Suspect arrested after setting synagogue sign on fire in Chico, California

Suspect arrested after setting synagogue sign on fire in Chico, California

Thomas Bona, 36, will be charged with hate crimes, arson and vandalism. (November 7, 2022 / JNS) A 36-year-old man has been arrested in Chico, Calif. for arson and hate crimes after he set a synagogue sign on fire last week and vandalized a mural dedicated to missing and murdered indigenous women. According to the Chico Police Department, they received a call on Nov. 2 “regarding a vandalism…

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AUSTIN, Texas - A federal judge handed down a sentence for the man who set an Austin synagogue on fire two years ago. 

Members of Congregation Beth Israel looked on as Franklin Sechriest was sentenced to 10 years for setting fire to their synagogue on Halloween 2021. Sechriest pleaded guilty to federal arson and hate crime charges in April.

"The staff, as well as members of the congregation, have been living with this for two years. And we're still living with it because the sanctuary is still not usable. There's still yellow tape across the doors and the doors are still burned," said Senior Rabbi Steven Folberg. "But I think that for myself and for some of us, there is a sense of relief that we can move forward, that this piece of this is done, and that we don't have to keep revisiting it and revisiting it in the same way that we have."

In the courtroom, Sechriest could be seen throughout the morning looking back at his parents and mouthing, "I’m sorry." 

He apologized to the court as well, saying, "I will never forgive myself." He also promised to continue to "atone" for his actions and denounce the "evil ideology." 

According to his defense attorney, that ideology was the result of indoctrination by online hate groups that Sechriest had stumbled upon while seeking community during COVID. 

His defense attorney also asked for leniency due to Secriest’s diagnosed medical issues, which include Autism and OCD.

"I don't think that any of those issues had anything to do with what he did," said Assistant U.S. Attorney Matthew Devlin after the sentencing. "He made voluntary choices. He made intelligent choices on his end, and he engaged in a lot of premeditation, a lot of planning, and it was very deliberate."

The judge ultimately agreed though he expressed empathy toward those struggling with mental health and their parents.

"There is nothing more that you could have done," said Judge David Ezra, addressing Sechriest's parents. "It wasn’t your fault."

However, Judge Ezra said the biggest factor in his decision was the danger he felt Sechriest could be to others going forward.

"We applaud the decision to sentence the Congregation Beth Israel arsonist to 10 years in prison," said Jackie Nirenberg, regional director for ADL Austin, in a statement shared with FOX 7. "We are grateful to the FBI San Antonio office and the Austin Fire Department for their thorough investigation into the incident, and the prosecutors from the US Attorney's Western District of Texas office for sending a message that hate and antisemitism will not be tolerated in our community." 

Sechriest is not eligible for parole and will have three years of supervised release after he completes his sentence. The judge is also going to recommend that Sechriest be committed to a federal medical facility.

There's something I've been thinking about, and since this is my personal blog, I figured I'd write it out and maybe share it -- maybe I'll get to the end of this post and close it without saving, maybe I'll tuck it away into my drafts. I don't know yet.

I am ethnically Jewish, but I wasn't raised in the culture. My family situation is complicated, due to divorces, remarriages, and relocations, but I usually just tell people that I'm patrilineal, raised secular, and that I'm reconnecting with the community, with a potential conversion in my near future. After nearly 10 years of independent study and hanging around with other Jewish people both online and offline, and then moving into a city that has a large Jewish community, I decided this year to take a more earnest stride into Jewish communal and religious life.

This started with me signing up for social events around the High Holidays, and that's how I found myself in the Weitzman National Museum of American Jewish History on the evening of Yom Kippur. I'd been to the museum a few years before for a film festival, so I had seen some of the things they had on display, but I've not yet actually toured the building. This time I was there for an event being held in one of the empty conference rooms, meeting with a friend to have a pre-fast dinner before sundown and then joining in group prayer. It was an emotional evening for me for many reasons, particularly because it was my first time observing the holiday in the ritual sense, and that it seemed like an appropriate time to meditate on the nature of the new life that I'm trying to live. But it was also a memorable evening for me for another reason.

If you ever find yourself in Philadelphia, you can visit this museum yourself. Admission is free. On the ground floor, there is a piece on display across from the elevator, and I noticed it there as I was leaving the event. At first, I thought it was misplaced, because the display is a chair, and a cup of tea.

These items were donated by the Congregation of Beth Israel, a reform synagogue in Colleyville Texas. It was a somber sight for me on that night in September. I had only really heard a vague overview of what had happened there barely two years ago -- if you read the Wikipedia article linked above, you will notice it happened in January of 2022. And I remember that the one thought that crossed my mind as I stood in front of that chair is that when you enter a history museum, you expect to see things that are old, maybe from the 40s or something. And you will. But you'll also see the chair a rabbi threw at a man who was holding his synagogue hostage in 2022. Because this part of our history is still ongoing.

Read this part of the article:

A livestream of the synagogue's services on its Facebook page streamed the ongoing situation, including the forceful taking of hostages. In the livestream, Akram could be heard speaking to authorities, who attempted to negotiate with him. At one point, Akram claimed (apparently falsely) to have a bomb. The livestream also streamed Akram saying that he had flown to the city where Siddiqui was imprisoned with the intent of taking hostages. He also said that he chose to take hostages in a synagogue because the U.S. "only cares about Jewish lives" and because "Jews control the world. Jews control the media. Jews control the banks."

And that has been in the back of my mind constantly since a group of people in this city decided to protest outside of a fucking falafel restaurant chanting "we charge you with genocide." It's this idea that Jews are responsible for the acts of every other Jew, and on top of that, Jews are responsible for everyone else, too, when convenient. Like a sort of universal scapegoat. It makes me furious, of course, but mostly it just makes me sad.

I have zero regrets about throwing my lot in with this side of my family, my heritage, my history... but it is unbelievably heavy at times. Still, I feel like I have to carry it. Stronger people than me have died for it, but I will do what I have to do. I do have hope for the future, and more broadly speaking I have hope for the world, too.

מיר וועלן זיי איבערלעבן. עם ישראל חי

(JTA) – At least two more synagogues in the United States evacuated their congregants over the weekend following bomb threats, the latest in a series of such calls that have put dozens of congregations on high alert heading into the High Holidays.

One of the synagogues was threatened during the pre-Rosh Hashanah Selichot services on Saturday night, in a sign that the perpetrators of the wave of attacks are paying careful attention to when synagogues are holding events before calling in their threats.

Since mid-July, at least 49 synagogues in 13 states have received the threatening calls, none of which have been linked to credible bomb threats, according to the Anti-Defamation League. That was up from 26 congregations four weeks ago —and the ADL expects the threats to continue when the High Holidays begin with the start of Rosh Hashanah on Friday evening. 

“Every weekend this network of swatters continues to identify targets and are calling in fake bomb threats,” Oren Segal, vice president of the ADL’s Center on Extremism, told the Jewish Telegraphic Agency, using a term referring to pranks that draw out a large number of police officers. “So that number is increasing and will potentially keep increasing.” 

Segal said the calls are part of a coordinated campaign orchestrated by antisemitic trolls and focused on synagogues that livestream their services, so the perpetrators can watch reactions to the threats in real time. But he noted that some institutions have been targeted even though they don’t livestream their events, and that the culprits are also developing a growing interest in non-Jewish institutions such as mosques and Black churches.

The synagogues that received bomb threats this weekend were Congregation Beth Am in Los Altos Hills, California, in the Bay Area, and Congregation B’nai Israel in St. Petersburg, Florida. In both cases, the synagogues emptied out as police conducted full safety sweeps of the premises. 

The threat on Beth Am, a Reform congregation, was called in during Friday night services, at a time when the synagogue was hosting U.S. Rep. Anna Eshoo and Jeremy Ben-Ami, president of the liberal Israel lobby J Street. Both guests were reported safe by leaders of the Bay Area congregation.

“As a community, we remain resolute and determined in the face of this act of antisemitic harassment,” read a letter Beth Am congregational leaders sent to their community just before midnight on Friday, after the synagogue had been swept and cleared, according to J. The Jewish News of Northern California, which first reported on the incident. 

B’nai Israel, a Conservative congregation, received the threat as congregants were exiting the Selichot services on Saturday night. The St. Petersburg police department and B’nai Israel’s rabbi, Philip Weintraub, confirmed details of the synagogue’s evacuation with JTA.

“It was not disruptive to our worship,” Weintraub told JTA, adding that the police “took it very seriously.”

A spokesperson for the St. Petersburg Police Department told JTA that the investigation was still ongoing, but that law enforcement would treat the incident as a false bomb threat, which is punishable with prison time. Florida has grappled with a recent rise in antisemitic activity, and a new state law aims to make it easier to prosecute “ethnic intimidation.” But that measure hasn’t yet succeeded in curbing a statewide epidemic of antisemitic fliers, some of which were dropped outside the West Palm Beach area over Labor Day.

The Santa Clara County sheriff’s office, which oversees law enforcement in Los Altos Hills, did not return JTA requests for comment on its own bomb threat investigation.

In mid-August, two other synagogues in California also evacuated their livestreamed Shabbat services over a single weekend due to bomb threats.

There have been other evacuations of Jewish institutions that have gone unreported because they have chosen not to publicize them, Segal said. 

“They don’t want to necessarily, I presume, give these trolls the satisfaction of letting everybody know every time they’re evacuated,” he said, adding that institutions should make such decisions “based on what they think is best for the community.” In some instances, when synagogues have issued a statement about an evacuation, the perpetrators have used those statements to boast of their success, Segal said.

This is not the first time false bomb threats have been called into a series of Jewish institutions. More than 100 such threats were called into Jewish community centers in the early months of 2017 — most of which, it was later discovered, came from a teen in Israel. In 2020, dozens of JCCs received a separate series of emailed bomb threats. 

Weintraub is determined to not be rattled by the experience. Instead, he takes comfort in knowing the congregation already heeds security precautions recommended by police. Heading into Rosh Hashanah, he said, he isn’t scared.

“My understanding is their goal is to shake us, and I’m not going to be shaken,” he said.

hey, do you know of any queer/trans-inclusive temples in southeast portland (or easily accessible by transit from southeast portland)? i understand if you don't want to name any on tumblr for privacy reasons but i'm looking into potentially converting and figured i would reach out and ask. alternatively if you know of good ways to find temples that are specifically queer/trans-inclusive i'm open to doing my own research as well, i'm just not certain where to start. thanks in advance!

This is something anybody could Google so I don't know that I think it's an issue to link you to Shir Tikvah, on NE Sandy. A bunch of bus lines go up Sandy. :) There's also a Reform congregation, Beth Israel, which is in NW but very accessible on transit. There are a few trans folx there, but I think Shir Tikvah might be more what you're looking for.

(Welcome to Portland!)

“It’s weird because I’m not scared,” said Rabbi Eric Woodward of Congregation Beth El-Keser Israel. “At our synagogue, we take safety and security very seriously, and I think this is a really loving community here in New Haven.”   "Even with high-level threats about a month ago when extremist groups were calling for a “National Day of Hate,” Woodward said about 250 people showed up at the service that day “to show up and be Jewish and be proud.”

“I think that people are scared of this, but the fear doesn't get them down,” Woodward said. “I think fear leads them to be brave.”

The Temple Musicians

31 And these [are they] whom David set over the service of song in the house of the LORD, after that the ark had rest. 32 And they ministered before the dwelling-place of the tabernacle of the congregation with singing, until Solomon had built the house of the LORD in Jerusalem: and [then] they waited on their office, according to their order. 33 And these [are] they that waited with their children. Of the sons of the Kohathites: Heman a singer, the son of Joel, the son of Shemuel, 34 The son of Elkanah, the son of Jeroham, the son of Eliel, the son of Toah, 35 The son of Zuph, the son of Elkanah, the son of Mahath, the son of Amasai, 36 The son of Elkanah, the son of Joel, the son of Azariah, the son of Zephaniah, 37 The son of Tahath, the son of Assir, the son of Ebiasaph, the son of Korah, 38 The son of Izhar, the son of Kohath, the son of Levi, the son of Israel. 39 And his brother Asaph, who stood on his right hand, [even] Asaph the son of Berechiah, the son of Shimea, 40 The son of Michael, the son of Baaseiah, the son of Malchiah, 41 The son of Ethni, the son of Zerah, the son of Adaiah, 42 The son of Ethan, the son of Zimmah, the son of Shimei, 43 The son of Jahath, the son of Gershom, the son of Levi. 44 And their brethren the sons of Merari [stood] on the left hand: Ethan the son of Kishi, the son of Abdi, the son of Malluch, 45 The son of Hashabiah, the son of Amaziah, the son of Hilkiah, 46 The son of Amzi, the son of Bani, the son of Shamer, 47 The son of Mahli, the son of Mushi, the son of Merari, the son of Levi. 48 Their brethren also the Levites [were] appointed to all manner of service of the tabernacle of the house of God. 49 But Aaron and his sons offered upon the altar of the burnt-offering, and on the altar of incense, [and were appointed] for all the work of the [place] most holy, and to make an atonement for Israel, according to all that Moses the servant of God had commanded. 50 And these [are] the sons of Aaron; Eleazar his son, Phinehas his son, Abishua his son, 51 Bukki his son, Uzzi his son, Zerahiah his son, 52 Meraioth his son, Amariah his son, Ahitub his son, 53 Zadok his son, Ahimaaz his son. 54 Now these [are] their dwelling-places throughout their castles in their limits, of the sons of Aaron, of the families of the Kohathites: for theirs was the lot. 55 And they gave them Hebron in the land of Judah, and its suburbs around it. 56 But the fields of the city, and its villages, they gave to Caleb the son of Jephunneh. 57 And to the sons of Aaron they gave the cities of Judah, [namely], Hebron, [the city] of refuge, and Libnah with its suburbs, and Jattir, and Eshtemoa, with their suburbs, 58 And Hilen with its suburbs, Debir with its suburbs, 59 And Ashan with its suburbs, and Beth-shemesh with its suburbs: 60 And out of the tribe of Benjamin; Geba with its suburbs, and Alemeth with its suburbs, and Anathoth with its suburbs. All their cities throughout their families [were] thirteen cities. 61 And to the sons of Kohath [who were] left of the family of that tribe, [were cities given] out of the half tribe, [namely], [out of] the half [tribe] of Manasseh, by lot, ten cities. 62 And to the sons of Gershom throughout their families [were given] out of the tribe of Issachar, and out of the tribe of Asher, and out of the tribe of Naphtali, and out of the tribe of Manasseh in Bashan, thirteen cities. 63 To the sons of Merari [were given] by lot, throughout their families, out of the tribe of Reuben, and out of the tribe of Gad, and out of the tribe of Zebulun, twelve cities. 64 And the children of Israel gave to the Levites [these] cities with their suburbs. 65 And they gave by lot out of the tribe of the children of Judah, and out of the tribe of the children of Simeon, and out of the tribe of the children of Benjamin, these cities, which are called by [their] names. — 1 Chronicles 6:31-65 | Noah Webster’s Bible Translation (WBT) The Holy Bible; Webster’s Bible Translation by Noah Webster, a revision of the King James Bible, Published in 1833 is in the public domain. Cross References: Exodus 6:18-19; Exodus 6:21; Exodus 27:1; Numbers 3:27; Numbers 13:6; Numbers 35:1; Joshua 10:38; Joshua 14:13; Joshua 15:10; Joshua 21:4-5; Joshua 21:7; Joshua 21:11; Joshua 21:13; Joshua 21:34; 1 Samuel 1:1; 2 Samuel 6:17; 1 Kings 2:35; 2 Kings 18:18; 1 Chronicles 6:66; 1 Chronicles 25:1; Ezra 7:5; Ezra 10:25; Jeremiah 1:1; Ezekiel 40:44

Congregation Beth Israel-Gadsden, Alabama

Congregation Beth Israel built their synagogue in 1922. This was 12 years after the congregation was founded in 1910. It was an active synagogue until 2010 when the doors were closed after decades of declining membership. On March 25, 1960, the synagogue was firebombed by a Nazi sympathizer. Amazingly, only two people were injured, and it was the two men who ran out of the Temple to catch the…

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When to Stay, When to Move (Numbers 9:15-23)

Our entire earthly life is one big sojourn from birth to death. How we go about this pilgrimage is of upmost importance.

Pillar of Fire, Pillar of Cloud in the Desert, stained glass at the Congregation Beth Emeth, Herndon, Virginia On the day the Tent of the Lord’s presence was set up, a cloud came and covered it. At night the cloud looked like fire. Whenever the cloud lifted, the people of Israel broke camp, and they set up camp again in the place where the cloud came down. The people broke camp at the command of…

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Arnold Josiah Ford (born April 23, 1877 - September 15, 1935) was a Black Nationalist, rabbi, and emigrationist. He was born in Bridgetown, Barbados to Edward Ford, a policeman, and Elizabeth Augusta Braithwaite, a homemaker. He studied music theory, he joined the musical corps of the British Royal Navy where he served on the HMS Alert. He was stationed on the island of Bermuda where he was a clerk at the Court of Federal Assize.

He joined the Clef Club Orchestra directed by James Reese Europe. He became director of the New Amsterdam Musical Association. He was a member of the Scottish Rite Masons. He married Olive Nurse and the couple had two children.

He became the Musical director of the New York division of Marcus Garvey’s Universal Negro Improvement Association. He co-wrote the song, “Ethiopia,” which extolled the halcyon past before slavery and stressed pride in the African heritage. The song became the UNIA Anthem and he published the UNIA Hymnal. He co-wrote the handbook of rules and regulations for the African Legion and the Black Cross Nurses.

He was elected one of the delegates representing members of the New York chapter at the first chapter of the First International Convention of Negro Peoples of the World. He broke with the UNIA bringing separate lawsuits against Marcus Garvey and the Association because they failed to pay him royalties. He won both lawsuits.

He studied the Hebrew language, religion, and history, and converted to Judaism after breaking with the UNIA. He started a short-lived congregation called Beth B’nas Israel and established the Beth B’nal Abraham Temple. He worked with Mordecai Herman and the Moorish Zionist Temple.

He left the US and arrived in Ethiopia along with a group of his most devoted followers including musicians. He married Mignon Innis, the couple had two children together. He created a school near Addis Ababa and got 800 acres of land to unite the Black Jews of the diaspora. #africanhistory365 #africanexcellence

More than four in ten Jews in the United States feel their status in America is less secure than it was a year earlier, according to a new survey by the American Jewish Committee.

The survey, conducted in the fall of 2022, was released Monday by the AJC, a prominent Jewish advocacy organization.

The survey was taken in a year of high-profile incidents of antisemitism, including a hostage-taking at a Texas synagogue and anti-Jewish statements shared by celebrities on social media. Former President Donald Trump dined with two openly antisemitic guests, drawing criticism from his own Jewish supporters.

According to the AJC survey, 41% of the respondents said the status of Jews in the U.S. is less secure than it was the year before, while 55% said it was the same. Only 4% thought it was more secure.

The results show anxieties increasing since a comparable survey in 2021, when 31% of respondents thought their status was less secure than a year earlier.

Four in five Jews said in the 2022 survey that antisemitism has grown in the past five years; nearly half said it’s taken less seriously than other forms of bigotry or hate.

A quarter of the respondents said they were directly targeted by antisemitic expressions, either in person or on social media, with 3% reporting a physical attack. Nearly four in 10 changed their behavior to lower risks to their safety.

Similarly, nearly four in ten reported avoiding visible expressions of Jewishness in public, such as wearing a skullcap. Smaller percentages reported taking similar steps on campus or at work.

Other findings:

—Nearly 90% of U.S. Jews — and the same percentage of the country's total population — believe antisemitism is a serious problem, up from 73% in 2016.

—Of the Jews surveyed in 2022, 63% said that they see law enforcement as appropriately responsive when it comes to antisemitism, a substantial drop from 2019 when that number was 81%.

The survey collected data from a nationally representative sample of 1,507 adults of Jewish religion or background. It was conducted from Sept. 28 through Nov. 3.

News of antisemitic incidents surfaces almost daily in the U.S. Earlier this month, for example, numerous antisemitic flyers were distributed in suburban Atlanta, including at the home of Georgia’s only Jewish state legislator.

Rep. Esther Panitch, a freshman Democrat, denounced the flyers from the floor of the House of Representatives, with dozens of colleagues surrounding her to show solidarity.

“This weekend, it was my turn to be targeted,” Panitch said. “Unfortunately, it’s not the first time to be afraid as a Jew in the United States.”

On Thursday, Doug Emhoff, the husband of Vice President Kamala Harris, took his campaign against antisemitism to the United Nations, urging diplomats from many nations to speak out against the rising global hatred of Jews and stressing: “Silence is not an option.”

Emhoff pointed to celebrity comedians too often using antisemitism “to draw cheap laughs, high profile entertainers and politicians openly spouting tired antisemitic tropes (and) others making comments laced with not so subtle innuendo.”

Among the most dramatic antisemitic incidents in 2022 was the January hostage standoff at Congregation Beth Israel synagogue in Colleyville, Texas, a suburb of Forth Worth.

A pistol-wielding British man took four people at the synagogue hostage and held them for 10 hours before they escaped, and the captor was killed by the FBI.

Awarded PAFA's 1903 Sesnan Gold Medal

Keeping this facet in thoughts, there may be an possibility of transferring reserves into IRA Gold Investment or in different phrases endeavor gold rollover that has proved to be a reliable and regular funding option for each and everybody. While the park is named Keller Fountain Park, the fountain itself is named Ira Keller Fountain. Named after Russian composer Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov, the classical music-themed coffeehouse serves espresso and desserts, working from the former living room of a reportedly haunted 1902 Craftsman-style house. PCS has acquired positive commentary in regional guidebooks including Greatest Locations Northwest, Greatest Places Portland, and Moon Handbooks Oregon. Petersen Rock Garden, formerly Petersen's Rock Garden and also identified because the Petersen Rock Gardens, is a rock garden and museum on 4 acres (1.6 ha), located between the cities of Bend and Redmond in Deschutes County, Oregon, United States. There are over 200 academic degree applications offered by the university. gold ira investment provided US$10,000 to anyone who may show he had made the speech; it was never claimed.

Former strippers include Courtney Love and Christine Jorgensen, though the membership is understood for that includes long-term dancers who're loyal to the family enterprise. It lasted till the middle to late nineteenth century. Though nature reserves cowl much of the upper and middle components of the watershed, industrial sites dominate the decrease half. The mountain itself has earned the nickname "the lightning rod of the Cascades." Diamond Lake lies to the west of Mount Thielsen and past lies Mount Bailey, a much much less eroded and youthful stratovolcano. Mount Thielsen, or Huge Cowhorn is an extinct shield volcano in southern Oregon that has been so deeply eroded by glaciers that there isn't any summit crater and the upper a part of the mountain is roughly a horn. The highway travels by means of rural Walla Walla County and ends at an intersection with US 12 south of Wallula.

In 1995, town of Portland's Bureau of Planning launched the "Adopted Woodstock Neighborhood Plan", which included a policy to improve the department and its providers. Their efforts led to the creation of a municipal park fee that in 1903 hired the Olmsted Brothers landscape architectural agency to develop a plan for Portland's parks. It constructed its first constructing on Portland Road in 1952, and occupied its present LEED-compliant services in 2008. In the early nineteen nineties conflict between feminist and traditional members led to the latter leaving Beth Israel, and forming the Orthodox Congregation Ahavas Torah. Pod is the name of a 2002 modern sculpture by American artist Pete Beeman, at present installed at Southwest tenth Avenue and West Burnside Street in downtown Portland, Oregon. Wildwood: The Wildwood Chronicles, E-book 1 is a 2011 children's fantasy novel by American singer-songwriter Colin Meloy, illustrated by his wife Carson Ellis. The live performances and album received favorable evaluations; the recording debuted at quantity 31 on Billboard's Classical Albums chart, and made a number of lists of the perfect classical recordings of 2011. The album earned three recognitions from the National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences for the 2013 Grammy Awards.

A 2013 estimate placed the metropolitan inhabitants at 400,408, the state's second-largest. The Arts Council of Lake Oswego started soliciting donations in 2013 in an try to keep the sculpture as part of the town's permanent public art assortment, Gallery With out Walls. An try and recriminalize possession of small amounts of cannabis was turned down by Oregon voters in 1997. From 1999 by way of 2005, the ratio of Oregonians using cannabis outpaced the overall United States inhabitants by 32-45%. In 2003-2004, Oregon ranked amongst the highest five states for cannabis usage of individuals 12 and older. The venue was given its present identify during the 1991 ownership switch in an try and disassociate from Hurwitz's enterprise and reputation. The library was demolished in January 1999. The current 7,500-sq.-foot (seven hundred m2) Woodstock Library constructing was completed in 2000. It has a "lantern-like" high quality and has acquired multiple awards for its design.

WASHINGTON (JTA) — As the High Holidays near, Rabbi Mara Nathan doesn’t expect the recent wave of fake bomb threats directed at synagogues to significantly change the way she and her congregation worship together. 

After all, her synagogue will already have its usual, extensive array of security measures in place: from bomb-sniffing dogs and security checks for each attendee to coordination with the local police department and FBI office. But she said emotions were running high as news reports piled up about synagogues evacuated after facing threats, often while livestreaming services. 

“I think we’re on high alert,” said Nathan, the senior rabbi at San Antonio’s Temple Beth-El, a Reform congregation, “maybe a little more than usual.”

Nathan’s approach underscores how synagogues across the country have responded to the reports of rising antisemitism in recent years, and how a recent wave of nearly 50 spurious bomb threats is affecting — and not affecting — their procedures. The bomb threats, which have led to the evacuation of congregations from California to Florida, come after many synagogues have adopted a posture of readiness following the 2018 Pittsburgh synagogue shooting and other violent antisemitic incidents. 

“Law enforcement and the synagogues have to respond to it because you don’t ever know when it’s actually going to be the real thing,” said Evan Bernstein, the CEO of the Community Security Service, which trains volunteers to patrol their synagogues. “When multiple things like this happen, people become numb and maybe won’t respond in the same way if, God forbid, something is legitimate.” 

That reality was laid out at a briefing on Capitol Hill Tuesday focused on securing Jewish institutions during the High Holidays, which begin with Rosh Hashanah on Friday night. The briefing focused on the false bomb threat incidents, which security consultants predicted would continue because they lead to significant disruption with minimal effort. 

“The increase in the bomb threats and the swatting incidents are designed to get a law enforcement response,”  Michael Masters, CEO of the Secure Community Network, told the Jewish Telegraphic Agency, using a term that refers to making prank calls in order to generate a police response. “They’re designed to create fear, they’re designed to create confusion.”

Leaders of the Secure Community Network, which coordinates security for Jewish institutions nationwide, told members of Congress and their staffers at the hearing that the bomb threats have become a popular tool for extremists. SCN and its partner organization, the Jewish Federations of North America, organized the 90-minute briefing. 

“They actually targeted a livestreaming of the service so that they can witness the police coming in and disrupting the service during this swatting session,” said Kerry Sleeper, a former FBI assistant director who is now a senior adviser to Masters’ group, referring to a bomb threat during services in July at Beth Israel Congregation in Ann Arbor, Michigan. 

(The Ann Arbor synagogue has for years been the target of anti-Israel and antisemitic protesters. Courts have rejected attempts by some of the congregants to stop the protests.)

“Here’s one my fren [sic] did yesterday,” said a message on Telegram, a social platform popular with extremists, which was attached to a video of a rabbi conducting services. “It’s funni [sic] bc when we swat them they have to shut down the synagogue for the day.”

One long-term result extremists are hoping for would be to inhibit Jewish expression, Sleeper said. “The question has to be obviously, do you have the comfort, the security to enter into a house of worship after there’s been a bomb threat or the threat of a shooting?” he said.

Masters said that ahead of the High Holidays, when sanctuaries see their highest attendance of the year, synagogues need to review security procedures in order to avoid panic if a threat is received.

He described methods that could head off panicked reactions during High Holiday services, including making contact with the local police department, reviewing an orderly evacuation plan and ensuring that police have officials in place to report whether an attack is indeed underway.

“In many jurisdictions, law enforcement is very proactive about sending someone to the synagogue, or at least doing a drive-by so … they know whether something or not is happening,” he said. “Having a point of contact at the synagogue that the law enforcement knows who they’re supposed to find, so they can do a coordinated response.”

The briefing also focused on a proposed increase of federal grants to protect synagogues and other religious institutions. The 18-year old program has grown exponentially in recent years as threats against Jewish and other institutions have increased, and there is an effort underway to raise funding from $250 million last year to $360 million.

“It is truly indispensable to the physical security of churches, synagogues, mosques, and all other faith based places of gatherings across the country,” Eric Fingerhut, CEO of the Jewish Federations of North America, said at the briefing. “There’s not a security camera or secure door that isn’t in some way costly and needing the help and support of these resources.”

Fingerhut added that Jewish federations have collectively spent hundreds of millions of dollars to enhance security for local institutions. 

Sen. Chris Murphy, the Connecticut Democrat, said the briefing exhibited “the panoply of efforts we need to undertake in order to decrease the risk of physical harm to those who are in Jewish communities, for those who are showing up in synagogues, Jewish day schools.”

Increased preparedness due to the bomb threats is one of a few ways synagogues across the country are girding up ahead of the High Holidays. In New York City, the Community Security Initiative, which helps coordinate security for local institutions, is funding the purchase of one new patrol car each and other resources for four Jewish civilian security patrol groups that operate in heavily Orthodox neighborhoods in Brooklyn, where a rash of street-level incidents have added to safety concerns. Last week, Bernstein’s Community Security Service launched a partnership with the Orthodox Union, an umbrella group with hundreds of member synagogues nationwide.

The bomb threats have reverberated across the country. At the Chicago Loop Synagogue, president Lee Zoldan told JTA that local law enforcement — with whom Zoldan said the synagogue has a “very good relationship” — often keeps a presence in front of the building, which is located in downtown Chicago.

Zoldan said law enforcement officers are aware of the recent wave of bomb threats and that the synagogue has shared its holiday schedule so that police know when people will be in the building. In addition, a few months ago the synagogue purchased a metal detector, and is considering asking worshippers to be screened upon entrance for the High Holidays. Zoldan said the measure was a response to the rise of antisemitism in the United States, rather than any specific threat.

“Anything we can do to enhance security, we are going to do,” she added.

Plymouth Congregational Church Spokane found itself a victim of hate’s crossfire on Wednesday when their welcome sign, which read “GOD BLESS ISRAEL,” was vandalized with an expletive followed by “Zionism” in spray paint.

“What strikes me is that the message that’s on the church reader board says ‘God bless Israel.’ It makes no anti-anybody or anti-anything. It’s a positive message that says ‘God bless Israel,’” said Temple Beth Shalom member Mary Noble.

Read more about the vandalism.

Today is the 2nd anniversary of the congregation Beth Israel hostage crisis and I keep making a post about it but then giving up. I'm tired. Nothing has changed. It has all gotten worse. Next time it may just be my synagogue under attack. So whatever lmao

Dr. Yosef Ben Jochannan Black Jewish Historian Of His People

by Rabbi Sholomo B. Levy

The Israelite community mourns the passing of our beloved elder Dr. Yosef Ben Jochannan (1918-2015).  He was born in Ethiopia and raised in the village of Gondar according to the customs of the African Jews in that region who are known as Beta Israel. His father was a member of this community and he was named after his grandfather Jochannan. In fact, his name is Hebrew and means Joseph the son of Jonathan. He received a Bar Mitzvah and during his adolescence  moved to the Virgin Islands and Puerto Rico before immigrating to the United States.  His magnum opus, We The Black Jews, was the first major historical work written by us, about us, and primarily for us. As such,  Dr. Ben, as he was affectionately known, was our scholar and our champion. Long before his reputation commanded attention on the international stage, he was embraced by Chief Rabbi W.A. Matthew, leader of the Commandment Keepers Ethiopian Hebrew Congregation in Harlem. As a Jew of Ethiopian birth, Dr. Ben dedicated the second volume of We The Black Jews to Rabbi Matthew. He was a frequent visitor to many Black synagogues. In 1977, Dr. Ben accepted an honorary faculty position with the Israelite Rabbinical Academy at Beth Shalom Ethiopian Hebrew Congregation in Brooklyn, New York. In that photograph you see him flanked by most of the Black rabbis in New York City including Chief Rabbi Levi Ben Levy and his dear friend from Ethiopia, Rabbi Hailu Paris, who was the leader of Mt. Horeb Congregation in the Bronx. (see photo above) Dr. Ben maintain a close relationship with the Black Jewish community throughout his life.

Dr. Ben’s work expanded to explore the Egyptian origins of Judaism, Christianity, and Islam. When asked about this shift in academic focus, Dr. Ben explained that he was attempting to put our identity as Black Jews into its proper historical context as a people and religion that literally came out of Africa. He demonstrated that the Torah and archaeological  evidence both supported the claim that All the  Hebrews who settled the biblical land of Israel—including Moses, Aaron, Miriam, and Joshua—were born in African and raised in Egypt. Zipporah, the wife of Moses, was born in Ethiopia, like Dr. Ben. As Black Jews we have always been comfortable with acknowledging our ancient and modern connections with Africa. The greatest criticism and opposition that Dr. Ben faced came from those who attempted to deny this connection and to remake Judaism into a White European creation.  It is important to remember—as Dr Ben so frequently emphasized—“Judaism is not a race.” He expressed a pride in the fact that the first Jews would be considered Black if they lived in our radicalized world. Dr. Ben never asserted that all Jews are Black—in fact on many occasions and in much of his writings he refers to Jewish communities all over the world.

In latter years, Dr. Ben startled many of his supporters when he began to distinguish his ancestry as a Jew with his skepticism about the existence of God. At one point, he reached the conclusion in his own mind that “God is not a reality.”    We do not know whether this view grew out of the frustration of fighting religious battles for so many decades or from an academic position that demands logic according to human understanding and does not allow for faith, mystery, or the divine.  What we do know is that through all of his transitions he remained a man with a keen intellect and a  loving heart.

As millions of Jews around the world prepare to celebrate the Passover, a commemoration of our Exodus from Egypt, we celebrate the life and work of Dr. Ben who meticulously  and courageously made two irrefutable points: Egypt is in Africa and African people are Black. Therefore, we who call our Jews must trace our ancestry back to these Black Africans.

Rabbi Levy, Alma John, Dr. Ben, Percy Sutton Beth Shalom Ethiopian Hebrew Congregation, 1977