Norman Y. Lono for New York Daily News
Fishel Litzman, an NYPD recruit, was fired Friday for refusing to trim his beard. Litzman cited religious beliefs for his refusal. "I don't understand what the problem would be," he said.
A Hasidic recruit at the Police Academy had his dream of becoming a city cop dashed Friday — by the fuzz.
Fishel Litzman, who was just a month away from receiving his shield, got the boot after he refused to trim his scraggly beard, insisting it would violate his religious beliefs.
“I always wanted to be a police officer,” a disappointed Litzman said, as he played with two of his five kids outside his home in Monsey, N.Y. “This was unfortunate.”
Then, a bit sadly, he added, “I’m a newly minted civilian.”
Litzman, a 38-year-old Hasid, said the NYPD did not state a reason on his dismissal papers.
“They didn’t give me anything,” he said. “I don’t understand what the problem would be.”
Litzman’s lawyer said the problem is religious discrimination.
“They knew from when he took the exam and applied that he would not trim his beard,” said Nathan Lewin, a legal heavyweight who has fought and won beard battles on behalf of observant Jews with the Army and Air Force.
“He said from the outset it was a matter of religious observance. He never made a secret of it.”
Isaac Abraham, an activist in Brooklyn’s Hasidic communities, said it was a shame that allowances couldn’t be made for Litzman’s beard.
“I can’t see where a whisker would cause somebody to be fired if he does his job,” he said.
The NYPD’s chief spokesman insisted they made every attempt to accommodate Litzman.
“The NYPD makes reasonable accommodations in this regard, permitting beards for religious purposes to be kept to 1 (millimeter) in length,” said Paul Browne. “This was explained to the recruit in the Police Academy.”
Police Commissioner Raymond Kelly signed off on the firing Thursday, but sources said Litzman’s ouster had been in the works for several months.
Back in March, Litzman’s instructors recommended he be canned after he was disciplined repeatedly for failing “to maintain personal appearance,” sources said.
Litzman was cited the first time Jan. 27 for his unkempt beard. Then he was issued a command discipline from Jan. 30-Feb. 2 — all for failure to maintain his personal appearance.
While Litzman rocked the tests with scores of 99, 100 and 96, he also got written up for minor mistakes like being in the locker room too early and forgetting his gym gear, sources said.
In a March 18 memo to the NYPD, Litzman defended his performance and stated that “as an Orthodox Chasidic Jew it is absolutely forbidden in my religious beliefs to cut or trim my beard in any way.
“I am being disciplined only because I maintain my religious beliefs and observances,” he wrote, underlining the sentence.
