Jews torn between ramped up security and tradition in wake of increased attacks
Prospect Heights’ Congregation Kol Israel uses cameras, a gate and a locked door to ensure security for its congregation. “You don’t want it to feel like it’s a place you’re locked out of, especially if it is your first time,” said congregation rabbi Sam Reinstein. Photo by Madeline Simpson.
NEW YORK — Since its founding in 1925, anyone could walk into the Congregation Kol Israel synagogue on St. John’s Street and worship with the congregation, a testament to its embrace of its Brooklyn neighborhood.
Now, the doors of this house of worship are locked, one of a number of measures that the congregation has been forced to take in a city where anti-Semitic hate crimes are rising dramatically. In just the past few weeks, five Jews were stabbed during a Hanukkah celebration in Monsey, New York; Four died in a shooting at a Jersey City grocery store; and a Brooklyn woman was hit in the head as she walked with her child.
Such attacks accounted for 60% of all hate crimes from Jan. to June in 2019, according to the NYPD, up from 52% a year earlier.
Locking the doors wasn’t the only tough decision that Rabbi Sam Reinstein, had to make for his synagogue.
He had to figure out how to let people in.
Congregation Kol Israel is a Modern Orthodox synagogue, where members honor the traditions of Judaism while engaging with the outside culture. One such tradition is the denial of direct use of electricity on Friday night and Saturday, the Jewish Sabbath.
Take, for example, an automatic door. Approaching it makes the door open automatically, which is considered direct use of electricity and thus against Talmudic law. But if someone waits until another person makes the door open, that is not a violation.
So a keypad-access buzzer for entry wouldn’t comply with the restriction, nor would an app-based entry or cameras that alert a guard when someone is at the door-- all are a direct use of electricity.
Many Modern Orthodox synagogues are now grappling with how to ensure security within their houses of worship while remaining compliant with their religious laws.
The chart above shows total hate crimes by motivation, as provided by a June 4, 2019 NYPD press release.
“We needed to have a system that gave us the security we needed, but wouldn’t require intervention on congregants’ part to use that security,” said Eli Sabo, head of Congregation Kol Israel’s security committee.
Sabo noted that even the simplest of security measures could be too complex to comply with Sabbath law, and several options were floated that could ensure the observance of tradition remained intact. Ultimately, the security committee’s solution was, in addition to locking the doors, installing exterior cameras to ensure they were aware if people were approaching the door of the synagogue. The passive observance of a monitor to know when to let congregants in was deemed appropriate by Rabbi Reinstein.
Ben Greenfield, rabbi of Congregation Ahavas Israel in Greenpoint, Brooklyn, said he dealt with similar issues when he was an interim rabbi at a synagogue in St. Louis, Mo., from 2017 to 2019.
“I asked teachers and rabbis greater than me about permissibility,” Greenfield said. “It’s a complicated question.”
The chart above shows total budget for the Department of Homeland Security’s Nonprofit Security Grant Program (NSGP), as provided on the NSGP information website compared to the number of anti-Semitic incidents nationwide as provided by the Anti-Defamation League’s report, “Audit of Anti-Semitic Incidents: Year in Review 2018.”
In St. Louis, Greenfield decided to use a form of security that required some direct use of electricity by a few congregants on the Sabbath. To minimize intrusion, he made sure those involved understood their role beforehand.
“I wanted to avoid a conversation on [Sabbath] because, even though [we came to the conclusion that it’s] permitted, it still mars the peaceful, beautiful, restful atmosphere,” Greenfield said. “It’s a shame to have electronic devices interrupting that.” Greenfield asked that specifics on the security measures be left out of the story for safety reasons.
“In an emergency, almost every rabbi would say you can use electricity,” said David Pollock, associate executive director and director of public policy for the Jewish Community Relations Council. “You’re restricted, but there are things that you can do. Every rabbi has to make his or her own calculation.”
Since 2007, the Council has helped Jewish organizations across the country obtain some $75 million in federal funding to upgrade security, according to Pollock. The Council assists organizations in understanding which grants are available to them and walks them through the application process.
Congregation Kol Israel received a grant in 2017 for an undisclosed amount from the Department of Homeland Security’s Nonprofit Security Grant Program. According to an FAQ document on the program’s website, its purpose is to “[provide] funding support for security-related activities to nonprofit organizations at risk of a terrorist attack.”
Madeline Simpson is completing her master’s at the Columbia Journalism School in NYC. She’s written for Modern Notion and served as editor of her college newspaper, the Bethel Clarion.