Families were on high alert this week after a 17-year-old high school student was arrested on Sept. 5 for making anti-Semitic threats to students at Fremont High School in Sunnyvale and Homestead High School in Cupertino on Instagram.
The threatening message, which was sent over the Labor Day weekend from an account called “Jewslaughter” said, “Jews disgust me, I’ll f***ing kill you. I got connections to the aryan brotherhood gang. You and the rest of your people are dead.”
Rabbi Philip Ohriner of Congregation Beth David in Saratoga wrote a letter to his synagogue community to address their concerns, which he later posted on J.’s Facebook page. He said he had spoken to school officials and was assured they were doing everything in their power to address the incident and offer counseling to students at the schools.
“Each and every incident of anti-semitism, hate speech, and cyber-bullying in our local schools must be addressed in order to hold perpetrators responsible and ensure the safety of our children and teens,” Ohriner said in the letter. The Facebook post and full text are below.
Rabbi Philip Ohriner: “I spoke with the FUHSD Superintendent today and emailed our congregation to let them know how diligent the school district has been in addressing this issue. This is what I sent to the CBD community:
Dear friends,
This morning we all awoke to learn of the horrific words and images of hate and anti-semitism circulated by a student at Fremont High School. Unfortunately, our kehillah is familiar with incidents like this in our community-at-large. Each and every incident of anti-semitism, hate speech, and cyber-bullying in our local schools must be addressed in order to hold perpetrators responsible and ensure the safety of our children and teens.
This afternoon, I spoke with the Superintendent of Fremont Union High School District, Polly Bove, and left a message for the Principal of Fremont High School, Bryan Emmert. In speaking with Superintendent Bove, I learned that the school district is doing everything it should to address this incident. The authorities were notified and an arrest was made. Counselors are available to support students at school. In addition, the school district is working closely with the Anti-Defamation League, our local Jewish Community Relations Council, and local rabbis in an earnest attempt to prevent egregious acts like this from occurring in the future. As human beings we are not born with hate. We learn to hate. As the Regional Director of the ADL was quoted as saying today, “If hate can be learned, it can be unlearned”.
I am personally grateful to the Fremont Union High School District and Superintendent Bove for approaching this matter with the utmost seriousness it deserves. Finally, if you or your teen were affected by this incident, please do not hesitate to reach out to me directly.
L’shalom,
Rabbi Philip Ohriner”