Dear John,

Just months after the horrific murder of his friends by a white supremacist at the Tree of Life synagogue where he was Executive Director, the terror began.

A woman’s voice pierced through the phone, spewing antisemitic slurs and threats of violence that shook Joel to his core.

For the next four and a half years the woman terrorized Joel and his wife Linda through more than 200 calls filled with vile antisemitic slurs. In a distinctly chilling voice, she boasted about being filled with joy that Joel’s and Linda’s friends were killed in the deadliest attack ever on American Jews.

The woman repeatedly mentioned Linda’s oldest child by name, threatening them both and even fantasizing aloud about decapitating members of their family.

And in one of her recurring taunts, she would actually sing “F you, F Jews,” with antisemitic epithets. To this day that song still haunts Linda whenever she attempts to enter a Jewish community center, Kosher grocery store or even her synagogue.

All this because they are Jewish.

John, you can imagine how terrifying all this has been for Joel and his family.

Every time the phone rang and the screen lit up with “No Caller ID,” their anxiety soared. And they never knew when the phone calls would come. Sometimes weeks apart. Other times spastic and repetitive calls in the middle of the night kept the couple up for hours.

Linda made sure to report many of these threatening calls to ADL so the harassment could be tracked and a record kept for the authorities who were working to put an end to the shocking and harassing calls.

Thankfully, a senior ADL staffer elevated the threats to the FBI to help find the individual responsible. And she helped the family take the necessary steps to prepare for an investigation.

As a result, the FBI arrested the culprit at her home in California. She is now behind bars.

After the trial, Linda credited ADL’s actions with bringing justice to her family, and acknowledged this would not have happened otherwise.

John, the support of people like you made the culprit’s arrest possible. It helped not only stop the terrifying calls, but enabled ADL to follow through and support the prosecutor’s case so the perpetrator could be convicted.

It is vital that you support ADL and its ongoing efforts to respond to and prevent antisemitic and hateful acts in communities like yours across the country.

Without your support, ADL would be unable to do all it does at the local, state and national levels to keep Jewish communities safe.

Your donation will help ADL:

• Monitor, track and report credible threats to local, state and federal law enforcement so they can protect vulnerable communities.
• Alert community leaders and institutions of possible extremists planning antisemitic or hateful events in their area that could put residents in harm’s way.
• Help targeted communities know how best to prepare and respond when they are threatened.

So, please make your first gift today. You’ll make more of a difference than you may think.

Sincerely,

Jonathan Greenblatt

CEO and National Director

ADL