that is until I read your comment. Thank you for making me actually think about the words being used. Great catch. I need to do better as there are countless examples of this throughout todays media.

      1. Thanks, Carl. People are reluctant to name antisemitism. I didn’t realize how frequently and easily people deny it, even in themselves, trying to cover it up. It’s scary how prevalent it is. I’ve been attacked for noticing it and saying so out loud.

        1. Jackie, it’s never your fault for noticing the sea of antisemitism right in front of you. In front of us all. In my experience, truth is usually unpopular because it’s uncomfortable and demands change/a greater effort.

          It’s maddening—and lonely—to watch Americans fail to walk their inclusive talk, especially knowing what’s at stake. This loneliness always reminds me of that Carole King song, One Small Voice. Except a naked emperor seems benign in comparison. ?

  2. Cowards are rampant in our country and now they have arrived on our shores, like decaying cast off jetsam. Let’s be sure to give them the attention they don’t expect, by standing up to them. Sure, let’s take precautions, but then let’s disappoint them by a swift return to going about our business.

    2. “The shooting of three Palestinian students in Vermont, over Thanksgiving, by a White nominal Christian.”
      When did this coward arrive on our shores?
      How is he different from you?

  3. Sorry to hear this happened.
    I am glad that no one was hurt. I am hoping they locate the sender and put them in prison.
    Contrary to the above comment, the threats are from within and many are made by lies false information and pure ignorance and lack of a proper education.
    Take care and be well.

  6. These cowards?

    “Burlington, Vermont, police have arrested a white man who is suspected of shooting three 20-year-old college students of Palestinian descent on Saturday, police said.
    The three men were in Burlington visiting the home of one of the victim’s relatives for Thanksgiving, police said. They were on Prospect Street when an armed white man confronted them and, without speaking, allegedly discharged at least four rounds around 6:30 p.m. ET.”

    How did these cowards arrive on our shores? Or are they natural born cowards.

  7. Don and Albert—ISLANDS HAVE SHORES. But, that’s being literal. How about thinking before firing off. The cowards I’m referring to arrived electronically in this case. I used a metaphor. Imagine that.

    1. Chip– sorry if I missed your metaphor .
      I hope you can see how some might miss
      your meaning about anti semitic hatred
      “arriving on our shores” as something that
      could possibly be misinterpreted as thinking
      you might be accusing foreigners of this
      atrocity.
      I’m sure you do know there are many people
      who blame everything on all those “illegal”
      horrible drug smuggling human traffickers
      and rapist that the “libs” are welcoming into our country
      so they can get votes and destroy our democracy.
      it would behoove you to be clearer in your
      comments in the future.
      Trust me, people bend over backwards to
      discredit you at the slightest possibility
      of misunderstanding.
      Your comment could be easily misinterpreted.
      Can we agree on that ?

      1. Chip’s comment cannot be easily misinterpreted. The intentional swing away from the topic also leaves no room for misinterpretation.

        2. Dictionary
          Definitions from Oxford Languages · Learn more
          jet·sam
          /ˈjetsəm/
          noun
          unwanted material or goods that have been thrown overboard from a ship and washed ashore, especially material that has been discarded to lighten the vessel.
          “there was plenty of good kindling among the jetsam on the beach”

  9. Correction to my last post: That link/petition may now be outdated. The ADL moved it to the top of their site and sent out an email after the wave of threats this week. Now there seems to be confusion as to whether it pertained to the package that was already approved in November. Either way, I hope everyone can recognize the need to support those being targeted.

    1. Thank you, Katie. The unwillingness to discuss the Jew-hatred behind these antisemitic threats becomes even more evident by those trying to change the topic to immigration. The 2 most vocal anti Israeli “policy” were the only ones to misinterpret a comment everyone else managed to understand. You’d think that off-island emails were the only anti Israel/anti Jewish sentiment on the island.

      There are people who want me to believe that being against Israeli government policy somehow translates to “I stand with Israel” in this war started by those trying to obliterate Israel. Clearly, when a synagogue on Martha’s Vineyard is singled out and threatened with being bombed, fake or not, you know it’s THE JEWS who are blamed and hated, and it has nothing to do with a tiny democracy far, far away who antisemites hate for existing.

  10. Where did respect for others choices as citizens go?
    We are in the United States of America.
    There is NOT just 1 religion in America but many choices including not practicing any.

  11. Here’s what else leaves no room for misinterpretation: “…frothing, hateful, paranoid privileged ‘chosen propel’”.

    And then being told it was directed at me and meant as a compliment.

  12. I’d need a dated receipt to believe someone who claims he donated to the ADL after writing this and then pretending it was a compliment when it became clear he’d crosssed a line with someone who isn’t even Jewish:
    “frothing, hateful, privileged paranoid ‘chosen people'”.

    Or not, I don’t need anything because what I know cannot be un-known.

    Untrue name calling examples here are called the DARVO Response: Deny, attack, reverse, victim, offender. Whenever I point out antisemitic comments and viewpoints in comments, I get called names that have nothing to do with me. I have been called a Muslim/Islam/Palestinian/Arab hater and Islamaphobe because I stand up for Israel protecting itself from more pogroms. Now I am called a troll for again noticing how uncomfortable it is when antisemites can’t find anything to criticize Israel for, or the “chosen people”, in an article about bomb threats, so they need to misinterpret a comment, change the subject, and yammer about immigration, a place where they’re comfortably self-righteous.

    Listening to antisemites talk about anything other than why antisemitism is so dangerous and hateful is what we’ve come to– under an article about bomb threats to a Vineyard Jewish house of worship. When the antisemitic and false info viewpoints have been aired so freely under threads about how to support Jews in mourning, or why the lighting of the public menorah was important, or even on yet another misinterpretation– of ancient Hebrew rituals of femine hygiene– we instead get numbers of dead Palestinians with never a mention of hundreds of thousands of displaced Israelis living in fear, hostages still held in Gaza, horrific rapes, as if “regular” rapes aren’t horrific enough, and on and on. Included are false accusataion of intentionally “indiscriminate” bombing, no mention that Hamas immediately goes to IDF designated safe zones for civilians. Antisemities, when specifically asked about what Isreal should do to protect itself, never mention that the onus should be on the instigators, the terrorists, the brutal torturers. That they should surrender. Immediately. Instead we get antisemites agreeing with exactly what Hamas wants: ceasefire now and no surrender and no mention of hostages. We even have a history teacher at the high school teaching island kids that the war, started by Hamas in Gaza, is not about religion, despite the fact of the Charter of Hamas makes it exactly about religion– not land, not power, not control. Kill every Jew and obliterate Israel and let Islam, “the spread of Islamic consciousness”, rule everywhere. How is that not about religion?
    https://www.mvtimes.com/2023/12/14/high-school-view-israel-gaza-war-discussion-holiday-pop-store/

    1. Also, someone needs to tell the high school kids that it’s a Hamas-Israel war, not an “Israel-Gaza war”, even though Hamas rules Gaza and uses civilian babies as their human shields and has stolen billions in aid, intended to build up Gaza into the beautiful place it could have been. The aid to Gaza has been funneled by Hamas into building a war machine in tunnels under and in hospitals, mosques, schools, old refugee camps and residential buildings. When there are false accusations of Israel being at war with the Gazan people, antisemites might run with more of their false cries of “genocide”, while Hamas terrorist cowards, who are responsible for every Gazan death that happens in every site where Hamas embeds, are happy to see their civilians killed as ‘martyrs’, and gloat as Israel is blamed by every Jew hater in the world for what Hamas has orchestrated.

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