A year before the massacre at Pittsburgh’s Tree of Life Synagogue, a security director of the city’s Jewish union came to the house of worship to train its religious school staff and rabbis to respond to violent situations. At the time, Stephen Weiss thought it was unnecessary.
But Weiss, who was then a teacher at the synagogue religious school, attended training, where he was taught how to avoid being easily spotted by an active shooter and devise strategies for moving away from dangerous areas. Both lessons proved useful in 2018 when a gunman broke into a synagogue and killed 11 people in the country’s deadliest adversary attack.
That training saved my life, he said. As shots were played, Weiss, 63, said he was able to sneak away, alert another congregation he met in the building, and eventually exit through a side door.
Currently, the Jewish Federation of North America, or JFNA, aims to provide similar training to Jewish communities across the country and help them respond to security threats. The organization has launched an initiative called LiveSecure to increase security in Jewish communities by introducing new security programs or enhancing already existing security programs.
The push came amid fears about the vulnerability of Jewish institutions and anti-Semitic incidents. The Anti-Defamation League counted 2,024 cases of harassment, vandalism and assault in the US in 2020, the third highest on record since a Jewish civil rights group tracked incidents in 1979.
The ultimate goal of JFNA’s initiative is to raise $126 million in Federation Network over three years, and ensure that all 146 communities where Jewish unions are currently located have security centers, up from 45 today. JFNA itself has set a goal of raising $54 million of that, most of which is earmarked for local Jewish associations that also raise their own funds.
The initiative was launched in October, but the rollout was accelerated last month after a 10-hour standoff at a Texas synagogue in Collieville where four men were taken hostage by a gunman, giving voice to anti-conspiracy theories. Is. were picking up. A JFNA spokesman said the organization had raised about $40 million before the hostage standoff. After the trial, more donations came in from philanthropists and other important donors,” but the organization still hasn’t reached its $54 million fundraising goal.
Ideally, we were going to wait until each penny was raised to start the grant process, said Julie Platt, JFNA’s national campaign president. Not going tow didn’t want to wait for another minute, or any other event.
According to the spokesperson, local associations in both the US and Canada will be able to begin applying for matching grants for security needs from February 10. Some of the money — $18 million — is set to go to the Secure Community Network, or SCN, one of the institutions Beth Israel Rabbi Charlie Citron-Walker credits with providing the training that helped him and three more people. Helped to get the other hostages out safely. Texas incident. According to Michael Masters, national director of SCN, the organization trained more than 17,000 people last year.
Hannah Shawl Bar Nissim, deputy director of the Ruderman Family Foundation and scholar of philanthropy in Jewish communities, said that although there has been talk of securing Jewish institutions for a long time, the massacre at the Tree of Life Synagogue was a watershed moment. This led to increased fundraising for better security.
Philanthropic organizations such as the Jim Joseph Foundation, Crown Family Philanthropies and Charles and Lynn Schusterman Philanthropies have stepped in to support LiveSecure. But success isn’t just reaching fundraising goals, Bar Nissim said. But really, over time, making sure these funds are used is most effective.
Public dollars are also at play. Unions and other advocacy groups are currently lobbying Congress to double the funding for the nonprofit Safety Grant Program, a $180 million program administered by the Federal Emergency Management Agency and the agency given to nonprofits. Considers high risk of attack.
Part of the push behind LiveSecure is to help more synagogues, Jewish summer camps, schools and other institutions receive federal grants, which can be competitive. Last year, the nonprofit requested nearly $400 million for security cameras, and other equipment and security needs, far more than the amount appropriated for the program.
Grant-for-money has increased over the years, and has received bipartisan support to scale up the program even more. But additional funding is not budgeted and a provision for an additional $100 million in the Build Back Better Act is currently stalled in Congress.
Meanwhile, states like Pennsylvania and New Jersey have launched their own versions of grants.
Josh Kashinsky, executive director of Congregation Beth Israel in Portland, Oregon, said his synagogue was approved for a grant from the federal government for security and is currently asking vendors to make it safer by adding lighting, cameras and more secure entrances. saying. Its building is undergoing revisions to be modified. ,
Knowing that some of them are funded has been extremely helpful in making significant capital improvements, allowing us to improve security, Kashinsky said.
Although all nonprofits are eligible to apply for government grants, some in the congregation feel uncomfortable accepting funding.
There are members of our community who, sometimes ideologically, are a little uneasy about receiving federal funding for this purpose, because of the larger question of separation of church and state, Kashinsky said. Were aware of the potential issues there. But, at the same time, because our elected leaders have decided to make this money available to us, it seems irresponsible of our community not to attempt to receive some of this funding, even if our community Some people may object. The concept that that money was made available to religious institutions as a whole.
Local associations also fund Nationwide Community Safety Directors, who serve as liaisons with area law enforcement agencies and help with training and vulnerability assessments.
Kashinsky said none of us would personally be able to hire a professional to work on behalf of the safety of the community at this stage. This allowed for a lot of training within our community, from first aid to situational awareness training and other types of responses.
Shifting priorities for safety are displayed in the buildings themselves. In Congregational Beth Israel, which was founded in 1858 before Oregon became a state, most people no longer come through the grand entrance with large glass doors and floor-to-ceiling windows because access is now limited for security reasons. Is. Most people enter through a small door that was originally designed as a staff entrance.
We can see that there was a time when security was not such a high priority, Kashinsky said. I imagine today that the building would not be designed with glass which is the predominant feature there.
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AP Business Writer Glenn Gamboa contributed to this report.
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