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 to get away from dangerous areas. Both lessons proved useful in 2018 when a gunman broke into a synagogue and killed 11 people in the nation’s deadliest adversary attack.
That training saved my life, he said. As the shots played out, 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 the 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 is aiming to raise $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 the Texas synagogue in Colleyville, where four people were taken hostage by a gunman, who voices anti-conspiracy theories. were picking up. A JFNA spokesman said the organization had raised about $40 million before the hostage standoff. After the test, 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 every penny was raised to start the grant process, said Julie Platt, JFNA national campaign president. We weren’t leaving and didn’t want to wait for another minute, or any other event.
According to the spokesperson, local federations in both the US and Canada will be able to start applying for matching grants for security needs from February 10. Some of the money — $18 million — is slated to go to the Secure Community Network, or SCN, one of the institutions Beth Israel Rabbi Charlie Citron-Walker credits with providing training that helped him continue with three more. 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.
Hanna Shawl Bar Nissim, a deputy director of the Ruderman Family Foundation and scholar of philanthropy in Jewish communities, said that although talks about securing Jewish institutions have been around for a long time, the massacre at the Tree of Life Synagogue was a watershed moment that led to Did increase fundraising for better security.
Philanthropies 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 in reality, over time, ensuring that these funds are used is the most effective.
Public dollars are also at play. Unions and other advocacy groups are currently lobbying Congress to double funding for the nonprofit Security Grants Program, a $180 million program administered by the Federal Emergency Management Agency and agency given to nonprofits. Considers the high risk of attack.
Part of the push behind LiveSecure is to help more synagogues, Jewish summer camps, schools and other institutions get federal grants, which can be competitive. Last year, nonprofits requested nearly $400 million for security cameras, and other equipment and security needs, far more than the amount appropriated for the program.
Funding for grants 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. Is vetting to modify its building. ,
Knowing that some of them are funded has been extremely helpful in making significant capital improvements, that we can improve security, Kashinsky said.
Although all nonprofits are eligible to apply for government grants, some in the congregation are uncomfortable with 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 questions 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 also seems irresponsible of our community not to try to get some of this funding, Even if some of our community has objections. The concept that that money was made available to religious institutions as a whole.
Local associations also fund community safety directors nationwide, who serve as liaisons with area law enforcement agencies and help with training and vulnerability assessments.
Kashinsky said that none of us would personally be able to hire a professional at this level to work on behalf of the security for the community. This allowed for a great deal 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 the statehood of Oregon, 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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