Synagogue of Jewish judge who signed off FBI search warrant into Trump's Mar-a-Lago home cancels Sabbath service following antisemitic abuse
- Judge Bruce Reinhart is the magistrate who approved the FBI search warrant into Trump's Mar-a-Lago home.
- Reinhart, who is Jewish, has received antisemitic abuse and violent threats online following the raid.
A Florida synagogue canceled its Friday night Shabbat service after Judge Bruce Reinhart, the federal magistrate who approved the Mar-a-Lago raid, received a deluge of antisemitic threats online, according to the Religion News Service.
Reinhart, who is Jewish, signed off on the warrant that allowed the FBI to search former President Donald Trump's Mar-a-Lago property.
According to Vice News, far-right extremists responded by harassing Reinhart online and making violent threats. On 4chan, Telegram, Gettr, Gab, Truth Social, and pro-Trump message boards, people reportedly posted his address, phone numbers, and the names of his family members.
One online user on the imageboard 4chan wrote of Reinhart: "That is a k---. And a pedophile … He should be tried for treason and executed," reported the Religion News Service.
Temple Beth David in Palm Beach Gardens, a conservative synagogue where Reinhart sits on the board of trustees, responded to the antisemitic abuse by canceling a Shabbat service on Friday night, Religion News Service reported.
A Facebook Live that usually broadcasts the weekly 6.30 p.m. service, which marks the start of the Jewish day of rest, showed an empty bimah — the raised platform in a synagogue on which the Torah is read.
It is unclear whether the Saturday morning service will go ahead.
Insider contacted Temple Beth David for comment on Saturday morning and did not receive a response. (Insider notes that observant Jews often refrain from working or using electrical devices during the sabbath.)
On Thursday, Fox News aired a digitally altered photo that replaced an old image of Jeffrey Epstein getting a foot rub from Ghislaine Maxwell with the body and face of Judge Reinhart.
The altered photo — originally an image of the late convicted sex offender Epstein cozying up to convicted sex trafficker Maxwell on a private jet — was broadcast during "Tucker Carlson Tonight" on Thursday while Fox News' Brian Kilmeade was serving as guest host.
In a tweet on Friday, Kilmeade addressed the use of the doctored photo in Thursday night's segment and said he was "showing a meme in jest."