St. Louis synagogues among hundreds nationwide to receive email threats

ELLEN FUTTERMAN, EDITOR-IN-CHIEF

Published December 17, 2023

At least seven synagogues in the St. Louis region received threatening emails Sunday morning warning of explosives planted in their facilities, though none proved to be credible, according to Scott Biondo, community security director at Jewish Federation of St. Louis. The local synagogues were part of hundreds of Jewish congregations nationwide that received threatening emails over the weekend.

JTA reported that the Secure Community Network, which coordinates security for Jewish institutions nationwide, said early Sunday that it had tracked 199 threats over the past 24 hours, with nearly 100 in California and 62 in Arizona. Synagogues in at least 17 states plus Washington, D.C., were affected, according to local media reports. None of the threats were deemed credible after local investigations.

Biondo said he was made aware of the local threats at 8 a.m. when he was contacted by one of the synagogues in Creve Coeur, which also called law enforcement. Sgt. Daniel Herich of the Creve Coeur Police Department said Congregation Temple Israel, Temple Emanuel and Congregation Shaare Emeth each received threatening emails.

Central Reform Congregation, located in the Central West End, also was targeted with a bomb threat email Sunday. Soon after, congregants received an email from Rabbi Randy Fleisher alerting them to the situation. Fleisher said canine officers with the St. Louis Metropolitan Police Department used dogs to sweep the facility, including the basement, and no explosives or trace of residue were found. He also noted the other area synagogues that received these threats took similar precautions and when police determine there were no immediate concerns, they went ahead with Sunday school programming. No activities were scheduled on Sunday at CRC.

Biondo said that law enforcement has been monitoring these emails in multiple states for the past three weeks. After he became aware of the first local threat, he contacted every synagogue in the region to inform them of the situation and see if they had been targeted.

“Nationwide, we’ve gotten well over 200 of these emails in the last 24 hours, probably closer to 300 now,” said Biondo when he spoke to the Jewish Light Sunday afternoon. “It’s inevitable that Missouri would become part of this nationwide campaign, and we did today, and we were prepared. Even though we determined these threats were not credible, we still go through all the protocols for bomb threats and don’t ignore anything.”

Biondo said the emails were primarily received on info@ or temple@ general synagogue email addresses. He added that while they seemed to come from different email accounts, the language in each one “mimics previous threats received in Arkansas, Kansas, Minnesota, Nevada, New Jersey, New York, Oregon, Pennsylvania and South Carolina” and that several of the email providers from which they were sent, including Beeble, were the same.

While Biondo did not want to disclose the names of the other targeted synagogues without approval from their clergy and staff, he said all seven were located in Missouri, including a couple in outstate areas. He also noted that several synagogues in the Kansas City region were targeted as well.

Both Biondo and Creve Coeur police said they are working to determine the source of these messages, and that the FBI is leading a nationwide investigation.

About the Contributor

ELLEN FUTTERMAN, Editor-in-Chief

A native of Westbury, New York, Ellen Futterman broke into the world of big city journalism as a general assignment reporter for the Los Angeles Herald-Examiner in the latter part of the 20th century. Deciding that Tinsel Town was not exciting enough for her, she moved on to that hub of glamour and sophistication, Belleville, Ill., where she became a feature writer, columnist and food editor for the Belleville News-Democrat. A year later the St. Louis Post-Dispatch scooped her up, neither guessing at the full range of her talents, nor the extent of her shoe collection. She went on to work at the Post-Dispatch for 25 years, during which time she covered hard news, education, features, investigative projects, profiles, sports, entertainment, fashion, interiors, business, travel and movies. She won numerous major local and national awards for her reporting on "Women Who Kill" and on a four-part series about teen-age pregnancy, 'Children Having Children.'" Among her many jobs at the newspaper, Ellen was a columnist for three years, Arts and Entertainment Editor, Critic-at-large and Daily Features (Everyday) Editor. She invented two sections from scratch, one of which recently morphed from Get Out, begun in 1995, to GO. In January of 2009, Ellen joined the St. Louis Jewish Light as its editor, where she is responsible for overseeing editorial operations, including managing both staff members and freelancers. Under her tutelage, the Light has won 16 Rockower Awards — considered the Jewish Pulitzer’s — including two personally for Excellence in Commentary for her weekly News & Schmooze column. She also is the communications content editor for the Arts and Education Council of St. Louis. Ellen and her husband, Jeff Burkett, a middle school principal, live in Olivette and have three children. Ellen can be reached at 314-743-3669 or at [email protected].