Jewish American Heritage Month

Posted By admin on January 28, 2022

(January 27, 2022 / JNS) The hostages were still being held at gunpoint in Colleyville, Texas, when Twitter comments on security in the synagogue began:

Before you think armed guards at synagogues are the answer, read this

There will be calls to tighten security in and around Jewish spaces, to look at guestsparticularly guests of colorwith suspicion.

Thinking about how the response to this moment will likely lead to an increase of armed security in Jewish spaces. This will make many white Jews feel safer. This will also make many BIPOC Jews unsafe

Thinking about how the response to this moment will likely lead to an increase of armed security in Jewish spaces. This will make many white Jews feel safer. This will also make many BIPOC Jews unsafe. Holding Jews of color in my heart today as they hold added layers of trauma.

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Few, if any, of these calls actually came from black Jews. The conversation seemed designed to specifically end all conversation calling for increased security in Jewish spaces by labeling anyone doing so as caring only for white Jews, and thus, racist.

I am not a black Jew, but I felt that this narrative could not be the whole story. Surely, we can make synagogues safer for all Jews. I turned to some friends, and friends of friends, who are Jews of color and asked them how they felt.

Their responses provide much food for thought and calls for action, not only on how to make the synagogue safer but what work there is for us to do way before security gets involved.

Tyler Samuels, the social-media coordinator for Hasbara Canada and a former executive member of Jews of Colour Canada, said he felt the people starting the social-media conversation were taking some black Jews, whose ideas they agreed with, and tokenizing them.

The idea of synagogue and safety is to keep Jews safe from the kind of thing we witnessed last week. I found it very detrimental to start this conversation while Jews were being held hostage, and then to bring black Jews into the conversation, saying that if we increase security or bring police, they will feel more unsafe. I disagree with that. I think those people who started that conversation, they selected some black Jews who have been outspoken against increased security.

I reject that idea. How many black Jews have died trying to get into a synagogue? I dont say this lightly, I have had horrible experiences with police. Ive been stopped, frisked and profiled, but I feel safety and security is the utmost thing. Ive told countless people, I might die because of police brutality but I will die if there is an active shooter in a synagogue. I feel people are using a theory that might happen, which is a legitimate concern, but not all black Jews agree. We are not a monolith.

A lot of Jews who are not black have taken on this mantle of speaking for us and using black Jews who agree with them and using them as tokens to push this narrative.

My question is: If security doesnt work, what should all Jews do to feel safe? I havent gotten an answer.

For Elisheva Rishon, an Orthodox black Jewish woman, the only time security is a problem for me in shul is when another Jewish person gets nervous, goes to security and points me out as a suspicious person, She recalled an incident, one of many, she says. I was once at shul, I went through the security check and as I was going through, a different Jewish security representative ran out after me and demanded I go through another check. He said he had to see what was in my pockets. I told him the security guard had already done so. He said he had to make sure that all the Jews in there were safe. I said, Im also a Jew! The people making it difficult for me to be black and Jewish is not security, its my fellow Jews.

Tova Richardo, said similarly that there needs to be security at synagogues. Im a black person who wants law enforcement/security to work for all people. I dont want to be profiled by congregants or security, but Im more likely to be profiled by a congregant than security. Its important that myself, my family or others like us are protected in synagogue.

For Noah Shufutinsky, a black Russian Jew, rapper and performer, the idea that Jews of color dont want security is both false and marginalizing. It bothers me when people push the narrative [that speaking of security in shuls is wrong/discriminatory/racist]. Its the same concept as abolish the police altogether. Obviously, having security in front of synagogues is going to make it safer. We need to end marginalization by the police, not get rid of cops completely. Honestly, Ive felt far more marginalized in Jewish spaces from people constantly questioning my Judaism than I ever did from cops in front of my synagogue.

Noah says he often had more of a connection with the police officers posted outside the synagogue, than he did with other Jews in his synagogue, due to their also being black with southern roots. The assumption that I would beautomatically marginalized by police is false.

He feels that the push is a double standard: They are pushing this agenda of abolish the police, but why is the first place they are going to do this in a synagogue where there are literally shootings and bombs threats. This is where youre going to start?

Lastly, Noah says that the conversation itself marginalizes him. People who want to remove security claim that they do it to make members of color feel safe, but I feel marginalized by thatas though I would feel safer exposed to terrorists than I would with police, as though I dont feel as scared or concerned when synagogues are unsafe. Why am I being separated from other Jews?I believe in the need for security in response to threats just like any other Jew.

So, how can we ensure the safety of all Jews in the synagogue and not alienate Jews of color with profiling or making them feel any less a part of the community?

Yirmiyahu Danzig is a Caribbean and Jerusalemite Jew who served in the Israeli Border Police. He feels that security is a must, but it would best come from the community itself.

In the years after 9/11, me or my family members were made to feel very uncomfortable when trying to enter our synagogue. I understood the motivations, but it was clear that security needed sensitivity training because our shul had a fair amount of JOC. We need to be clear about the need to protect our synagogues, but its best if the people from the community take on the role themselves.

He is currently working on implementing this for numerous synagogues. This is far preferable to bringing police into the synagogue, he says. If people in the community arent ready to volunteer and be trained, then go to a private firm willing to have proper sensitivity training. Police, for me, are a last resort.

Samuels also sees this as a good solution, saying, Ive heard that more black Jews should be involved in the synagogue and train them as guards to look for suspicious behavior, not color. I see this as a middle-of-the-road approach that can protect everyone and where everyone is comfortable, without racial profiling.

I feel that if you are a rabbi who stressed the importance of raising minority voices, it is tokenizing to use only one side and not listen to others who do not agree with this position and who do want increased security in synagogues.

As a friend of mine said: Id rather be stopped by a security guard and asked the typical questions, and say, Yes, Im Jewish, etc., and then go on into synagogue and feel safe versus not having security, going in and having an active shooter situation. This is the key difference between talking theory and taking reality. Gunmen dont care if youre black, Mizrachi, Sephardi, Ashkenazi. Youre a Jew, and they want to kill you.

It seems that the main obstacle to Jews of color feeling like they are full members of the tribe are those inside the synagogue door, not those outside of it. We do not need to endanger the community in order to make everyone feel safe. Instead, we mustmake it so that our community sees every Jew as one of us, just as the terrorists do.

Shoshanna Keats Jaskoll is an Israeli-based journalist and writer.

Read more:

Inclusion and safety at synagogue: A congruent conversation - JNS.org

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