Temple Attack Was Scary, ‘Nebulous’ Threats Worse: Bloomfield Rabbi

BLOOMFIELD, NJ — Reflecting on this winter’s disturbing molotov cocktail attack at Temple Ner Tamid in Bloomfield, Rabbi Marc Katz can’t help but compare it to last November’s threat warning from the FBI. And it’s the latter that inspires more worry, he says.

On Sunday, The New York Times published an op-ed from Katz, which discussed the recent “firebombing” of the synagogue. A man wearing a ski mask threw an ignited molotov cocktail at the synagogue building in February. The glass bottle broke, but didn’t damage the building

A Clifton man was arrested and charged with attempted use of fire to damage and destroy a building used in interstate commerce. Read More: Bloomfield Synagogue 'Firebomb' Suspect Is In Custody, Authorities Say

In his op-ed, Katz recalls the first direct attack in the history of the synagogue.

“Luckily, our doors held, the flames went out upon impact and no one was hurt,” Katz wrote. “Still, the incident left our 540-family congregation shaken. We canceled religious school mere minutes before students were set to arrive, inevitably forcing parents to answer questions they were not prepared for.”

The rabbi noted that the next day, congregants gathered in the building for a healing service and a forum on safety. But people kept reaching out to Ner Tamid seeking comfort, and some parents continued to keep their kids home for days.

“And yet, throughout, I was not afraid,” Katz remembered. “I was angry, hurt, often tired — but not afraid.”

“In fact, for so many of us, the attack was not the most frightening episode of the past six months,” he said.

That dubious distinction belongs to the “credible information of a broad threat to synagogues” in New Jersey that was issued by the FBI in November 2022, and which inspired a wave of heightened security measures at temples across the state. A suspect in the case – described as a “lone actor who is an extremist” – was later apprehended. Read More: Suspect Apprehended After Threats To NJ Synagogues, Police Say

The alleged threat came amid growing concerns of antisemitism rising throughout New Jersey and the nation. State officials reported 298 anti-Jewish bias incidents in 2020 and 347 in 2021.

“If you asked me a year ago which episode would have been more frightening — which would have kept people home, which would have haunted us more — I would have guessed a hundred times that it would be an actual attack on our synagogue,” Katz wrote in his op-ed in the Times. “But now that I’ve experienced both, I understand that it is the nebulous, unpredictable threats that keep both my congregants and me up at night.”

“This isn’t something limited to our experience, this is something Jews across this country have learned: We cannot rally when nothing happens,” he continued. “We can only worry. That is why they call this terror.”

Read Katz’s full op-ed here.

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