Security is High Priority During Holiday Services

Security at synagogues, temples, local college campuses and other community institutions is a primary source of concern as the High Holidays approach. So far this year, according to the security head of the Jewish Federation of Greater Atlanta, the number of incidents the Federation has received and passed on to law enforcement has more than tripled over the last two years. According to Brian Davis, the Federation’s community security director, the numbers are continuing to climb.

“In 2022, we had 57 engagements through the entire year between myself and local and federal law enforcement, it’s over 190 now. The engagements represent the number of times we’ve passed on information about antisemitic behavior in our community.”

The latest such incident was reported on Sept. 10 at a meeting of the Cobb County Board of Elections. An unidentified man interrupted the meeting by shouting, “Heil Hitler, Heil Hitler.”

The interruption followed the comments by a Cobb County resident criticizing the refusal of Jennifer Mosbacher, who is Jewish, to stand during the Pledge of Allegiance.

The rise in antisemitism in the community comes against the backdrop during the past year of a sharp rise in anti-Israel incidents on college campuses. According to the Anti-Defamation League, between Jun of 2023 and May of 2024 there was a 477 percent increase in incidents of assault, vandalism, harassment and other actions on college campuses across the country.

The 2,087 anti-Israel incidents, according to Jonathan Greenblatt, the ADL’s CEO and national director, is unprecedented.

“Since the Hamas-led Oct. 7 attack on Israel, the anti-Israel movement’s relentless harassment, vandalism, intimidations and violent physical assaults go way beyond the peaceful voicing of a political opinion.”

Rabbi Larry Sernovitz says the key to effective security on Georgia college campuses is the relationship that are developed with college administrators.

The CEO of Hillels of Georgia, Rabbi Larry Sernovitz, who came to the organization a year and a half ago, says they have responded with the hiring of more off-duty police officers on the grounds of major campuses during the holidays. This is particularly true at the University of Georgia and Emory University where a full schedule of High Holiday worship service is planned.

“We have, in generally speaking, very good relationships with the majority of our university administrations. We’ve had candid conversations, and in every one of those conversations, we have heard and reiterated over and over that we want to … ensure the safety of all of our students on campus. The key is that we work regularly with these administrators.”

There is alarm, too, over the rise of antisemitism in the public schools here. On Aug. 6, the Louis D. Brandeis Center for Human Rights Under Law, which describes itself as an independent, non-partisan institution for public interest advocacy, research, and education, filed a complaint on behalf of a number of Jewish organizations alleging an “intolerable” environment that faces Jewish and Israel students in all grades of the Fulton County School District. The director of legal initiatives for the Brandeis Center in Washington D.C., Denise Katz-Prober, said in a statement issued in connection to the complaint that it is not just on college campuses where Jewish students encounter antisemitism.

“The families of these Jewish and Israeli students have been left to fend for themselves, by administrators who dismiss their complaints and refuse to act. It is long past due for the Fulton County School District to take swift corrective action against the antisemitism that pervades their schools,”

In response to a heightened awareness of security, Davis has stepped up the work he does with synagogues and other Jewish institutions during the past year.

“We worked with our facilities to help them receive nonprofit security grants. That’s a grant from the federal government which can allow up to $150,000 of improvements to harden the facilities. Fifteen of our facilities received the grant this year. And we had a total of $2.8 million that was received by our facilities.”

The grants were used for improvements to buildings and property. They have helped institutions with things such as security camera systems and hardened access controls on gates and doors. But physical improvements to a property can only go so far. Davis also encourages individual alertness and responsibility.

“I preach every day, all day — see something, say something, which means individuals should report any suspicious activity, no matter how minor it might seem at first. When somebody provides just a little bit of information, like, hey, we saw this car driving around our synagogue, and here’s the license number. I get that information to the local police; it might be the one piece of information we need to connect the dots about a security issue.”