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We Need to Protect Jews, Just in Case
(Star-Ledger-NJ) Rabbi David Levy - On my first day as a newly ordained rabbi in a New Jersey pulpit in 1988, I was shown the location of panic buttons installed in various places, "just in case." Over the next 30 years, and especially after the Tree of Life synagogue massacre in 2018, "just in case" came to include active shooter training, situational awareness and security audits with local, state and federal law enforcement. "Just in case" meant uniformed security at the door, local police in the parking lot, and plainclothes security in the sanctuary. It included becoming a grant writer so my synagogues could install electronic door locks, hardened entry doors, security lighting, video surveillance, blast-proof window coatings, and truck-stopping bollards. A security consultant even suggested my lectern be lined with Kevlar. After the hostages in Texas escaped, my daughter tweeted, "it's why at Jewish summer camp, we practiced lockdown drills and had to know where we would be able to hide the kids across camp if someone armed made it onto camp." This is Jewish life in America in 2022. The writer is Director of the American Jewish Committee New Jersey Regional Office.