The Jewish community must take action to ensure its own security - opinion

Local and global events after the horrific October 7 terrorist attack have underscored a sobering reality for Jews everywhere: The threats we face are real and unrelenting. While law enforcement and political echelons generally support and work well with us, the fact is, the Jewish community must take action to ensure our own security.

The proof is in the numbers. Although Jews make up only about 2% of the US population, we comprised 68% of all reported religious-based hate crimes in 2023.

Locally, the most densely-populated Jewish neighborhood in Los Angeles – Pico-Robertson – is a continued flashpoint for violence, as Jews have been shot leaving prayer services and impeded when trying to enter synagogues.

According to the latest survey of Jewish Federations, LA Jews are twice as likely to be concerned for their public safety as the general public; that number doubles again for Jews who wear visible Jewish symbols (kippah, Star of David, etc.). Furthermore, nearly all (98%) of Jews feel safer when there is a security presence at Jewish institutions. 

As the president and CEO of Jewish Federation Los Angeles, the Jewish organization that propels Jewish life in the city with the second-largest population of Jews outside Israel, I recognize the scope of this issue. Our federation has a strategy to create a security infrastructure that best protects our community.

The backbone of that infrastructure is the Community Security Initiative (CSI), which serves a unique role in the protection of every Jewish school, synagogue, summer camp, and organization in Los Angeles and functions as a single point of contact for critical incident coordination, information sharing, safety and security training, and resources for Jewish institutions across LA.

Our strategy – designed in coordination with law enforcement – is built on four pillars: training, physical risk assessments, information sharing and analysis, and advocacy. We believe this common-sense security strategy to keep Jewish Los Angeles safe can be replicated in communities across the country.

Training

CSI provides Jewish institutions the latest safety and security training to make their people and sites harder targets. All training is free and covers subjects such as advanced situational awareness, behavioral analysis, suspicious activity reporting, surveillance detection, active shooter mitigation, improvised explosive device detection, emergency planning, and disaster preparedness.

Physical risk assessments

CSI assesses an institution’s physical security footprint and identifies key vulnerabilities through an on-site security assessment. CSI then prepares a site vulnerability report containing observations and many – mostly zero-cost – options for bolstering the institution’s security.

Information sharing and analysis

The CSI Analysis Center shares information with local, state, and federal law enforcement agencies, as well as local security organizations, to identify potential threats to our community. CSI intelligence analysts provide 24/7 threat monitoring and analysis that is routinely disseminated to Jewish institutions.

Advocacy

Our close ties with elected leaders allow us to effectively support legislation to protect our community. One of the best examples of this was the legislation created in the LA City Council to establish bubble zones around places of worship in the wake of the Pico-Robertson violence.

Protecting our community is foundational to enabling Jews to feel safe enough to express their First Amendment rights like all others in America. Through our four pillars, we are implementing expert-vetted strategies that work. We hope this model serves as an example and inspiration that other communities will use to maintain security so that Judaism can joyfully flourish.

The writer, a rabbi, is president and CEO of Jewish Federation Los Angeles.