Costa County

Mystery Solved: Jewish Families Leave Happy Rosh Hashana Fliers at Lafayette BART Station

"We felt like we needed to respond and show that hate is not a dominant voice," Rebecca Bauer-Kahan said.

The mystery of the anonymous Lafayette BART leaf-letters have been solved.

Rebecca Bauer-Kahan of Orinda, a member at Congregation B'nai Tikvah in Walnut Creek, told NBC Bay Area that she and four other families left Happy Rosh Hashana fliers on cars two days before the start of the Jewish New Year.

"We felt like we needed to respond and show that hate is not a dominant voice," she said. "We wanted to put out fliers that show were are part of a loving community."

She and her friends left about 600 Happy Jewish New Year greetings on the cars on Sept. 30, two days after a man in a Santa hat was seen by a witness leaving anti-Semitic fliers in the same lot.

Several riders had found their car windshields decorated with rambling messages that called Jews "baby killers" and "serpents." At first, BART officials as well as the American Civil Liberties Union said they couldn't remove the fliers because they didn't specifically target anyone for violence, and were therefore protected under Free Speech.

However, on Sept. 28, one Jewish BART rider said a man in a Santa hat was leaving the unwanted pieces of paper, and threatened to harm him when he asked him to stop.

Despite that, the Contra Costa County District Attorney felt there wasn't enough evidence to charge the man with disturbing the peace.

Contact Us