From Staff Reports 

Three bomb threats received since October by Congregation Beth HaTephila, a reform synagogue in North Asheville, continue to trigger safety concerns in the city’s Jewish community.

In the aftermath, Asheville Mayor Esther Manheimer, a member of the congregaton, provided — upon request — the following statement on the situation to the Daily Planet on Jan. 12:

“I am heartbroken to hear about the bomb threats targeting the Asheville Jewish community. We are a city that strives to be opening and welcoming and safe for all people. Hate crimes such as these have no place in Asheville.”

Meanwhile, Buffy Skolnick, executive director of the synagogue, provided the following response when asked for her assessment of the situation by the Daily Planet on Jan. 11: 

“We really appreciate your reaching out to us for your article, but we (synagogue officials) have been advised not to comment in this situation. Thank you for caring enough to cover the issue.”

As for the recent antisemitic threats made against the North Asheville synagogue, the Asheville Citizen Times reported on Jan. 10 that they “have increased across the United States since Hamas’ Oct. 7 attack on Israel, and the ensuing war.”   

As for the most recent threat, the ACT added, “On Jan. 3, the congregation received an email from an unknown sender to its administrative email, according to a commmunication to congregants obtained by the (Asheville) Citizen Tmes.

“This email indicated that explosives hidden in the building would detonate within a few hours,” the ACT noted, citing information provided by Samantha Booth, a spokeswoman for the  Asheville Police Department,

“APD officers arrived at the scene at 9:56 a.m. Jan. 3, evacuated occupants and searched the building with bomb-sniffing dogs, Booth said. They didn’t find any explosives.”

Further, the ACT reported that “an almost identical incident occurred Dec. 18, Booth said. An email threatened a bomb would detonate. Officers cleared occupants and investigated, but didn’t find anything.

“APD and Federal Bureau of Investigation are still looking into both cases, Boone said.”

The ACT also noted that, “according to a statement from the FBI, the federal agency is aware of ‘hoax threats’ made to synagogues or other institutions across the country. The statement said there is no information of a specific or credible threat and would not comment on specific instances in Asheville.”

In October, Michael Patrick Toone of Asheville was arrested for sending antisemitic emails to an individual at Congregation Beth HaTephila.

In court, Toone was given two judgments for cyberstalking, for which he served 90 days in the custody of the Buncombe County Sheriff’s Office. He completed his sentence on Jan, 8 and is no longer in the sheriff’s custody.

In separate comments on the bomb threats at her synogogue, Manheimer, Asheville’s mayor, who expressed concern that the war will turn people against the Jews more than they have been in recent history, told the ACT the following:

“It makes me more than sad. It makes me really worried... This backsliding in America of singling out groups and hating them for whatever reason is tragic and seems somewhat inevitable in our polarized environment.”