Skip To Content
JEWISH. INDEPENDENT. NONPROFIT.
Fast Forward

Three Baltimore Shuls Receive Suspicious Packages, Two Ill After Opening Letter

Public safety officials responded to three separate calls from Baltimore-area Jewish institutions about suspicious packages on Monday.

Two employees of the Pauline Mash School For Early Childhood Education, a Jewish preschool operated by Beth El Synagogue in Pikesville, became ill after opening an envelope sent to the shul, the Baltimore Sun reported.

The nature of the substance in the envelope is unclear and tests for poisonous materials in the building were negative, a spokeswoman for the Baltimore County Fire Department said. The building was not evacuated, and 33 staff members and 78 children remained on the premises.

According to local news station WJZ, the letter in the envelope said: “If you died right now do you know for sure that you would go to Heaven? JESUS IS THE ANSWER.” The letter continuesd with more religious language about God, Jesus and the Devil.

Hazmat and police crews also responded to another report of a suspicious package at Beth Isaac Adath Israel, a synagogue three miles away. The building was evacuated, but no dangerous substances were found, the fire department tweeted.

The county government said in a statement that after the two other incidents, they responded to a call from a third synagogue, Har Sinai Congregation in Owings Mills. The congregation received a similar letter a week ago and notified police after learning about the other incidents. “The letters appear to be similar in nature and do not convey any type of threat,” the statement read, adding that the investigation is continuing.

Contact Aiden Pink at [email protected] or on Twitter, @aidenpink

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.

At a time when other newsrooms are closing or cutting back, the Forward has removed its paywall and invested additional resources to report on the ground from Israel and around the U.S. on the impact of the war, rising antisemitism and polarized discourse..

Readers like you make it all possible. Support our work by becoming a Forward Member and connect with our journalism and your community.

—  Rachel Fishman Feddersen, Publisher and CEO

Join our mission to tell the Jewish story fully and fairly.

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.