TanenbaumCHAT, Toronto’s largest Jewish high school, received an email last night, Dec. 7, that bombs were placed in the school, the second such threat against the school in less than a month.
The emails were received by senior administrators in the evening after school was closed, Jonathan Levy, head of school, told The CJN. The cleaning staff who were in the building were evacuated and police were called to search the building.
Toronto Police cleared the building and advised that the school could open this morning, Levy said. Parents and staff were advised about the incident late last night. Attendance today “was excellent,” Levy said.
It appeared that the most recent threats came from a different domain than the threatening email the school received Nov. 17, Levy said. That threat caused the entire school of 1,300 students, and a nearby daycare to evacuate.
Toronto police’s cybercrimes unit is investigating the emails, Levy said. At a news conference at the school after the first threat, police said they have a low rate of success in tracing the source of these incidents.
Police have said “there are people who like to hide behind keyboards,” Levy said.
“It’s horrible, it’s awful that we continue to receive these threats, yet we will continue to do everything in our power to ensure a safe and normal routine for our students,” he said.
“People are nervous… people are scared,” Levy said. “But at the same time, I’ve seen tremendous resilience and tremendous strength both in staff in meeting our students and our students’ strength in coming together.”
The bomb threat was the third incident directed at the school, since the Oct. 7 Hamas attacks on Israel and the start of the war in Gaza. A few days after the war began, students were threatened by three people who approached the school. One man and two young offenders were charged in that incident.
