Hasidic Police Cadet Sues Over Beard Order
A Hasidic police cadet who said he was fired from the New York Police Department because he would not trim his beard has sued to get his job back. Fishel Litzman filed a federal civil-rights lawsuit late last week against the New York City Police Department, the City of New York, and Police Commissioner Raymond W. Kelly to be reinstated to his job, and for damages. Litzman, 38, 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. He 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. He said in the suit that he would forgo damages if he could be reinstated to his position and allowed to make up his coursework so he could graduate with his class next month. Litzman is represented by attorney Nathan Lewin, from the law firm Lewin & Lewin, LLP, who has won permission for observant Jews in the Army and Air Force to maintain their beards while serving.The Police Academy has said that Litzman was aware of the rules for his beard when he started at the academy.
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 ‘Another Jewish warrior’: Fine wins special election for U.S. House seat
-
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 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.