Colorado Jewish Center and Synagogue Emptied by ‘You Have Enemies’ Threat

Image by boulder jcc
(Reuters) — Workers at a Jewish community center and a nearby synagogue in Colorado opened envelopes on Monday containing a white substance and at least one threatening message, police said.
The Boulder Jewish Community Center was evacuated after a letter was found to hold white powder, which was later declared harmless, along with a note that read: “your (sic) have enemies,” police said.
“When deputies arrived on scene they evacuated the building, quarantined the office, the people who were in contact with the envelope, and the envelope itself,” said Commander Heidi Prentup, spokeswoman for the Boulder County Sheriff’s Office.
About three hours later, police said, a similar envelope was opened at the Congregation Har HaShem synagogue, some two miles south of the community center.
Employees there told officers a white substance fell out of an envelope as they were opening mail outside the Reform synagogue, Boulder Police Department spokeswoman Kim Kobel said.
She said the substance was tested and likewise was found to be non-toxic. The building was searched and nothing suspicious was found, she added.
She said it was not immediately clear whether the envelope opened at the synagogue also contained a threat. She said it was handed to the FBI, which is investigating alongside the two Boulder law enforcement agencies and the U.S. Postal Service.
Special Agent Amy Sanders, a spokeswoman for the FBI in Denver, said there is no information leading the bureau to believe there is a health or safety threat to the public.
The envelopes were received during the Jewish holiday of Passover, when Jews commemorate their liberation from bondage in ancient Egypt.
The Boulder community center hosts a kindergarten, as well as cultural and educational programs that make it a “central address for Jewish life in Boulder County,” according to its website.
The center’s leadership team posted a statement online about the incident, saying it takes all threats seriously.
“We place the safety and well-being of our community as our highest priority,” it said.
Last month a Missouri white supremacist pleaded not guilty to capital murder charges in the fatal shooting last April of three people outside two Jewish centers in a Kansas City suburb.
Frazier Glenn Cross Jr., 74, a former senior member of the Ku Klux Klan who has repeatedly made derogatory remarks in the courtroom about Jewish people, could face the death penalty if convicted.
The Forward is free to read, but it isn’t free to produce

I hope you appreciated this article. Before you go, I’d like to ask you to please support the Forward.
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. We’ve started our Passover Fundraising Drive, and we need 1,800 readers like you to step up to support the Forward by April 21. Members of the Forward board are even matching the first 1,000 gifts, up to $70,000.
This is a great time to support independent Jewish journalism, because every dollar goes twice as far.
— Rachel Fishman Feddersen, Publisher and CEO
2X match on all Passover gifts!
Most Popular
- 1
Film & TV What Gal Gadot has said about the Israeli-Palestinian conflict
- 2
News A Jewish Republican and Muslim Democrat are suddenly in a tight race for a special seat in Congress
- 3
Fast Forward The NCAA men’s Final Four has 3 Jewish coaches
- 4
Culture How two Jewish names — Kohen and Mira — are dividing red and blue states
In Case You Missed It
-
Fast Forward A Chicagoan wanted to protest Elon Musk — and put a swastika sticker on a Jewish man’s Tesla
-
Fast Forward NY attorney general orders car wash to stop ripping off Jews with antisemitic ‘Passover special’
-
Fast Forward ‘Another Jewish warrior’: Fine wins special election for U.S. House seat
-
Fast Forward Cory Booker proclaims, ‘Hineni’ — I am here — 19 hours into anti-Trump Senate speech
-
Shop the Forward Store
100% of profits support our journalism
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 comply with the following:
- Credit the Forward
- Retain our pixel
- Preserve our canonical link in Google search
- Add a noindex tag 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.