H EADLINES
Bucks County Synagogue Zoom Bombed on Shabbat
L OCA L
JARRAD SAFFREN | JE STAFF
TEMPLE JUDEA of Bucks
County in Doylestown was
victimized by a Zoom bombing
during a Shabbat service on Jan. 7.

While the gathering was
taking place, the intruder entered
and started writing antise-
mitic, racist and homophobic
comments in the chat section.

Th e “unwelcome participant,” as
a Temple Judea email described
the intruder, also drew “an off en-
sive image on a shared slide
containing a healing prayer.”
Synagogue leaders shut down
the meeting and reentered to
complete the service. But the
damage was done.

Days later, Temple Judea
Rabbi Sigal Brier and President
Len Saff ren sent out an emailed
statement explaining the incident
to other Bucks County rabbis,
cantors and Jewish organi-
zations, including the Bucks
County Kehillah, part of the
Jewish Federation of Greater
Philadelphia. “We still feel the pain and
shock of it all as we write this.

Our community is shaken by this
breach,” they said. “We are doing
our best to support each other, to
heal and to mend.”
Also in their email, Brier and
Saff ren said they reported the
incident to “several organiza-
tions” and were “reaching out
for support outside the organiza-
tion.” But they did not fi le a report
to the Doylestown Township
Police Department, according to
the department.

Toward the end of their state-
ment, the synagogue leaders
alluded to “antisemitism and
hate rhetoric in Central Bucks”
more generally.

At a Central Bucks School
Board meeting last November,
a man used his three minutes
during public comment to
spew antisemitic falsehoods.

His rhetoric, and hate speech in
general, was condemned by school
district leaders at the following
JEWISHEXPONENT.COM Ohev Shalom of Bucks County’s congregation faced a Zoom bombing
shortly after switching to virtual services during lockdown in 2020. Rabbi
Eliott Perlstein was able to kick out the intruder and resume the service.

Courtesy of Evan Glickman
board meeting in December.

Temple Judea’s rabbi and presi-
dent explained that antisemitic
attacks would not stop them from
carrying on.

“We are committed to
protecting our right to exist and
to continue to carry on the Jewish
legacy, to express and celebrate
Judaism in community and in the
public square,” they said.

“The public square” now
includes the digital space, and
Zoom more specifi cally, according
to other Bucks County rabbis who
received that email.

Several synagogue leaders said
that they use Zoom for Shabbat
and other services, too, and
have been since the pandemic
began. It became necessary due
to lockdown policies then, but it
has become a convenient tool for
helping people attend services ever
since. During this time, Zoom
bombings have become a new,
unanticipated threat.

Ohev Shalom of Bucks County
in Richboro faced one in 2020
shortly aft er opening Shabbat
services in the digital space.

According to Rabbi Eliott
Perlstein, the attacker “got a line
in and was done.” Perlstein and
Ohev leaders kicked the intruder
out and resumed the service. Ohev
congregants didn’t even have to
leave and come back in.

Th e anguish from the event
was diffi cult, to be sure. It was
diffi cult enough for Perlstein to
stay on aft er that service to see if
anyone needed to talk through
what happened.

“It’s terribly disturbing,” he
said. But as Perlstein explained,
nobody got physically injured. So
despite the anguish, the threat of
a Zoom bombing is not dangerous
enough to outweigh the benefi ts of
Zoom services.

Virtual reality brings people
together who may not have been
able to get together in person.

“Th e benefi ts vastly outweigh
the risks,” said Rabbi Anna
Boswell-Levy of Congregation Kol
Emet in Yardley.

But congregations can’t ignore
the risks, according to Perlstein
and Boswell-Levy. Virtual services
have become yet another domain
in which Jews need to protect
themselves. Since that 2020 Zoom
bombing, Ohev Shalom requires
participants to state their names
and reasons for attending before
they enter. Th ose questions are
not foolproof, as an outsider can
still make up a good story. But for
service leaders, it does help clarify
the judgment call about whether
to let the person in.

Th ey also allow the synagogue
to stay open to outsiders who
genuinely want to pray.

“Usually, there’s a reason why
that person is joining us,” Perlstein
said. “Like there’s a person who
had a loss in their family.”
Kol Emet leaders don’t share
the Zoom service link in a promi-
nent place on their website.

Instead, they email it to congre-
gants in the weekly newsletter and
embed it in an event link on the
synagogue’s website calendar.

Th e Reconstructionist insti-
tution also uses a Zoom with a
password and a waiting room. If
an unfamiliar name enters the
waiting room, Boswell-Levy and
her fellow leaders ask the same
questions that Ohev Shalom
leaders ask.

“So far that approach has
worked,” she said. “If it’s not
enough, it might change.” ●
jsaff ren@jewishexponent.com;
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