H eadlines
JFNA Announces $54M Security Initiative
NATIONAL JARRAD SAFFREN | JE STAFF
Jewish Federation would have
to match the grant at a 2-1 rate.

The nonprofit organiza-
tion could then distribute the
money to community institu-
tions like synagogues and child
care centers. It would have to
go toward security expenses.

“It’s not always going to be
armed security,” Fingerhut said.

“It could be security plans and
cameras. There are a huge range
of things we’re talking about.”
M LE
OO LAB
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BE V
2 TS A
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OP G
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THE JEWISH FEDERATIONS
of North America announced
at its virtual General Assembly
on Oct. 3 a new priority for the
Jewish community both locally
and nationally: security.

The JFNA revealed a $54
million LiveSecure campaign
to help Jewish communities
across North America secure
their institutions against rising
antisemitism. JFNA President
and CEO Eric Fingerhut said
the campaign will offer $18
million per year to Jewish
Federations around the nation
over the next three years.

The Jewish Federation
of Greater Philadelphia, for
example, can apply for however
much money it thinks it needs.

But to receive the money,
UPPE R DU BLI N
Eric Fingerhut 
YouTube screenshot
! It’s impossible for me to think that we’re
going to go back to a day when we don’t have
to worry about physical security.”
MICHAEL BALABAN
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The JFNA’s goal is two-fold:
to help communities that
don’t have security programs
build them and to help ones
that do, like Philadelphia,
expand them. The LiveSecure
campaign is going to last three
years because both processes
will take time, Fingerhut said.

Fingerhut called security
“a permanent new cost to the
Jewish community.”
“It’s impossible for me to
think that we’re going to go
back to a day when we don’t
have to worry about physical
security,” he added.

Antisemitic incidents in the
United States have surged since
2016, reaching a record-high
of 2,107 in 2019, according
to Anti-Defamation League
numbers. The ADL began
tracking attacks on American
Jews in 1979.

In 2018, a synagogue shooter
in Pittsburgh killed 11 people,
the deadliest attack on the
American Jewish community in
history. Similar attacks followed
in Poway, California; Monsey,
New York; and Denver.

Locally, a woman started
shouting antisemitic obsceni-
ties last month outside a Yom
Kippur service in Lower Merion.

The synagogue’s private security
officer stopped her from gaining
entry to the service.

“You don’t know all the
attacks that have been thwarted,”
Fingerhut said. “This is real.”
Before the mid-2010s, it wasn’t
quite like this for American
Jews, Jewish Federation CEO
Michael Balaban said. There
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Michael Balaban 
Courtesy of Jewish Federation of Greater Philadelphia
were antisemitic incidents, to be
sure. But for the most part, Jews
felt safe in their synagogues and
schools. Balaban traced that feeling
back to World War II. The
United States beat the Nazis
and, in the aftermath, did a
great job of clamping down on
antisemitic rhetoric in public
spaces. But the rise of technology
and the internet, for all their
benefits, also offered antisem-
ites a megaphone and a
platform. And then the digital
world started spilling over into
physical reality.

Balaban pointed to the
2017 white supremacist rally
in Charlottesville, Virginia, as
a moment that forced Jews to
confront the new harsh reality.

Antisemitism emerged not just
into physical reality, but onto
Main Street America.

And since that horrific event,
Balaban said, national politi-
cians on both the right and left
have failed to tame antisemitic
extremists in their ranks. Party
leaders continue to allow those
elected leaders to “use Israel as
a wedge to splinter us apart,”
Balaban said.

So online, the problem
continues unabated, he added.

“This is happening every
day with kids who are joining
these white supremacy groups,”
Balaban said.

Balaban credited the JFNA
with focusing on a “paramount”
and “vital” issue because while
he has resources, he also needs
help. So do the hundreds of
other Jewish communities in
North America.

“You don’t want someone
leaving your house to attack
the neighbor next door,” he
said. “By working together as
a national network, we can
combat the rise of hate.”
Both Balaban and Fingerhut
said it’s a shame that the Jewish
community needs to focus so
heavily on security. They also
said it’s sad that Jews can’t just
feel safe in their community
buildings. But the new focus is neces-
sary. And, in the long run,
quality security may make
people feel safe again.

“We’re not just going to sit
back,” Balaban said.

Balaban said he is already
meeting with local donors to
raise enough money to commit
to the JFNA’s matching
program. “We’re moving,” he said. l
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