The latest attacks a reminder to remain vigilant for Jewish leaders

For leaders of American Jewish institutions, the recent Boulder attacks, ColoradoAnd Washington, DC, are striking reminders of their responsibility to remain vigilant despite the years to tighten their security measures and to try to protect their people.

Now they sound the alarm for more aid after a a dozen people were injured to be boulder during demonstrate for the version Israeli hostages in Gaza on Sunday. And just over a week earlier, two Israeli embassy employees were fatally slaughtered in front of a Jewish Museum in Washington.

After this shooting, 43 Jewish organizations published a joint declaration requesting more support from the United States government for improved security measures. More specifically, they asked the congress to increase the financing of the non -profit security subsidy program to $ 1 billion.

“Each Jewish organization has been serious about security for years. We must be, “said Rabbi Rick Jacobs, president of the Union for Reform Judaism. “The subsidies are to harden buildings, for things like cameras and glass, and a kind of blockage so that they cannot drive a truck in the building.”

“These are the daily realities of Jewish life in the 21st century in America. It is a sad reality, but it is an essential responsibility of leadership to ensure that people are above all safe. ”

Shira Hutt, executive vice-president of the Jewish Federations of North America, said that the existing federal funds were inadequate, with only 43% of last year’s candidates in the subsidy program receiving funding.

Citing Boulder attackShe said that the increase in the financing of local police is also crucial.

“Fortunately, the attack was arrested before other damage could have been done,” she said. “It is really a full -fledged crisis now, and we have to make sure that we have all the necessary support.”

Jewishcolorado, affiliates based on the state of the Jewish Federation, launched an emergency fund on Tuesday to collect $ 160,000 to support the Boulder community. Its objectives include improving security and security measures for Jewish institutions and events.

Strengthen alliances and put pressure for results

The leaders of the Jewish Federation Los Angeles urged the government, affairs and philanthropic groups to “overeat an alliance so that we can build a mutual understanding, dissipate conspiracy theories and provide a rapid response when a group is threatened.”

“The Jews here in Los Angeles are terrified but determined,” said the president of the federation, Rabbi Noah Farkas. “We do not need more community meetings, we need results and we are counting on our local government and our law enforcement partners to do more.”

Security costs in 63 Jewish day schools have increased 84% on average since The War of Israel-Hamas Begun on October 7, 2023, according to the Teach coalition, the Education Defense Branch of the Orthodox Union, an umbrella group for Orthodox Judaism.

The coalition argues for more funding for state and federal security for schools and Jewish camps, as well as synagogues.

The attacks in Washington and Boulder only increase the emergency, said its national director Sydney Altfield.

“Some people see it as an isolated instance, whether in Colorado, whether in DC,” she said. “But we have to intensify and realize that it could happen anywhere. … It is so important that our most vulnerable, our children, are sure to the highest extent.”

In Florida, Rabbi Jason Rosenberg of the Beth AM congregation said that members of the reform synagogue in the Tampa Bay region “feel very nervous at the moment and having additional security could make people a little more comfortable”.

He said that “there is a certain feeling that these attacks are not isolated events, that these attacks are, in part, the result of a large part of the anti -Semitic rhetoric that we have heard in society for years now.”

However, he said that part of his message as a leader in faith in such a climate was to encourage resilience.

“We cannot let this define ourselves.” Our work is to add holiness to our lives and to the world, and we cannot let ourselves be prevented from focusing on sacred work. “

Security concerns inside and outside

Jacobs, the chief of Judaism of the reform, said that the latest attacks in Washington and Boulder reported that new security strategies were necessary.

“Yaron Lischinsky and Sarah Milgrim were murdered outside the event at DC Jewish Museum,” he said.

“And that has presented a whole kind of additional challenges for the police and for each of our institutions making security, that is to say: you cannot worry who comes into play; you must actually worry about who is hiding outside, and therefore that is now part of our protocols.”

The attack in Boulder, he said, took place during a “peaceful demonstration” where demonstrators call for the release of Israeli hostages in Gaza.

“We have to worry about what is happening within our institutions. … We must also think and work with the police on what is happening outside.”

Jacobs recalled that when a Christian chief recently visited a reform synagogue, he was “amazed by security protocols”, which included procedures that Jacob compared to passengers passing through the safety of the airport.

“I said,” Well, what are you doing in your churches? ” And he said, “Well, we like to be welcoming”. And I said, “We don’t have this luxury.

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The journalist of Associated Press, Tiffany Stanley, contributed to this report.

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