RAMAPO – Town police are investigating after two Ramapo villages and the town received an anti-Semitic letter by fax in recent weeks.
The letter suggests Jews suck the life out of Christians and other religions and should be placed on reservations and forced to work.
Police are trying to track down who faxed the missive to the three government offices.
“This is obviously an anti-Semitic letter, certainly written by somebody who’s not quite rational,” Detective Lt. Mark Emma said Monday.
Emma said detectives will try to trace the fax number, but that’s not an easy task.
He said the sender could face a possible harassment charge and police would also weigh whether the incidents meet the definition of a hate crime.
Police said the department received the letter by fax on Dec. 20, while the town to a faxed copy on Nov. 30.
Wesley Hills Mayor Marshall Katz said the letter was “Nazi-ish.”
Katz, as a modern Orthodox Jew, said the statements “personally hurt” him and noted the letter doesn’t contain misspellings or grammatical errors.
“It reads like an intelligent person wrote it and that’s even more upsetting,” he said.
Pomona Mayor Brett Yagel called the letter-writer a “warped individual.” He said the village received a similar letter last year; in that case it was handwritten while the more recent faxed version was typed.
Both Katz and Yagel said the letter was reported to Ramapo police; Katz said he also contacted the Anti-Defamation League, an advocacy group against anti-Semitism and hate.
