Skip To Content
JEWISH. INDEPENDENT. NONPROFIT.
Fast Forward

Jewish Gravestone Affixed With Small Explosive Device In New Jersey

Police defused a small explosive device discovered Sunday at a Jewish cemetery in New Jersey, according to a Facebook post by the executive director of the local Jewish federation.

Officers with the Essex County Sheriff’s Office discovered the device at the B’nai Abraham Cemetery in Newark, New Jersey, during a cemetery visiting day organized by the Jewish Federation of Greater Metrowest NJ. Police cleared visitors from the cemetery while the device was removed.

Bomb squad officers told the federation executive director, Dov Ben-Shimon, that the explosive device consisted of a firework attached to a container of lubricant, and that it would not have exploded.

Ben-Shimon wrote on Facebook that there was no indication that there “is no indication at this time that the device was targeted as a bias/hate crime incident,” but that the federation is in touch with law enforcement.

Contact Josh Nathan-Kazis at [email protected] or on Twitter, @joshnathankazis

A message from our CEO & publisher Rachel Fishman Feddersen

I hope you appreciated this article. Before you go, I’d like to ask you to please support the Forward’s award-winning, nonprofit journalism during this critical time.

We’ve set a goal to raise $260,000 by December 31. That’s an ambitious goal, but one that will give us the resources we need to invest in the high quality news, opinion, analysis and cultural coverage that isn’t available anywhere else.

If you feel inspired to make an impact, now is the time to give something back. Join us as a member at your most generous level.

—  Rachel Fishman Feddersen, Publisher and CEO

With your support, we’ll be ready for whatever 2025 brings.

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.