Skip To Content
JEWISH. INDEPENDENT. NONPROFIT.
Breaking News

NYPD Fires Hasid Who Wouldn’t Trim Beard

A Chasidic police cadet said he was fired from the New York Police Department because he would not trim his beard.

Fishel Litzman, who was a month away from graduating from the Police Academy, said it would violate his religious beliefs to trim his beard to the 1 millimeter length allowed by the NYPD, the New York Daily News reported.

Litzman, 38, of Monsey, N.Y., told the Daily News that his dismissal papers did not give a reason for his dismissal on June 7.

The newspaper reported that Litzman received test scores of 99, 100 and 96, but was cited constantly for failing to maintain his personal appearance.

Litzman has retained attorney Nathan Lewin, who has won permission for observant Jews in the Army and Air Force to maintain their beards while serving.

“I will not waver in my firm belief that I can be a successful member of the NYPD and an Orthodox Chasidic Jew at the same time,” Litzman wrote in a March memo to the department, the Daily News reported. “I believe that my love of G-d and my love of the NYPD can coexist.”

The NYPD hired its first Chasidic police officer in 2006 and now has at least two dozen Orthodox Jewish officers, according to the newspaper.

Republish This Story

Please read before republishing

We’re happy to make this story available to republish for free, unless it originated with JTA, Haaretz or another publication (as indicated on the article) and as long as you follow our guidelines. You must credit the Forward, retain our pixel and preserve our canonical link in Google search.  See our full guidelines for more information, and this guide for detail about canonical URLs.

To republish, copy the HTML by clicking on the yellow button to the right; it includes our tracking pixel, all paragraph styles and hyperlinks, the author byline and credit to the Forward. It does not include images; to avoid copyright violations, you must add them manually, following our guidelines. Please email us at [email protected], subject line “republish,” with any questions or to let us know what stories you’re picking up.

We don't support Internet Explorer

Please use Chrome, Safari, Firefox, or Edge to view this site.