On the eve of Rosh Hashanah, the Jewish New Year, a Saddle River Road synagogue received a bomb threat, according to police.
An anonymous individual on a phone call to police alerted them to the threat aimed at Congregation Ahavat Achim, 18-25 Saddle River Road, on Thursday evening. Rosh Hashanah begins at sunset on Friday, September 15, 2023. Police did not say whether there was a connection with the holiday.
On 9/14/2023 at 8:01 p.m., the Fair Lawn Police Department Dispatch Center received an anonymous phone call. The caller's voice sounded as if it were a male and stated that he had planted two pipe bombs in a black backpack inside the synagogue, police said.
The advocacy organization fighting antisemitism - StopAntisemitism - shared the details to their audience on Twitter.
Fairlawn, NJ - night before Rosh Hashanah, congregation Ahavat Achim received a phone call stating there were two pipe bombs in a black backpack inside the synagogue.
— StopAntisemitism (@StopAntisemites) September 18, 2023
Thankfully, no bomb was found.
Fair Lawn Officers evacuated the occupants of the building, as well as the immediate area.
The Bergen County Sheriff's Department Bomb Squad responded to the scene. Police said they searched the building, as well as the surrounding area, and found no evidence of a bomb or material that could be used to make a bomb.
Fair Lawn Fire Department, Fair Lawn Heavy Rescue, Fair Lawn Ambulance Corps, and Bergen County Sheriff's Department all responded and assisted with this incident.
According to Toriavey.com, "Rosh Hashanah is the celebration of the Jewish New Year. It’s a very important holiday on the Jewish calendar. It is the first of what we call the High Holidays (or High Holy Days), a ten-day period that ends with Yom Kippur—the holiest day of the Jewish year. On Rosh Hashanah, Jews from all over the world celebrate God’s creation of the world. Rosh Hashanah is two days long, and it usually occurs during the month of September."