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.
I hope you appreciated this article. Before you go, I’d like to ask you to please support the Forward’s award-winning journalism this Passover.
In this age of misinformation, our work is needed like never before. We report on the news that matters most to American Jews, driven by truth, not ideology.
At a time when newsrooms are closing or cutting back, the Forward has removed its paywall. That means for the first time in our 126-year history, Forward journalism is free to everyone, everywhere. With an ongoing war, rising antisemitism, and a flood of disinformation that may affect the upcoming election, we believe that free and open access to Jewish journalism is imperative.
Readers like you make it all possible. Right now, we’re in the middle of our Passover Pledge Drive and we need 500 people to step up and make a gift to sustain our trustworthy, independent journalism.
Make a gift of any size and become a Forward member today. You’ll support our mission to tell the American Jewish story fully and fairly.
— Rachel Fishman Feddersen, Publisher and CEO
Join our mission to tell the Jewish story fully and fairly.
Our Goal: 500 gifts during our Passover Pledge Drive!
